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Whiny Millennials, Selfie Payments and Yelp Sells Its Data

This past week included the biggest event in mobile tech in Barcelona, the continuing #OscarsSoWhite drama about lack of diversity at the Academy Awards and our long awaited permission from Facebook to have emotions other than “Like” to describe how we feel. Going beyond the obvious is the focus every week in this newsletter, so rather than rehash the biggest … Read more

The Death Of Gender (And What It Means For Marketing)

There are plenty of signs that the way we have typically described gender may be dying before our very eyes. In Austria last year, the winner of Eurovision’s popular song contest was a 26 year old drag queen with a beard named Conchita Wurst. Earlier this year, Sweden officially became the first country to add … Read more

Why Facebook’s War On Marketing Is A Good Thing

Facebook has brands worried … again. A recent article headline from Ad Age magazine summed up this concern perfectly, announcing that “Facebook Cuts Brands’ Reach Once Again.” Of course they did. One of the biggest issues facing the largest social media platforms today is how to monetize their offerings. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter are all working … Read more

Why Most Trends Don’t Matter (And 15 New 2014 Trends That Do!)

If you believe the typical trend declarations for 2014 – this is going to be the year of big data, wearable devices, and ubiquitous tablets. These are the facts we have heard over the past two months presented as big insights for the coming year. There are only a few problems with these so called … Read more

How LinkedIn, YouTube & Others Could Finally Cure Stupidity Online

The greatest collection of human stupidity ever amassed sits on the Internet … and you probably encounter it every day. When you go online today, there is some great content – and a deluge of bad, useless or otherwise idiotic content. It is common knowledge that content creation online is exploding and that much of … Read more

7 Ways To Get Marketing Agencies To Work Together In a Mega-Agency World

Today two of the biggest communications holding companies, Omnicom and Publicis, announced they will be merging to form the world’s largest advertising company. For anyone familiar with the common in-fighting among agencies for limited client budgets, one of the immediate concerns will be the challenges that these new found partners in this “merger of equals” … Read more

15 Big Brand Lessons From The 2013 Corporate Social Media Summit

There are all kinds of ways to judge the quality of a conference. Some people look at the venue, or the number of attendees. Other look at the list of speakers, or the keynote presenters. Across the dozens of events I attend every year, I have seen or used almost all of these metrics myself. … Read more

Culpa Marketing: How To Win By Publicizing Screw Ups

There is nothing more powerful than a genuine heartfelt apology. At least, that’s what JCPenney is hoping based on a new ad the brand just released today featuring an apology to customers for recent changes and a promise to start listening more: The ad is a marked departure from the Apple-style “we’ll tell you what … Read more

The Alignment Gap, Concierge Marketing And The Future Of Agencies

Summary: The story of why I decided to start the world’s first true “Concierge Marketing” service for large and mid-size brands. It all started because I knew the one thing I didn’t want to do. About three months ago I left my role at one of the biggest marketing agencies in the world and the … Read more

The 2012 Influential Business Book Shortlist

The books on your shelf say something about you. That’s why most of us have books that we put on our shelves over the past year which we haven’t quite had a chance to read yet – but still display as a declaration of what we believe. As an author, I usually make it fully … Read more

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#1 WSJ & USA Today Bestselling Author

Rohit is the author of 10 books on trends, the future of business, building a more human brand with storytelling and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world.

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