Mike Geiger

Are you prepared to get fired? You should be. This week, here in the SF Bay Area, media watchers are buzzing about some high-profile sports radio announcers who got the axe, unexpectedly. Including a guy who’d been on the air for 28 years and, arguably, help build the station. The economics of legacy media are a $#!& show, so cuts are hardly a surprise. But when big-name talent with highly-rated shows aren’t safe, it’s a good reminder that the nobody has job security. Even if everything seems rosy with your current gig, you should take steps to prepare yourself for your next one. Four tips: → Get your site together. Regardless of what you do, you should have a “portfolio site.” More than a resume, it’s a site that collects achievements and shows your work. (Non-creative types, you should have site/portfolio, too!) Grab copies of your work, decks, and performance metrics NOW before you lose access to the server. Don’t wait until you need it; build now and maintain as you go. → Build your personal brand. (I know, it’s cringe. But it’s the way of the world.) You don’t have to be a prolific LinkedIn poster, but you need to consider who you are professionally and what value you bring to the table. Find avenues to demonstrate that value. Identify 3-4 ways a year you can “get out there” and show your stuff. Maybe that’s creating your own projects, sharing work on your social channels, writing an article, speaking at a conference, starting a side hustle. → ABCYN. Always Be Cultivating Your Network. You don’t have to do this in a sleazy sales-y sort of way, but you’re going to NEED the help of your connections at various points of your career. So make those connections. Grab coffee. Drop notes. Congratulate people when you see them do something awesome. Offer help to others. Be genuine, but make an effort to reach out. → Take the interview. Even if you love your job, you should always see what’s out there and keep your options open. It’s helps keep your interview chops sharp and it helps you understand your current value in the marketplace. You don’t have to lead ‘em on—if you’re not a serious candidate after the first meeting, you can withdraw your name. It's still worth it. “But I’m super busy with projects for my current employer. I don’t have time for all this.” YOUR career is at least as important as the work you’re doing for somebody else. Invest some time in yourself. Don’t wait for that unexpected meeting with your manager and HR to pop onto your calendar before you get your act together. P.S. Seriously, if you don't have an up-to-date portfolio site, do SOMETHING today to move the ball forward. Buy the URL. Write down the 2-3 projects you'd want to include. Pull the assets off the server that you'll need. Take a micro-step toward taking charge of your career. Do it!

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At the CMO #SuperHuddle, some of our Preferred Partners shared their #WednesdayWisdom for CMOs going into 2025: 🖼️ Design Tip: Ditch the stock photos—show your REAL product, team, and value! 🤖 AI Insight: Leverage generative AI to boost creativity and smash efficiency goals 🤝 Leadership Hack: Think business-first, not function-first Key Takeaways from our Superstar Partners: ⭐ Sahil Patel, CEO of Spiralyze - Authenticity in visual branding ✨ Becky Lawlor, Redpoint Content - AI as a creativity accelerator 💫 Sharad Verma, Founder of Vidoso.Ai - CMOs as holistic business leaders Pro Tip: Build trust by aligning with business goals, not just marketing metrics! 💡 Want more CMO wisdom? Dive deeper at CMO Huddles!

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GM's decision to replace Apple CarPlay with their own Ultifi system is a bold move, but will it pay off? In-car tech is deeply personal and revolves around ease and familiarity. Forcing customers to switch may cause alienation, especially for the massive number of Apple users out there. As a loyal Apple user, I wouldn't purchase a car without CarPlay. Brand loyalty in automotive is no longer just about the car itself, but about the entire digital ecosystem of a person. GM, beware of the risks you take when tampering with customer experience and brand loyalty. #GM #Apple #CustomerExperience #BrandLoyalty #BrandStrategy

