There’s been a frustrating decline in quality and class over the past decade, but many of this year’s ads were surprisingly smart, funny and compelling! A refreshing flashback to the good-old-days of the E-Trade babies and Budweiser horses. Here I outline my favorites through the lens of strategic brand analysis, and simple human perception (which is honestly the north star of good branding), and I’ll also share a few themes and lessons…

People with dyslexia are truly brilliant, and the reason they fall behind in school and feel so hopeless isn’t necessarily because they have a learning disability, but because they have a learning difference. Despite dyslexia being very common - 1 in 5 people in the US…

She came to me with an idea and a whole lot of drive and talent. We set to work collaboratively developing her brand strategy and narrative framework - crafting her target audience analysis, purpose, positioning strategy, clear product statement, tone, name, tagline and more. The drive behind her brand quickly came to the surface and we crafted this statement…

Brands who find the whitespace in the market are typically their own first customer; they solve their own problem first, and then market that solution for other like-minded people. These companies not only have a head-start in terms of brand differentiation, they also have a much easier time identifying their target audience because…

Brand purpose is often thought of as the heart of your brand, the reason your brand exists beyond making money. In what big or small ways are you trying to shape the world around you for the better? What core belief drives your work and rallies your team together?…