A month or so ago, I was asked to take on the role of CEO at SMG, a global retail media specialist with offices in the U.K. and the U.S. Somewhat unusually, I was six months pregnant at the time. The reactions have been fascinating: congratulations, followed by congratulations again. There’s normally an accompanying smile ..
Tag : Voice
When I first saw American Eagle’s campaign with Sydney Sweeney, I couldn’t help but pause—not because the wordplay missed the mark, but because the context did. Tongue-in-cheek is a style of humor rooted in sarcasm and irony. It’s playful by design. But it works best when the tone, the brand, and the talent delivering it ..
Yes, this Sydney Sweeney x American Eagle campaign is blowing up across media and social media, snagging headlines left and right. Clearly, they didn’t sufficiently test the copy (among other things), and yet their stock price has surged despite the scandal. Which is going to lead some folks to claim all PR is good PR… ..
The saying that all publicity is good publicity isn’t always true, and yet there’s a whole slew of professionals out there seeking to make it their cause. After all, visibility is a high-stakes game. You can play and you can absolutely lose. And when your CEO is caught in a massive scandal of the extramarital ..
Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath invented “heavy music.” Every metal and punk band today is a direct result of the creativity that began in that special group of talented weirdos. So without question, Liquid Death is a direct result of Ozzy’s influence that shaped the punk and metal music of my formative years, that had ..
In an ironic twist, the same AI tools many feared would cannibalize media might actually be the mechanism that restores its value. Large language models could finally tip power back toward premium publishers. LLMs aren’t simply indexing content, they’re interpreting it. These models are trained on authoritative sources, named bylines, structured reporting, and consistent reputational ..
Getting caught cheating is never good, but most couples don’t have their dirty laundry aired by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin in the middle of a concert. The grainy kiss cam footage of a cuddly couple scrambling apart and ducking out of frame as Martin gently narrates the affair speculation has commanded so much organic media ..
There were reasons to be happy at this year’s Cannes Lions. We were awarded a Titanium Lion for work we knew deserved it. It stood out from the moment I first saw it as an early idea in a meeting in São Paulo. It was the first ever Titanium win for Mars, and the first in ..
The fear in our industry is real. Mergers. Layoffs. Budget cuts. AI literally threatens to replace us (shout-out Meta). And then 2025 arrived, kicking off with a wave of anti-DEI sentiment from the current administration—and, in lockstep, from many marketers. And now, we’re witnessing the most aggressive attack on immigrants this generation has seen. Last ..
I’m as skeptical about the latest “shiny object” announcement as anyone else. And just coming back from Cannes Lions, companies both large and small had major news to share; the coming of agentic artificial intelligence was the talk of the town. Right now, we’ve got marketing teams running 80 to 120 different tools and platforms. ..