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This is a VERY IMPORTANT READ - please repost (gift link): “Our industry is ageist as f*ck,” said Cindy Gallop. Gallop recalled a Fishbowl survey several years ago that asked industry professionals when they first experienced ageism. “Literally, the answers began in the early 30s; that was when people felt ageism kicking in.” .... Lisa Balser • Creative Director • Brand Coach • Certified Diversity Executive® • Author said, “I have personally experienced direct comments; I was called grandma by a direct report who was 24 years old when I was 30.” ... Many older professionals have been working with AI for 10 years and are “pioneering” the technology, argued William Charnock Five0 Consulting. “Especially if you’re young, this transition we’re in as an industry is totally new,” Charnock said. “It’s not. We’ve been through these transitions before. I’m 58 and I’ve evolved 10 times in my career.” .... There is the argument that, when companies need to cut costs, some of the people most vulnerable are those with higher salaries. But, at the same time, Balser said agencies are not hiring older professionals even when they agree to lower salaries, which they currently are. She said she’s seen older executives making $175,000 a year apply for jobs that are offering $100,000 a year or lower, and then they’re being told that they’re overqualified. Another indicator of ageism to some, including Edward Cotton and Balser, is that agencies are requiring fewer years of experience for senior executive roles. .. Gallop said one of the best skills an older employee brings to an organization is a sense of tranquility in tough times or periods of mass disruption, which is what the industry is currently undergoing. She said that as a young agency professional, she’d look to the senior executives in tense meetings or pitches, who always maintained a sense of calm, and that was something she strove to emulate as she climbed the ladder. “I’ve done a ton of pitches at BBH London BBH USA, where [agency founder] Sir John Hegarty was always the one joking and laughing and making sure that everyone decompressed,” Gallop said, adding that whenever young employees feel like “the sky is falling,” an older executive is there to reassure them it isn’t.' .. Gallop suggested eight ways the industry could end ageism in an Ad Age op-ed in 2019 including reshaping culture away from just focusing on the youth, using data to make the case for marketing to older consumers and encouraging every professional to publicly post their age across social media, thereby owning it. She said she hasn’t seen any results, more than five years later.' With great input and insights from Christie Cordes, Tony Stanol Simon Fairweather Sasha Martens Gian Carlo Lanfranco Greg Collins Patti Temple Rocks Lindsay Rittenhouse Ad Age https://lnkd.in/eam3KBC8 #LiveOlder #SayYourAge

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Alex M H Smith will be the first to tell you there are a lot of strategy documents in the world. Briefs. Decks. White papers. Books. But he'll also point out (in a friendly, gentle way) that most of them are full of shit. Impenetrable, calcified, piled-high bullshit. That’s because, despite all their words and charts and graphs, these so-called "strategies" fail to inspire ACTION. Which is the same challenge I've found with so-called insights. That's why I was excited to talk with Alex (author of No Bullsh*t Strategy) - to find out how he helps clients cut the crap, get past the bullsh*t, and build something great. https://lnkd.in/gD_FvT4j Some of my favorite aha moments from our conversation include: --How to redefine your competitive set to create a category of one --The surprising lies that most marketers believe when it comes to targeting  --How to maintain differentiation when when copycats come in with commoditized claims  --How to reduce your strategy down to just one word *** If you know someone who's knee deep in bullsh*t right now who could use Alex's advice, feel free to share! What's your favorite technique (or question) for helping clients cut through the crap? Let me know in the comments below. Special thanks to Michael Osborne and 14th Street Studios for his production help and bringing this podcast to life. #strategy #insights #leadership

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Today's drop from Snap Inc. is worth a look. Snap is ready to help brands reshape reality with its latest product, Spectacles. These AR glasses, powered by the brand-new Snap OS, are designed to transform how we perceive and interact with our surroundings. As marketers, we know that Gen Z and Gen Alpha already use Snap to share experiences, together. The natural fit of this tech becomes even more potent as conversations, communities, and Spectacles sync with a user's smartphone, connecting communities together across physical and digital divides. Read more about the latest launch below, and let me know what you think of the drop in the comments below. 👇 https://lnkd.in/eTiD9fWr

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This should be the headline for all us ad folks: "The integration of advanced AI into brand interactions will require marketers to work closely with AI teams to ensure that these systems accurately represent brand voice and values." I'd add "brand story" to that list as well. No matter how much things change and tech evolves, the fundamental truth remains, we are the keepers of the brand story, voice and values.

