BIG QUESTIONS
How do you change people’s minds, really?
For years, our theory about B2B marketing was that it was rooted in the art of persuasion. But this is too simplistic to account for the transformation that happens in the buyer’s mind. Buyers don’t change their minds based on logic, data, or even emotion. They shift when their mental model of reality seems inaccurate. True change begins with that disorientation – when assumptions stop predicting outcomes. A new technology, business model, or operating logic is introduced and the buyer’s first response is defensiveness. That’s a reflex designed to protect their worldview – their sense of competence and credibility. Often, trying harder to persuade them just deepens their resistance.
Companies do many things to try and overcome this. Here are two: 1) Create safe experiments that let buyers test the new belief without fully committing to it. These can include pilots, demos, free versions, and other experiential proof that make the new belief feel both viable and familiar. 2) Engineer language communities around their worldview. People in decision-making units are bound by shared norms, incentives, and vocabulary. Your idea must feel socially compatible: endorsed by people like them, using their language, aligned with their values. Signals like these lower the perceived risk. It’s less about persuasion than psychological navigation. In other words, guiding people through their fear, confusion, and doubt until seeing differently becomes believing differently.
TOOL JOY
Tools for the vegetarian-curious
Plant-based eating is having a moment – not just for vegans, but for anyone trying to cut back on meat. And after the Beyond/Impossible hype cycle (great products, questionable marketing), it’s clear people want more than protein look-alikes. They want real options. Food Monster offers step-by-step plant-based recipes that go way beyond faux burgers. And when you’re eating out, Happy Cow helps you find vegetarian-friendly spots in 185+ countries. If you’re feeling vegetarian-curious for Thanksgiving – or test-driving 2026 goals – these apps make it way easier.
DESIGN WE ❤️
The Y2K aesthetic has returned
If you’re of a certain vintage, you’ll recall the closing days of the millenium when the design aesthetic was dominated by saturated colors, shiny surfaces, and a sense of bright optimism. About 25 years later, as we stand on the cusp of a massive technological leap driven by the promise and uncertainty of AI, a similar trend has come to the forefront. Called the Y2K Aesthetic, it’s driven by a sense of nostalgia and cautious optimism, iridescent colors, gradients, and natural fluidity. Only now, it’s evolved to reflect the sophistication we’ve gained in technology and hindsight, with references to natural, organic form and a more muted use of color. Perhaps the intention behind this design trend is a reference to the ultimate promise of technology – the disappearance of human/screen interaction and latency, where technology fades seamlessly into the background, almost as though it’s part of the natural world itself.
BEEP BOOP
Dance-a-holism: Szabolcs Csépe, a 34-year-old Hungarian man, bopped to over 3,000 songs and burned more than 22,000 calories in his quest to break the world record for hours playing Dance Dance Revolution. His time? 144 hours. Code name: Grasshopper.
Groovy code: Collins Dictionary picked vibe coding as the word of the year – that’s the art of making an app or website by describing it to artificial intelligence (AI) rather than by writing programming code manually. Neato.
Merry New Year: Americans’ holiday spending, according to Gallup, should remain stable at an average of $1,007 on gifts (last year was $1,014). Google predicts they’ll be doing more research though, so get your content out there, folks.
I’d rather take a bullet: The always thoughtful Sam Harris writes about overcoming the fear of public speaking. Our favorite advice: Watch video of yourself presenting, and realize you’re not as nervous looking as you think.
Major red (and yellow) flag: Did you know that Mastercard has a newsroom? Well, they do, and they’ve been busy creating a five-part video series called “Anatomy of a Scam.” The first episode arrived just in time for Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
WORD TO THE WISE
“The point about unusual ideas is their proximity to madness.”
— George Lois (1931–2022), American art director and author widely recognized as a pioneer of the “Creative Revolution.” Lois was known for his belief in the “Big Idea.” A single, powerful concept that could cut through the noise and make an immediate impact.
BECAUSE WE CARE
3 guiding principles of building trust with your audience
Though not your responsibility alone, trust building is an important part of your job as a marketer. Trust is the structural and psychological bridge customers cross when they decide to buy your thing. Consider the following three guiding principles:
- Do you have your customer’s best interest at heart in every situation? If you are not constantly double-checking yourself against this question, your inherent profit-obsessed, ROI-centric self-interest will seep into the way your brand is projected.
- Does your brand project a trustworthy personality? Trustworthiness itself is not a personality trait. But your brand can behave in ways that make it seem more trustworthy. Be honest, friendly, agreeable, relaxed, comfortable.
- Do you back your brand claims with verifiable facts? In the hierarchy of data, a company’s assertions about itself are low quality. If those assertions are supported by facts, it strengthens your claims AND the trust customers have. Have a repository of factual claims backed by sources.
ICEBREAKER
How do you explain what you do at holiday parties?
Todd: Marketing is one of those topics that just doesn’t do well at parties. I say that I help companies tell their stories.
Melissa: When people ask I tell them… imagine a bunch of feral, wet kittens. I get them organized and keep them moving in the direction I need them to move.
Sarah: I’m not big on small talk, especially about my job, so I just say I’m a writer and most people assume I work in publishing. Easy peasy.
Matt: “I work in advertising… no, I didn’t do that <insert popular Nike TV spot>… but I do come up with the ideas for ads, and then do the writing part.”
Jason: “I work in marketing… I help our clients sell more stuff.” Usually, there aren’t too many questions after that.
Kim: I say that I write marketing copy and a lot of it is geared toward personal finance… then I usually change the subject before people can ask about investing.
John: I very conspicuously and unapologetically double dip multiple times, so as to get myself dishonorably discharged before anyone has the opportunity to ask me that question. It’s a less painful route than explaining what graphic designers and art directors do.
FALLACIES, PARADOXES & THEORIES…OH MY
The “Jobs to Be Done” Theory of Marketing
This theory posits that people don’t buy products; they hire them to solve life’s problems. It’s not about personas or demographics; it’s about progress… for them. Your customer isn’t a “35-year-old suburban dad,” he’s someone trying to eat breakfast while dodging morning traffic and navigating his existential dread. If your product doesn’t help him, he’ll fire it and hire something better. The “Jobs to Be Done” theory digs into the messy, emotional, functional reasons people switch from one thing to another and turns marketing into matchmaking: Who’s stuck, what job are they trying to get done, and how can you be the answer?
