Every time I attend a Blockchain conference or an Oil and Gas event and engage CFOs in a discussion about how Blockchain technology can disrupt their industry and revolutionize the way their business functions, I systematically hear the same rhetoric. “Look at the fluctuations of the Bitcoin. So many people have lost fortunes because of […]

The idea of sustainability in business is becoming less of a political issue and more of a basic standard of good business practice. With an increasing number of the world’s top companies publishing sustainability commitments and producing sustainability reports, small business owners are feeling empowered to take a stand on protecting our economic, social and […]

Your competitors are harnessing the crypto economy’s power. Don’t get left behind. It became open-source software, a business hub, a marketplace. But OpenBazaar began — as great business ideas nearly always do — as a side project. At a Toronto hackathon in 2014, Amir Taaki and a handful of developers started what he called “DarkMarket,” with a proof-of-concept aimed at building […]

The practice has prospered for nearly a century, and the playbook is dogeared, yet many brand owners hesitate. Since the origination of brand licensing in the late 1920’s to early 1930’s with Steamboat Willy, licensing has grown at a unfettered rate. So much so that brand owners have wondered, “Should I license? Will licensing my […]

Now that I’ve finished raising the first funding round for my company TruStory, I’m looking back and thinking about all the things I wish I’d known going in… things I had to learn the hard way — and there’s a lot. In this post, I’m going to share some of the most valuable things I’ve learned along the way. […]

So you might have heard that the more you progress in your career, the more “strategic” you should aim to be. WTF does that mean? Here is what I used to think “being strategic” meant: Setting metric goals. “Thinking outside the box” to come up with new ideas. Working harder and motivating others to work […]

By Laura Desmond The late comedian Bill Hicks famously ripped into marketers, telling them: “There’s no rationalisation for what you do and you are Satan’s little helpers. Okay — kill yourself.” In the wake of scam projects and overzealous ICOs, the disdain Hicks showed for marketing reverberates around the crypto space, but marketing itself is not intrinsically evil; […]

Last month, users feasted on stories on McDonald’s recent digital signage transformation, interactivity and customer engagement. One story analyzed McDonald’s recent digital signage and kiosk deployment, and asked, “Will this solve McDonald’s brand image issues?” Another story examined interactivity as a component of digital signage, and how end users can determine if they should use interactive […]

Putting hashtags in as a first comment makes your posts easy to notice. Lo and behold! Instagram is testing a new feature for adding hashtags as a separate block underneath the images. App researcher Jane Manchun Wong tweeted earlier this week a screenshot of what looks like a beta version of a new Instagram feature, […]

Small is the new big. Large business-to-business (B2B) technology companies continue to outspend their smaller counterparts in dollar and percentage terms, and yet, rank poorly on marketing-driven revenue. What gives? Perhaps they haven’t course corrected for the five key trends that are changing the marketing landscape. As a product marketing leader at a mid-sized software vendor, I […]