tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47821526059459582632024-09-09T04:31:12.464-05:00Marketing is what I do. Art, storytelling and change are what I'm interested in. Ben Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18339542270070845204noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4782152605945958263.post-57310056031933643462020-12-30T23:07:00.014-06:002021-01-10T22:01:29.523-06:00

I've re-published this story on Medium and will be moving all my posts over there soon.  Thanks for visiting!

Ben Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18339542270070845204noreply@blogger.com0Iowa City, IA, USA41.6611277 -91.530168313.350893863821156 -126.6864183 69.971361536178847 -56.3739183tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4782152605945958263.post-89696262815953614842020-11-27T23:07:00.008-06:002020-11-28T19:15:14.540-06:00

Note: this post is the first of more where I will write about something that I made in the past and still feel like sharing again, for one reason or another.  I borrowed part of this title from Seth Godin who reminds me of the importance of sharing your work. In 2012, my sister-in-law asked me to create a video about her ninety-four year old Greek father Vasili aka Bill, a gruff

Ben Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18339542270070845204noreply@blogger.com0Iowa City, IA, USA41.6611277 -91.530168313.350893863821156 -126.6864183 69.971361536178847 -56.3739183tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4782152605945958263.post-50371841005356564462020-01-12T11:55:00.002-06:002022-03-13T10:52:59.500-05:00

I've republished this story on Medium.  Thanks for visiting!

Ben Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18339542270070845204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4782152605945958263.post-42148863539177372482019-09-08T11:28:00.001-05:002020-12-30T12:55:03.443-06:00

Image credit: Thrillist In America our relationship with fast-food is a funny thing. It carries so many negative connotations- unhealthy, unsustainable, low-status, the worst of corporate America. Everything that Eric Schlosser, Michael Pollen, Morgan Spurlock and others have very persuasively deconstructed about it. For all the profitability of the McDonald's brand, you can seemingly

Ben Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18339542270070845204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4782152605945958263.post-68571275960622404202019-02-24T15:29:00.004-06:002022-07-04T11:02:10.745-05:00

I've republished an updated version of this article on Medium.  Thanks for visiting!

Ben Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18339542270070845204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4782152605945958263.post-25608071279389400752018-11-05T16:42:00.000-06:002018-11-05T16:42:47.925-06:00

This freedom and accountability matrix shows how I think these two concepts come together in the most successful working relationships. People want to be trusted to do their job and be given the freedom to figure out the solution to whatever the challenge at hand is.  Employers and supervisors want to see results that hit the target and make real progress on the big goals.  I see the

Ben Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18339542270070845204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4782152605945958263.post-46567837961400034022018-09-08T23:28:00.001-05:002018-11-05T13:21:09.547-06:00

This is our new halftime spot, the television commercial that airs for the university during our football and basketball broadcasts.  It seeks to build on the style and tone of our spots from 2016 and 2017 before that while adding in what some are calling the best new tradition in sports, the Hawkeye wave.

Ben Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18339542270070845204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4782152605945958263.post-80253956320052694682017-12-20T21:39:00.000-06:002017-12-20T21:40:26.680-06:00

Songwriters on Songwriting by Paul Zollo/Da Capo Press, 1997 Since I was weaned on the Beatles I always looked at songwriting as the most accessible and yet challenging form of artistic expression I could potentially undertake.  I got this book in Ann Arbor around 1997 or '98 when I wanted desperately to be a songwriter but was apparently too scared to actually try it, so I instead

Ben Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18339542270070845204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4782152605945958263.post-3872561348852090702017-12-19T23:11:00.001-06:002017-12-19T23:12:09.921-06:00

This talk by Sasha Strauss is the best description of branding I've come across; clarifying what you believe and what you bring to the discussion of whatever it is that you are in the business of.

Ben Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18339542270070845204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4782152605945958263.post-2758533774044611882017-07-15T00:08:00.002-05:002017-07-15T00:08:35.901-05:00

Some people aspire to leadership because they just want to be in charge.  They think they know what's best, what we ought to do, who should sit where, and that being in that position of authority is all it will take because then everyone will have to listen to them.  I say good luck with that approach, because formal authority might (might) ensure compliance, but it won't create trust

Ben Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18339542270070845204noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4782152605945958263.post-45115025328673851442017-07-13T23:13:00.003-05:002017-07-13T23:43:26.320-05:00

If you are determined to do something you haven't done before, and it's important, you have to be willing to admit that you don't know...what steps to take, how it will all work, or if it will even work at all.  And that admission will put you at a disadvantage if you care about being perceived as someone who always knows what they're doing. But if you can live with that temporary

Ben Hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18339542270070845204noreply@blogger.com2