The Full Monty

It's never easy to lose someone we know and like. Whether we "know" them from seeing them on television, interacting with them online, or actually being in their presence. Particularly when they're creators.

See, the creators leave us with more than just themselves. They leave pieces of themselves with everything they do throughout their lives. And that's the way Darryl Ohrt lived. My own experience in Darryl's gifts spanned from plaid-wrapped vehicles to a questionable inflatable doll that haunted my office.

Get the stories behind these bizarre tales, how the optimism and joy of creativity should inspire us all, and Darryl's own words on what matters in this episode of The Full Monty.

• PlaidNation (later HumongoNation) photos (Flickr)
• A favorite shot from PlaidNation 2008
• The Segway at Plaid headquarters (Facebook)
• PlaidNation videos (Vimeo)
• @FakeScottMonty (Twitter)
• Fake Scott Monty's photo set (Flickr)
• One of many tributes to Darryl (Facebook)

Theme song: Heroes United by ScoreStudio is on a royalty-free license from Pond5.com.

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If you find this program valuable, please consider supporting it on Patreon. It covers the cost of hosting, email, music and more.

Anticipation is killing us. Even for the smallest things, it doesn't seem like we can handle waiting more than a few minutes. 

Technology has sped things up, but it has also ruined our ability to think about other things and slow our minds. What qualities do we need in order to make things a little more enjoyable? And what lessons does the New York Public Library hold for us? 

The answers are ahead in The Full Monty. 

• Mary Meeker's Internet Trends report
• A Minute Feels like 60 Billion Nanoseconds
• Impatient, distracted consumers upend the media landscape
• The Seven Virtues
• The Library Lions

Theme song: Heroes United by ScoreStudio is on a royalty-free license from Pond5.com.

There's Probably No Time by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/uvp/ Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/

Image credit: New York Public Library Lion (Wikimedia Commons) 

Subscribe on iTunes - and leave us a review. Also, try the RadioPublic interface.

If you find this program valuable, please consider supporting it on Patreon. It covers the cost of hosting, email, music and more.

Apologies are strange things. Either you don't get enough of them or you're overwhelmed with them, making them virtually meaningless.

There have been all too many apologies lately. But do they really do anything? What goes into a good one, and why it's so important. We explore this and a little more in the latest episode of The Full Monty.

Some music is on a royalty-free license from Pond5.com.

"Grave Blow" by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license  Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100402 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Theme song: "Heroes United" by ScoreStudio.

Image credit: more fun with Sorry by Erin Kohlenberg (Flickr)

Subscribe on iTunes - and leave us a review. Also, try the RadioPublic interface.

If you find this program valuable, please consider supporting it on Patreon. It covers the cost of hosting, email, music and more.

While the furor of Yanny vs. Laurel is wearing off, the debate that captured the Internet's attention (for at least a few minutes) got us thinking about how often humans pick sides and dig their heels in.

Conflict is inherent in the human condition. Since our earliest days of walking upright, we've warred with each other, built resources to protect ourselves from others, and marveled in tales about rivalry and competition. Indeed, it's what ancient sport was founded upon and what makes modern sports such a huge industry.

But in many cases, it's not about one side versus the other, or just two choices. The world is more nuanced than a white dress or blue dress would have us believe. And we explore a bit of that in the latest episode of The Full Monty.

All music is on a royalty-free license from Pond5.com

Theme song: "Heroes United" by ScoreStudio.

Subscribe on iTunes - and leave us a review. Also, try the  RadioPublic interface.

If you find this program valuable, please consider supporting it on Patreon. It covers the cost of hosting, email, music and more.

Hi, stranger.  It's been a while.  I was recently in for a medical test and it gave me time to reflect (don't we all need that every once in a while?). In doing so, I realized that there's a certain feeling that we probably hold inside - a feeling that if we shared it with others, could lead to better outcomes for everyone involved. 

Along the way, I decided to take a different approach to telling this story, and share something very personal with you that I haven't been able to express previously. I hope you appreciate it.

All music is on a royalty-free license from Pond5.com

Theme song: "Heroes United" by ScoreStudio.

Incidental music: "Despair and Triumph" by Kevin MacLeod.

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Every day, we're presented with opportunities. Choices between doing what's merely expedient and doing what's right. Lawmakers pass bills to ensure that companies don't overstep the boundaries of decency, and try to protect the citizenry.

But it doesn't always take legal action to ensure we do the right things. It's necessary to have an understanding of corporate social responsibility and its impact beyond the surface level of marketing, communications and reputation management. Which means making ethical decisions rather than legal decisions in the face of challenges.