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So, most of the #advertising world is vomiting all over this ad. Honestly, I saw it and went... huh? I don't react to ads the way you do, or even the way most ad execs do, probably because I'm legitimately on both sides of the bakery. I do both strategy and accounts (and am reasonably good at both.) So I look at this from the "ok, why did the client buy this ad" question and "why did the marketing team think this was a good idea" question. So I look at this ad, and I go, "Ok, let's assume for the moment that Santino Pietrosanti isn't the dumbest guy God ever let through the door. And I know that Accenture Interactive isn't stupid - yeah, they're beancounters, but they have gobbled up some of the best shops in the world, like Droga5. What's the angle here?" Honestly, I can't freaking find it. LOL! Everyone wants to blame the agency, but I'll tell you, the client makes the call, even if the agency did recommend a bad idea. But again, I'm like, "Ok, Peitrosanti isn't stupid, so what's the idea here?" And again, I can't find it. But the fact I can't find it, doesn't mean it's stupid. As an aside - I don't mind the lockup. That's kinda neato. Everyone else seems to hate it, but I'm like "hmmmm." All I can imagine is this: they may have research that shows James Bond wannabes aren't the ones buying Jaguars anymore. I mean, everyone went "ga ga bananas" when Nike embraced Kaepernick, saying it would be the death knell for their brand. They made money faster than a stripper in front of Pac-Man Jones. Why? Because Nike had the research that showed taking a position of civil rights was something that would resonate... and boy did it ever... the campaign's results was a 10 percent jump in income to $847 million that year. It may very well be that the days of "James Bond" and "Shaken not Stirred" and this fantasy of driving around with a half-naked model in your XKE are gone for Jaguar... and instead, the new idea is wokeness, ambiguous sexuality and sexual identity, surrealism, and embracing emotions of iconoclastic creativity. If that's true, then this ad is downright genius. If not... they're boned and everyone is getting fired. I do not know what is true right now because I haven't seen the research or the creative brief. But one of those statements must be true; I won't believe everyone is an idiot, which is essentially what the entire ad and automotive community seems to think. There's way too much money on the line for that, and these people are too talented for that. There must have been some legitimate reason for this ad. I'm guessing the research shows that heterosexual males looking to get laid aren't the number one buyers of Jaguar anymore... that's just a hunch, but making this ad and putting a $100 million behind it... probably makes it a pretty good one.

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New Open Market episode featuring Jay Friedman, CEO of Goodway Group. This one’s packed with insights for anyone in ad tech, agencies, or media. Key Highlights: -Why Jay believes marketing belongs at the top of the boardroom agenda. -Goodway Group's incredible 95-year history and evolution. -How Jay’s perspective on remote work has shifted. -The critical role of incrementality in proving marketing’s value. -Smart advice for ad tech CEOs on how to effectively sell to agencies. As always, expertly guided by Joe Zappa. Check it out—link in comments.

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It’s time to launch a Media practice at Bullish. We started Bullish because early-stage brands didn’t have access to some of the best tried and proven expertise that later-stage brands benefited from. We developed a hybrid fund / agency business model to close that gap. It’s now clear - after 10 years investing-building-exiting big ideas in the early-stage - that the vast majority of Media offerings out there aren’t really built for where and how we operate at Bullish. And - with an endless ecosystem of upstarts mixed with the infinite applications of AI - the game has changed. The same kind of gap that inspired us to bring more Consulting and Creative services inside 10 years ago, now exists in Media. We see a massive opportunity to bring an integrated, agile, focused media offering to growing companies. We won’t be orienting around “the funnel,” we won’t be talking in impressions, we won’t be optimizing our spend to CAC and little else. There are new ways to do new things. We will be planning against THEIR journey, we will be focused on engagement, we will be orchestrating our efforts to LTV and much more. But to make this vision a reality, we need the right leader; we need someone with the right mix of ambition and accountability, with a skill-set to match. We’re looking for: Someone who starts with people - what they think / feel / do - how they make decisions. Someone who experiments with new and old media, both digital and analog. Someone who can balance the need for short-term sales with long-term equity. Is that you? Is that your friend? Is that your friend of a friend? Please reach out if the answer is yes. #bebullish

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The AI Marketers Guild (AIMG) asked me join David Berkowitz to moderate a session in their regular series. The session topic is Authentic Brand Building with Gen-Z in the Gen AI Era. The format is a virtual roundtable on this hot topic. You can check it out here: https://lnkd.in/dif4ACss This is an invite only session for one hour the first week of October. If you work at a brand or agency please request to join. #aimarketing, #virtualevent, #brandbuilding, #GenZ

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With the perpetual oscillation between fear and excitement around AI, and with every platform out there racing to show that they are AI-enabled or have a strategy to become so – the firehose of AI-themed thought-leadership and resulting content is lively and voluminous. And perhaps, if we are honest, often redundant and self-reflexive. But what HubSpot is doing to build a true AI-enabled end-to-end Customer Experience platform that extends across sales/marketing/service is pretty exciting. And I mean that. This is where the ball is headed. While others have been busy talking, they've been busy building. I think this is the future of experience-driven brand building. This 'Spring Spotlight' is highly digestible and quickly consumable. It will cost you 2 minutes. But it will give you real food for thought. 👇

