Constraint was a formidable ingredient in the creation of a film I made in college. The film was a visually driven story of my childhood haunts on Long Island including the beaches, boats, foggy harbors, and associated sounds. From rushing winds and crashing waves, to the song of the gulls and the rocking and creaking

Naming is one of the most important things you can do for your brand. A great name is memorable, easy to say, relatively short, and helps to position your brand in the hearts and minds of the consumer. A descriptive name can also evoke the brand promise. In other words, what problem does the brand

Block, Light, Rehearse, Shoot. It’s happened before, technology democratizes an industry and craft suffers before it rises again. There is a rash of technique over substance. We need a conscious return to the craft of story in the creation and execution of brand ideas. The art of the story must be paramount to the art

Part of my work at Skidmore College as the F. William Harder Chair Professor of Business Administration includes the recruitment and production of an annual lecture. Each year, a speaker is recruited and asked to present to the students a topic within their areas of interest and expertise. This year, it was me. The link

A brand is a problem solved. It’s as simple and as vexing as that. The obstacle for the customer is the obstacle for the brand. The vexing part comes in creating a differentiating idea that clearly positions the brand as the most appealing solution to the customer problem. In highly competitive markets, the challenge is

La Marca shoes for French Vogue, photography Guy Bourdin. This is a campaign I worked on in the early 80’s. Mr. Bourdin, projected his image onto a black and white TV, then made another image. We double up the image to create a spread. Classic black and white aesthetic, French style and clever art direction

Ken Zane’s show  Art Buyer For Hire is about 45 minutes in length. During the show we touch on a range of topics from idea development, to execution and agency culture too. While I was chief creative officer of Palio I hired Ken in the role of art buyer-producer. It was an important moment for

I stopped writing blog posts cold turkey. For a while I was really into writing them and then I wasn’t. It’s not that I wasn’t getting something from the process, I was, and at least a few of you were as well. Thank you for following. Apologize for the disappearance. Working at Skidmore College, where