Great brands are like great people and when great people know who they are, where they’re going and how to get there, they can contribute to the world in a way that is larger than any one single area of focus. At a certain point, they transcend their specialized field and become something larger than themselves, larger than their community, and larger than their chosen category. 

They become Brandscendent™. 

Here are some antiviral tips for CMOs that could make a quarantine situation produce some healthy results. (As I sit here gazing out at emptying streets in San Francisco, all my tech clients have notified me they’re going remote for the next two weeks.) 

Advertising, we have a problem.

The agency industry is unlike any other. People in other industries don’t provide their would-be clients with “spec work” for free. So why are agencies expected to think for free when pitching for a new account? It’s a topic that strikes a chord throughout the industry with an ongoing debate over the question of should agencies be paid to pitch? 

Franchising is a model that allows business owners to grow their businesses and expand the brand. Franchisees buy into a brand that has concept, operations and marketing support. However, franchisees still need to build their own businesses. Successful companies never stop marketing. Consider marketing to be food, not medicine; businesses need ongoing marketing as sustenance, not just a quick burst to cure a problem. Marketing brings in business. So why do so many franchise brands struggle to get franchisees to fully participate in local store marketing?

Although memory lane isn’t a physical street, it’s a place in everyone’s hearts once you reach a certain age.  But for some, memory lane includes reminiscing about a simpler time in history. Before the days of instantaneous uploading, 24/7 access, dings from texts, beeps from Facebook messages, endless emails and a barrage of unsolicited ones too.