Bliss at 30,000 feet

I had the most marvelous encounter today. A transportation, really. It seemed an angel all clad in billowy white descended from the blinding heavens, grasped my hand, and carried me up to the lofty heights of pure delight. An angel named Alaska Airlines.
At least, that’s how my flight from Portland to Chicago felt today.
In contrast, [...]

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Our reading list

Here’s a list of some of the books we love most right now. Just in case you’re looking for something to inspire you or stuff in your carry-on.
Built To Last. Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. By Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras. This one’s a monster, importance-wise. One of the top two books we recommend [...]

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The greatest human invention

It’s wine. No question.
Fire was a good discovery, but we didn’t invent it. It just kind of happened naturally and we learned to repeat it. The wheel’s pretty rocking, but not nearly as satisfying. (Except maybe when I’m riding my motorcycle.) Sex…that was invented by some crawling mud things way before we came along.
Wine is [...]

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The NYT hearts PDX

OK, terminally hip potential employees. Next time ID Branding comes calling and you have any doubts about whether you should move to Portland, read this and drool.
- Doug

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The Most Interesting Man rocks on

Few advertising campaigns actually go beyond advertising and begin shaping an ethos and a worldview for a brand. But that’s exactly what Euro did for Dos Equis in the still-running and still-brilliant campaign, The Most Interesting Man in the World.
Ever since I blogged about the campaign and posted videos on the blog, we have had [...]

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If you cut a worm in half it just dies

No matter what Buzz O’Halloran told you on the playground, it doesn’t work. A worm needs all parts of it’s body to be a worm. Cutting it in half with a broken Pepsi bottle just makes a small, tragic mess.
Same with strategic and creative work.
I’m not sure what makes people think, on both the agency [...]

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100% of what we do works

Many of you know the famous saying of retailing magnate John Wanamaker: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
This once-true statement is based on an old model of branding which looks at advertising as essentially a cattle prod to spur sales. It’s a model based [...]

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Advice for the grads

Hello, about-to-graduate future branding person. Whether you’re hoping to be a creative, an account manager, an interactive type, or a strategist, here are some tips on how to launch your career and get your first job.
I’m telling you all this because other people told me when I needed to know, and I firmly believe in [...]

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The JFK Experience

So, imagine you’ve just had a bad customer experience with US Airlines and you’ve got four more hours to kill at JFK and the security person points out an electrical outlet and encourages you to move a comfortable chair across the room so you can use your laptop despite its low battery and suddenly you’re [...]

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The US Airways Experience

Imagine arriving at a check-in counter at Kennedy International Airport for a flight that leaves in half an hour, which you know you can catch, and being told that you are five minutes late checking in and therefore will not be allowed on the flight, and the next flight is in six hours. And your [...]

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