Two years and nine months ago (at the time of writing this post) I embarked on a journey. I knew this journey would be unlike any I had encountered—I was correct; but like every worthy journey, this one has come to a close. My time as VP Global Digital Marketing at MasterCard has been rewarding, fun, frustrating, at times maddening, profoundly enriching and most of all educational. I have worked on numerous award-winning campaigns, helped to build a global infrastructure for digital marketing operations and got to work with remarkable startups as part of MasterCard’s incubator. I have learned a great deal about marketing operations and execution in Asian markets (and other markets worldwide), global sponsorships, payment networks and a variety of other valuable areas—but now it is time to move on.

I like to think my impact on MasterCard’s marketing department will endure beyond my tenure. Digital marketing at MasterCard looks very different relative to when I began and while I recognize that this is due to the tireless work done by many marketing executives around the world, I hope my influence will remain; if only slightly.

My experience at MasterCard revealed how gratifying the role of “change-agent” can be; so much so that the next leg of my career will continue down this path. More specifically I will be working with marketers to help execute amazing branded consumer experiences for the post digital age. I will focus on a few key areas; consumer loyalty in the age of mobility, cross-channel marketing attribution and big data analytics, product growth and the role of user experience and finally, marketing from the inside out—by this I am referring to the modern imperative to focus on product excellence as a core tenet of any marketing and growth strategy (this may seem obvious to some, but it isn’t for many).

In order to accomplish the aforementioned vision I have partnered with a variety of companies. I am consulting for some and joining the board of others. To start, I will be working with innovative “moment targeting” platform, Kiip. I worked with Kiip during my tenure at MasterCard and fell in love with their technology and long-term vision. In addition I will be working with Accomplice.io, a next generation cross channel media marketing platform. Finally, I will resume work as consultant to my old friends from Something Massive whom I sold my agency to in 2012. I worked for Something Massive until leaving for MasterCard and I hired them for various projects during my time at MasterCard—I never stopped being a fan of their work.

Despite the plans I have put in place, the honest truth is that the core catalyst behind my professional choices are personal—sometimes you have to follow your heart and amazingly, the heart has a way of reprioritizing what you once thought was most important. I have relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area; traded my NYC subway pass for a car and my winter coat for many layers of clothing in preparation for the most unique climate patterns on the planet.

I would like to thank my team at MasterCard for a Priceless ride; it will forever be a part of me. 

“Content Marketing” Is Especially Troubling

As I will speak about on Thursday, I find the term “content marketing” disconcerting. The term is inherently flawed as; there are two masters leading one to ask the question, “What is more important, great content or great marketing?” The answer to this question is not an easy one and the ability to achieve both ends simultaneously is even more of a challenge--but the fact is, without great content, great content marketing is impossible.  

Okay Adam, You Can Complain But What Else Can You Do?

 As a proud objector to vacuous conjecture about marketing trends, the only thing I can do to be a useful part of the marketing community is compliment my rants with thoughtful approaches (unlike many of my whiney colleagues). Here are some thoughts:

1.  Drop the phrase “content marketing” and simply speak in terms of content. This is a minor adjustment but believe me, it is important to start with the body and the mind will follow
2.  Leverage the database of intentions and the social graph to plan your editorial. Marketers in the Internet era are blessed with the world’s largest pool of consumer attitudes and interests and a lot of it is available for use at no cost
3. Creating a content workflow, editorial voice and point of view takes time. Success will not happen over night. It may never happen depending on how you define success—but if you don’t give yourself at least a full year of runway, you are destined to fail (a year is an arbitrary duration and it will likely take much longer than that)
4. The content is the marketing (define that one yourself, I cannot do all the work for you)
5. All brands need to create content, but maybe your brand doesn’t
6. There is no substitute for greatness. 9 out of 10 equals 0 out of 10

See you Thursday. 

Staying relevant means making large bets. Innovation as I define is “creativity with a job to do”. As a public entity Facebook has a job to do; namely, they have to continually uncover new ways to integrate human conversations into people’s lives in order to make money. With all of the start up’s trying to eat Facebook’s lunch, the only way to stay on top is to always be thinking one step beyond everyone else. Sure, we are just at the beginning of the age of mobility, but the laws of exponential change dictate that new interfaces will come at us with little to no warning.

