BIG QUESTIONS
Why do CMOs have such a short tenure?
Chief Marketing Officer is a mighty big gig. And once you start, you have a mere 23-50 months on average to make your mark – the shortest tenure in the C-suite. Why so brief? Three words: bad job design. Job descriptions can vary wildly, but often include more areas of responsibility than any one person can be expected to have – from brand strategy to marketing infrastructure, pricing to sales management, public relations to e‑commerce, product development to distribution. You’re a scientist, psychologist, artist, and technologist. Oftentimes that means that CEOs expectations are misaligned with your authority, budget, and expertise. On top of that, it’s possibly the most visible thing the company does – making it all too easy for colleagues to snipe. The tenure could improve, though, if companies spent more time designing and recruiting for the role. It may well be the hardest position in the company to get right.
TOOL JOY
Beautiful, AI generated art from Ideogram
Since prompt writing is really the skillset of the decade, free tools that help you learn how to do that are priceless. For that reason alone, Ideogram is a nice addition to the nonstop parade of AI image generators. Launched in 2023, a free account to Ideogram gets you 10 requests per day. The tool uses deep learning to create visuals for marketing campaigns, online content, and other creative projects. Once you write a prompt, their “Magic Prompt” tool enhances, extends, and translates that to generate better results. When you select an image from the four options created, you can further edit their magic prompt to generate more options. You can also click images in their gallery to learn from those prompts.
DESIGN WE ❤️
The problem with plastics, by Information Is Beautiful
Many scientists state the planet has entered a new era, called the Anthropocene. One of the hallmarks of this epoch is the ubiquity of plastic in the environment, from the deep ocean, to the insides of our bodies. The sad truth is that the vast majority of plastic is not recycled, and ends up at large in the environment, where it will remain for centuries.
This very detailed data visualization by Information Is Beautiful contains all the information you could want about why most plastic isn’t recycled, and what we can do as individuals to make a positive impact.
BEEP BOOP
Hello? Helloooo?: Office vacancy rates are at an all time high and expected to climb well into 2026.
Betcha can’t eat just one: The first performative eater was Nicholas Wood who devoured an entire sheep in one sitting back in the 1600’s. Chow down on the history of competitive eating here.
Gold plated grocery store: There’s a grocery store named Edeka Zurheider in Düsseldorf, Germany touting a champagne bar, jamon (ham) sampling station, mozzarella bar, a wine tasting cube, and a Michelin-starred restaurant. Surprise and delight…it’s what’s for dinner.
Lonely men rejoice: There’s a new dating app…without any people. Yeah, you read that right. Loverse allows you to date an AI bot – virtually, of course. And they’ll even marry you.
That’ll be $10…no $20: The FTC is investigating “surveillance pricing” where companies use personal info, like your finances and browser history, to set different prices for everyone.
SPECIAL FEATURE
Social media habits have recently changed
Sprout Social sponsored a new survey of roughly 2,000 people from the US and UK. Here’s (some of) what they found:
Instagram is now the most popular platform.
In particular, Gen Z and Millenials prefer Instagram whereas Gen X still prefers Facebook.
Most popular content types are edutainment (65.5%), memes (40%), serialized content (38%), and one-off video skits (38%).
Most consumers say that production value DOES impact whether they engage with a brand’s content.
Content that’s obviously AI-generated can negatively impact consumer buying decisions.
43% of consumers are likely to unfollow brands for having an unoriginal content strategy. (If you need help with your social media strategy, we’re here for you.)
WORD TO THE WISE
“The two sides of our brain give us the ability to grasp problems in the pincer grip of logic and intuition.”
— Author, designer, brand thinker Marty Neumeier
WHAT CLIENTS WANT
9 questions to ask if you want to create great webinars
Like most things, the best way to learn how to create great webinars is to create webinars. Over time, you’ll start to develop an intuitive sense of what people will like. But here are 9 questions to ask yourself as you go into the exercise (via Exit Five podcast):
- What content does your audience really, really want?
- Is that topic worthy of being an entire webinar, or would it be better as an article?
- Are you positioning yourself as the authority on a topic, or are you hosting this event for the greater good of a community? (There is a difference.)
- Do you have someone who is good at being an engaging host? Otherwise, maybe don’t do this.
- What’s the shortest time your webinar can be? There’s no law saying a webinar needs to be 30 or 60 minutes. As long as there’s value, shorter is better.
- Does your webinar contain some amount of storytelling?
- Have you attended and studied other successful webinars?
- Are you active in the chat? You learn pretty quickly what topics are popular based on how people respond in the chat.
- Did you solicit feedback? Create feedback loops like surveys so you can learn from each outing.
ICEBREAKER
What is/was your favorite cartoon character and why?
Laura: Phineas and Ferb got me through many looooong days with a toddler. Love Phineas’s optimism and Ferb’s tenacity. And brilliant (truly funny) writing to boot.
Sarah: Tina Belcher on Bob’s Burgers. She’s a vibe. Here’s five minutes of Tina classics.
Todd: Foghorn Leghorn. A blustery fella aggressively doling out bad advice with phrases like, “Pay attention, son”, or “Look at me when I’m talkin’ to ya, boy.” I think that cartoon was subtly poking fun at authority and social hierarchy, which was deeply appealing to me as a boy.
Melissa: Underdog! There was something so amazing about a superhero dog.
John: hyper-critical horse from Ren and Stimpy: “Hmmmmm…no sir, I don’t like it.” Never gets old.
Marielle: Jerry, of Tom and, had a playful, rebellious spirit that appealed to me when I was an energetic, irreverent tween – and that calamitous charm holds up! Here’s one of the best: Concert Madness, 1947.
Nick: Courage from Courage the Cowardly Dog. Even though he is a scaredy-cat, he always finds a way to get things back to the way they were 20 minutes before. Gotta love that.
Peter: Maggie Simpson. With little to no words, and small amounts of screen time, she often steals the show with wisdom far, far beyond her year(s).
Emily: Patrick Star. He often drops pearls of wisdom and insights that make you think deeper. He has an unconventional approach to problem-solving and a carefree attitude towards life’s challenges (a trait I very much admire!).
FALLACIES, PARADOXES & THEORIES…OH MY
Sheeran’s Law (“Rule of the Dirty Faucet”)
When you turn on a dirty tap, dirty water flows out at first. Gunk. This is often the case with coming up with ideas. Especially if you haven’t tried to do that in awhile. Sheeran’s Law says that in order to get to the pure, high quality good ideas (or even great ideas), you must first write ALL your ideas down – ESPECIALLY the bad ones. If you leave the gunk in your head, it expands and muddies your thinking. Putting it down gets it out of the way so the good stuff can come to the front.