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#Apple's latest ad has people...upset. But I don't think it failed. Yes, watching everything get crushed hurt me on a visceral level. And I can agree that it could easily be a visual representation of how big businesses are currently squeezing all artists' creative freedom, controlling the outcome, and then monetizing it without fair compensation. But that does not mean that this ad failed at marketing, or advertising, or art. Or even hurt creatives. Blocking, writing, producing, editing this ad could have been some of the hardest, most rewarding work for dozens of creatives in the field. Some of them, their first huge gig. Today, the whole world hates it. That's art, right? It's a beautiful ad. It also has a lot of people talking about it. That's art. That's marketing. Right? People are asking how Apple could have failed so incredibly. Did they? Or did they choose the angle of "spark controversy", "start a conversation", "get people talking" – one of the oldest playbooks in the marketing toolbox. Creatives have an excellent, highly visible platform right now with something clear to point to and say "THIS IS A PROBLEM". This could help them (and is) right now if used strategically. Side note: I ~would~ love to know who in the creator's room had opposition to this ad, but didn't feel comfortable speaking up, or who got shut down? Because I'm sure there were a few people who wanted to raise their hands and say: have we thought about this? What was your gut reaction when you saw this and how have other people's responses changed or adjusted your perspective? #iPad #creativity #tech #appleevent

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Brands like GoPro were built on great instincts and intuition. Now at scale, the sheer amount of data flowing in can distract us from those instincts. VP of Global Marketing Rick Loughery reminds us it's "balancing data WITH gut." #FromHereToThere by Native Digital 🎧 Marketing mentorship for every level

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Strategy > Visual + Messaging = Positioning 👁 💬 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ When it comes to branding (specifically in brand identity), both the visual and messaging are key components that express the positioning of the brand. Positioning is what differentiates and sets you apart from your competitors. Having a visually appealing brand identity is not enough. That is like putting lipstick on a pig. Having great messaging is not enough if the messaging is too difficult to read or digest due to the lack of visual hierarchy in how and where it is laid out or called out. But when both visual and messaging are working together in a way that personifies the brand, it becomes a powerful force. Of course brand identity is just one component of your brand. Brand identity is how your brand is expressed visually and verbally. A strong brand has to start with a solid strategy. And the strategy is then reflected through the brand identity. Let’s make sure your brand visual and messaging are working together to reflect your brand strategy. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ #brandidentity #branding #brandpositioning #brandstrategy #visualidentity #brandmessaging

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When a brand asks their agency to take a big leap for them, it speaks volumes to the partnership they’ve created. Our client, Upper Deck, asked Carver Matt Burkey to take one of these leaps at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) a few weeks ago. At the last minute, they needed a moderator for a panel. So, they tapped on Matt. Matt hopped on a flight and flew across the country. (You know what they say, no two days in PR are the same.) Their panel conversation dug into how they brought the virtual characters of Neopets to life, the licensing process, and the gameplay strategy for their latest trading card game. With over 200 people in the crowd, Matt not only showed that as partners, we are in this together – but also stepped completely out of his comfort zone. Trust moments like these happen when our clients believe in: 👉 Our expertise 👉 Our understanding and passion for their brand 👉 The ability to represent them authentically in front of an audience 👉 Our willingness to collaborate no matter what I’m constantly proud of the work our team does – this moment is definitely one for the books. #mediarelations #strategy #leadership #partnership #publicrelations

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Great and provocative read on Liquid Deaths’s success story. So many insights and examples which are relevant for FMCG challenger brands as well. Mark Ritson claims that “… if you step back and look at the original ‘four Ps’, it is almost impossible not to acknowledge that while the promotional P has its place, the product P is invariably the most important tactical consideration. Shitty marketing can surely kill a great product, but without a successful, product even the best marketing does little other than speed its own demise.” And I fully agree (see my earlier post for details) - so if you’re not yet following Mark, do it asap. It’s worth it (and entertaining). #challengerbrands #productlaunches #offlineretail

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Thanks to Cindy Gallop for sharing this important article from Lindsay Rittenhouse and Ad Age. It is not the first time they have written about this problem and sadly, I doubt it will be the last, but I do honestly believe that any conversation about ageism is a good thing and I was happy to be included in this one. And, I was especially thrilled to see so many important voices sharing their insights and ideas. Ageism is the one form of discrimination that can (and likely will) impact each and every one of us. But, it is also a problem we can solve -- or we can at least make better progress towards solving. Doing so will require erasing ageist stereotypes from our thinking and from our behavior. If businesses want to create an industry-leading workforce (and who doesn't) they must be just as committed to creating an "agenostic," multi-generational workplace. For the first time in history, there are five (!) generations of talent ready to go. I know from my years in the agency business, nothing was as much fun to work on as a big, hairy audacious, seemingly impossible, client brief. Consider yourselves briefed on ageism, agency world. Get after this. https://lnkd.in/g2Ge9Kmm

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