Augmented reality, virtual reality and other “invisible interfaces” will inevitably be ingrained into the fabric of our everyday lives. How exactly, I cannot say but the question is “when?” not “if?” and Facebook has a responsibility to it’s shareholders to not only been ready when “when” is now, they also have a responsibility to help shape the future of such interfaces.

From the beginning Facebook has been about connecting people and the way we connect is changing—one must either accept this or stay unconnected. Once again, as a public company, Facebook has no choice but to both accept change and lead it, and for that, I applaud them. 

All too often marketers are asked for "the big idea", yet the design of things often times seems to be delegated to competencies, agencies or departments other than marketing--the rationale for this is fairly obvious, but the issue I see is that, all too often, marketers are cut out of the process for a period of time or simply don't feel they can add value to the process and choose not to take part. I blame establishments, marketers and the designers of the world--all of whom think they "know best" when it comes to their corner of the earth, but the fact remains, the earth is round and perfection is achieved through collaboration. 

The expectation of most marketers is that they are not designers or "product people", so why should they deal with these things? And so the marketer often leans on designers and product developers, many of whom don't pay adequate attention to the market in the same way a marketer would. What are we left with? In this scenario we are often left with great ideas designed terribly or beautifully stupid ideas, both equally unappealing to everyone.

As a marketer, I get excited every time I see gorgeous, smart and natural product design and great UX. I am, by no means an expert in these fields, but over the years I have paid so much attention to these areas, I can easily spot the good from the bad, as well as the good from the great.

I just saw this project on Kickstarter: http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/02/tiptop-speakers-launches/

What is the big idea?

A portable and dock-able Bluetooth speaker (meh)

No no, really, what is the big idea?

The use of frequently unused space to provide utility and entertainment. Furthermore, the use of unused space in a a way that accentuates sound by leveraging existing infrastructure. And finally, a beautiful and portable Bluetooth speaker....win!

In my 12+ years as a marketer, I have rarely, if ever seen another marketer come to the table with something akin to the latter as a "big idea". This needs to change.

UX/UI and the art of product design are core to modern marketing If you are a marketer and not on board with this notion to some extent, you may fall off the train.

Like many people, I am a big fan of TED. While TED Talks are almost always elegant, they span various topics and fluctuate in complexity. I am a fan of all types of content, but sometimes the simplest notions yield the most meaningful impact. One TED Talk that was particularly impactful for me was given by Google’s Matt Cutts. The talk was playful and accessible. It lacked pretense and on the surface, did not seem incredibly profound—but for some reason the rhythm of Cutts’s talk continued to beat in my head.

…if you really want something badly enough, you can do anything for 30 days

Trying something new every thirty days may not appeal to everyone, but the essence of Cutts’s recommendation should be considered by anyone looking to expand their ability to impact both their immediate surroundings, and the entire world. Living life without taking sufficient time to experience exciting and potentially uncomfortable situations restricts our ability to progress professionally and personally.  Taking chances, falling down and stepping outside of everyday patterns aid in making us more creative, innovative and vibrant. While Cutts did not say these things explicitly, I believe they were implied to some degree—at least, that is what his talk meant to me.

I attempt new things as often as possible. My attempts are not always monumental—I don’t think that Cutts was suggesting they need to be, but once in a while the system needs a major jolt. I recently made a professional move that falls into this category. I accepted an opportunity that is not only exciting; it is a chance to get a different perspective on the industry in which I have chosen to build a career. Since I began in the advertising/marketing industry I have sought an opportunity that would afford me such a perspective. 

On January 2nd 2013, I started my new role as Vice President/Senior Business Leader of Global Digital Marketing for MasterCard. I have the honor of working on a team led by the incredibly respected and accomplished Michael Donnelly. I will be focused on all things social, mobile, local and beyond. For a variety of reasons, this role could not have been a better fit for me.

Since starting at MasterCard, I have been asked numerous times, "why would an entrepreneurial spirited person want to work for a large corporation?" The answer to that query is simple,

I had no specific desire to work at a large corporation. My desire was to work at MasterCard. Had a similar opportunity at another institution been available, I would most likely not have taken it

This realization surfaced during my first visit to Purchase New York (MasterCard’s Worldwide HQ).  I sensed an underlying pulse in the people and spaces I saw. There was a tremendous amount of excitement that, quite frankly, I was not expecting. Without giving any specifics, I can tell you that what I saw on that first visit was big. Ground breaking things were afoot . I wanted in!

