The Mega-Trend of Personally Defined Brand Experiences

The first brand I worked with coming out of college, 40 years ago was a baking products brand

And while convenience baking mixes were included in the brand family, the primary products of flour and corn meal made up the vast share of sales.

Personally, I cook more meals at home now than I did pre-Pandemic. I have one full cupboard next to the range filled with spices, herbs and flavorings. In fact, there are five different variations of curry and a half dozen different varieties of olive oil.

However, there are very few cookbooks and those on the shelf…

Don’t Let Politics… Nor Ad Agency Culture… Drive Your Brand Marketing

Many of those who know me and many of those who work with me know that I am not a person who can simply sit on the sidelines and refrain from interacting with others.

I find that interacting with people outside of the conventional business environment — including the home offices — helps better understand market trends vs. what I hear about through trade pubs and media outlets.

That interaction helps bring a sense of market reality to client leadership teams.

In conducting one of those on-the-street interviews back early Spring, a person made an off-handed comment that they were…

Retirement Opportunity is Calling!

I spend a lot of time talking about the Millennials.

There is no question…. the Millennials are the drivers of the U.S. consumer and house & home marketplace.

They are the ones out there buying their first-time homes or selling the condos to get a yard complete with a swing set, kiddie pool, sand box, family room, laundry room and garage.

They are the ones where the moms are saying “I work from home now based on my schedule or I quit” to their bosses… and the dads are out buying lawn mowers and learning how to garden.

The blog…

Not Wanting To Work? The Media Ain’t Got This One Right

The news media appears to have found a new story line that jacks up their television ratings and the digital click rates as the media continues to scrape for a COVID-19 pandemic replacement.

The news story… “There is a widening gap of jobs to fill and folks no longer wanting to work because Washington is now giving them a lot of money not to work.”

The media is no longer sipping cocktails with Good Old Uncle Joe.

The media story has limited depth…

(1) The April U.S. employment numbers essential steady posting a slight decrease

(2) The unemployment numbers posted…

Have You Embraced The Post-Pandemic Workplace?

The show, The Office aired for nine seasons on NBC from 2005 through 2013. It’s a bit ironic that The Office, was what is called a “mockumentary” sitcom.

The writers of the show had no idea of just how the concept of The Office would fit within our social evolutionary culture in 2021.

If you think about it, the concept of the individual office was birthed long before we lived in a connected digital, personal laptop, smart phone, Internet world.

There are many nights when I cannot sleep that I think about just how crazy workplace leadership had to be…

Immigration…More Driven by Need and Opportunity Than The News Media Reports

I will begin by saying that this blog post is not an Editorial.

EXPERIENCE is teaming up with a very cool consulting group based out of Atlanta that specializes in marketing program implementation to reach the U.S. Black and Brown market… Propellant Media (propellant.media).

Unlike conventional cultural-specialized communication firms, Propellant is utilizing EXPERIENCE to segment beyond the color-of-skin labels and delve further in identifying more holistic, neighborhood-based, psychographic lifestyle groups… in which Blank and Brown roots exist, but alone do not define the group identity.

For example, the groups sport nicknames like “New Suburbanites” and “Multi-Culti Mosaic” that confirm what…

Emotional Engagement — Few Get It… But Three Brands That Do!

Back in 2019, Forbes issued a headline story titled… “It’s Official: The M.B.A. Degree is in Crisis.”

Those of you who have followed this blog have heard me voice a similar story. Although I have not cited the MBA degree in crisis… but more directly, declared it was dead.

My observation was based on the MBA foundation … one that is linear and rational … one that falls short of defining “key product benefits” … one that thrives off accounting and finance… one that was no longer working in companies embracing it.

It might be Facebook or Google or any…

The Top Five 2021 Market Trends

I have delayed issuing the Trendcast for 2021 and it’s been intentional.

The past year, 2020 was the most volatile year I have lived through and the most volatile year the marketplace has experienced.

Some of the factors being real and others authored to jolt the marketplace.

Whether the fear of COVID-19, the mandated lock-downs, the reorganization of workforce teams, the reinvention of the home, the shortage of everything from grocery items to real estate, a financial marketplace roller coaster ride, the evolution of family dynamics, the adaption of technology, an election that has sliced the U.S. …