Leading with brand alpha is also good business
Reading Time: 5 minuteswe lead with what lags and ignore what we should lead with
Brand generates alpha for a business
Reading Time: 3 minutesBrand alpha is not a distant shiny theoretical concept. It generates cold hard cash.
Brand managers are not set up for success
Reading Time: 5 minutesYoung brand managers are thrown into the deep end. MBA education is too theoretical and managers don’t have time to teach. That’s why they need mental models.
It’s not just about the money
Reading Time: 6 minutesIt’s about fuzzy costs, and goodness. Stories, empathy, and self awareness hold the keys that unlock the mystery of fuzziness
Desire is good, desire is bad – The paradox of desire
Reading Time: 6 minutesThere would be no marketing, or even capitalism without desire. Trigger warning: I delve into the Hindu scriptures to understand the paradox of desire.
Mediocrites and Meaning Seekers in the age of AI
Reading Time: 5 minutesIn a post-AI world, the responsibility for keeping the mercenararians in check and the artists fed and clothed will lie with the mediocrites and meaning-seekers.
Mercenararians in the age of AI
Reading Time: 5 minutesMercenararians and artists are two ends of a spectrum, but there is a middle ground
Artists in the age of AI
Reading Time: 7 minutesArtistry is the single-minded, self-driven pursuit of mastery in our chosen area. In the age of AI, we will have fewer real artists, but they will command luxury valuations.
Value = (Output/Input)^Time
Reading Time: 3 minutesWe decide for how long (time) we want to put in effort (input) to get what we want (output) – Will AI upend this inverse relationship between input, output and time?
AI will put a hi-tech chinese factory and the entire Ivy League inside our homes
Reading Time: 6 minutesThis week’s newsletter paints a picture of a future when moats of production and knowledge are shattered, the copyright and value capture dilemmas it throws at us, and some capitalist solutions.