As for the role I left behind—Something Massive is an amazing and creative shop. They remain family. Our relationship has not ended, it has merely changed. And as for the Circ.us legacy, that will never die. Thanks to Dr. Swords for building something great with me—it is my belief that our work is cemented in the history of digital creativity.

From an industry facing perspective, I may be a bit quieter over the next 6 months as I learn the inner workings of MasterCard's business and focus on changing the future of payments. Don't worry though, it will not be long before you hear from me some of the great things happening @Mastercard.

#priceless

Enter the events of December 14th 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary school. When I heard the news my stomach was in knots. The world looked a bit different that day. Each face seen on "the streets of everyday" became the faces of potential victims, and potential murderers. The fleeting nature of life was surfaced for the entire world and the inevitable question, "how can such evil exist?" became a popular question. Questions about human nature, gun control and government were all surfaced. It was overwhelming, but not so much so that if you stopped to look at the angelic young faces that lost their lives that day all concerns would be washed over by waves of utter despair and sadness. 

Despite my want to ignore the media, I clicked on a link and began looking at the faces of the fallen. After viewing one brave teacher and two beautiful children, I was served an interstitial video ad. Take a look:

Knowing the online advertising business very well, I know how quickly ads can be changed. I know that this scenario could have been avoided. What I don't know is whether this display was one of ignorance or greed. If I were the publisher of USA Today, I would ban all ads from running along side such content. I wonder how the marketers at The New York Lottery feel about this?

I do not wish to get into a dialogue on branding, marketing, publishing or anything else that may insensitive to the tragedy at hand. The reason for this post is to allow people to understand how I felt when seeing this, and maybe spark some reaction so, in the future, publishers and brands can learn to be a bit more sensitive.

My feelings are with the families of those suffering from this awful tragedy. While I cannot know how you feel, I am willing to feel it as much as I can in hopes the slightest bit of consolation could come from knowing you are not alone.

No, not one of those dreams.

Have you ever wanted to do something out of the ordinary? Maybe you wanted to be a rock star or an actor. Once upon a time, achieving your dream was subject to the will of the few--the ones behind desks with dollar tainted vision. At one time, those people may have kept you from your dream, but every great construct (governments, schools of thought, corporations) reaches an inflection point--at point at which the ones being served fail to feel the value from the ones that serve them, and the ones in charge, so drunk on their own success, forget that we all have to answer to someone. 

Today, in our socially transparent world, where businesses report directly to their customers, people are more capable of achieving their dreams. in the attempt to achieve one's dream, the modern world has afforded us the freedom to only answer to two parties; our direct customers and ourselves. Kickstarter has helped empower that dream. If you have a product that people want and are brave enough to go get it, you can...no excuses. 

Now on to my point:

One of my oldest and dearest friends, Dan Fodera and his crew (which includes his 2 brothers and 2 other hilarious dudes) are looking to take their dream. I did not say they are hoping to achieve it, as that would be a misnomer. They have, by all means available to them, taken their dream by the balls (sorry for the language and disturbing metaphor). They are looking to raise 6 grand to make the second episode of Kissing Sisters, their amazing comedy troupe. 

The Sisters boot strapped episode one and it was amazing, now they are looking to Kickstart number two. I was both proud as a friend and impressed as a fan of comedy when I saw the first episode at Tribeca Cinemas (plus, I almost peed my pants). The Sisters are clever, fun, inventive, crass, edgy and everything else you want from a great sketch comedy outfit.

Take a look at the clip below. If you laugh, please give money.

If you are offended, please give money and write them a note telling them they should be more respectful of the Jewish faith (even though I have never been more proud to be Jewish than when I first saw this). 

If for some reason you don't laugh, give money and ask them to help you with your sense of humor, you need it! If you give enough money, I am sure they will help you out. 

What are you waiting for!!???

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/144867073/kissing-sisters-episode-2-0

KISSING SISTERS - BASKETBALL from KISSING SISTERS (COMEDY) on Vimeo.