rehumanize

First of all, I work in a profession that sits at the intersection of business and everything – technology, art, pop culture, entertainment, societal trends, media.  How can you not love that? I get to solve business problems that help companies grow. I try to never forget why we do what we do. I get to live each week as a commercial anthropologist.  The inspirations I need are constantly swirling around me, whether I'm on Facebook witnessing nascent online memes, seeing a new special effect in a movie, learning about new technologies in Wired, scanning relevant business trends in the Wall Street Journal, or walking through the grocery store and watching how people shop (creepy, I know). I get to have weeks like the one I just had – one that reminds me that I actually have multiple careers:  I work in fashion (reviewing fashion trends for Charming Charlie); spirits (digging for insights for SKYY on why women love flavored vodkas);   fine jewelry (working with teams to def

There's little doubt that the line separating politics from marketing is fading with each campaign.  The purpose of this post is not to comment on that dynamic, nor to offer commentary on the recent presidential election.  Rather, it is to examine the aftermath of this campaign and see what lessons marketers can learn from these increasingly sophisticated and well-funded political campaigns. Here are three simple questions a marketer can ask before launching a major new campaign: Are you aligning your brand with emerging demographic trends?   Chances are your customer base looks nothing like you – it is increasingly multicultural; it must appeal to a new generation of well-educated and empowered women; it is consumed in gay and lesbian homes.  This doesn't suggest that a marketer should abandon its core customer group.  What this means is that we should stop treating "diverse" audiences as secondary or tertiary targets and make sure these customers are well re