Be sure to check out other major stories from the April 3rd edition of The Full Monty:

• It looks as if BuzzFeed will be going public in 2018. We'll have to see if the media company with the sensibility of a tech company is positioned well enough to make a splash in the IPO market.
• Audi is buying Silvercar, the luxury car rental service that only offers Audi A4s. The automaker had invested $28 million in a Round C of financing previously.
• Have you ever felt guilty about that nearly-unused bar of soap you've left behind at your hotel? There's no need to worry as Clean the World is an Orlando charity that is recycling your hotel soap for use by impoverished countries.

Theme song: "The Liberty Bell," by John Philip Sousa, performed by the United States Marine Band and shared under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Incidental music: "One More Stripper" by APAMusic, royalty-free license from Pond5.com.

Voice over: Toni Deckers

Subscribe on iTunes - and leave us a review. Also on Google Play, Stitcher, Spreaker, SoundCloud and I Heart Radio.

If you find this program valuable, please consider supporting it on Patreon. It covers the cost of hosting, email, music and more.

You likely heard about the United Airlines leggings issue that popped up earlier this week. While it was unfortunate for the brand, especially given its reputation issues, it was entirely avoidable.

There are a variety of issues that sprung forth from the incident that tell us a great deal about ourselves as a society. But none more so than the continued affirmation that this is a post-factual age and brands need to update their thinking in order to survive it.

Be sure to check out other major stories from the March 27th edition of The Full Monty:

• From the Trusted Media Brands Report: the vast majority (81%) of programmatic digital ad buyers agree that ensuring a “brand safe” environment for advertising is a high priority, and an equal proportion feel that in today’s fragmented digital landscape, using brand safe, trusted environments is more important than ever.
• Spending on native digital display ads will make up more than half of all digital display ad spending in the US this year, growing 36.2% this year to reach $22.09 billion. And the vast majority goes to social networks.
• Latching onto the video on demand trend, movie studios are betting consumers will pay a premium to watch new releases at home rather than in theaters. With prices between $25-50 per rental, it may be easy for a family to justify this arrangement — particularly when you factor in costs like babysitters and refreshments.

Theme song: "The Liberty Bell," by John Philip Sousa, performed by the United States Marine Band and shared under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Incidental music: "One More Stripper" by APAMusic, royalty-free license from Pond5.com.

Voice over: Toni Deckers

Subscribe on iTunes - and leave us a review. Also on Google Play, Stitcher, Spreaker or SoundCloud.

We'd appreciate your support on Patreon.

The four human desires (acquisitiveness, rivalry, vanity and love of power) were our topics the last time around. In this episode, we go a little further, diving into two key human conditions: fear and greed. In doing so, we pick apart the motivating factors behind using these as emotional drivers in marketing.

Erik Deckers contributed to this essay, adapting a post from his site ProBlogService.com. He is the author of Branding Yourself and No Bullsh*t Social Media and served as the writer-in-residence at the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando, Florida. His wife Toni provides voice over work for this show.

Be sure to check out other major stories from the March 20th edition of The Full Monty:

• The 2017 ranking of the world's most reputable companies is out, from the Reputation Institute. The most important driver of corporate reputation by far is perception of quality, followed by have a positive influence on society, behave ethically, and be fair in the way it does business.
• Small businesses in the U.S. are moving more of their budget to digital, including mobile, social, video and search. According to the January 2017 study by Thrive Analytics, 40% of U.S. SMBs said they plan to increase spending on digital media.
• New research reveals a surprising level of distrust from women. More than 80% of women claim to distrust the news media, citing “inadequate fact checking” and “political bias” as the primary causes. And brand marketing didn’t fare much better—when asked about their trust in advertising, the response was similarly distrustful: 80% of women say they don’t trust ads.

Theme song: "The Liberty Bell," by John Philip Sousa, performed by the United States Marine Band and shared under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Incidental music: "One More Stripper" by APAMusic, royalty-free license from Pond5.com.

Voice over: Toni Deckers

Subscribe on iTunes - and please leave us a review. Also on Google Play, Stitcher, Spreaker or SoundCloud.

We'd appreciate your support on Patreon.

Try as we might, we can't escape from our past, from the visceral nature of what it means to be human. Advances in communication, technology, and living conditions may separate us from our ancestors, but deep down, we want the same things.

We look at the four human desires as outlined by Bertrand Russell in his acceptance speech for the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature, showing that while we can't overcome them, we can use them for good.

Be sure to check out other major stories from the March 13th edition of The Full Monty:

• Edison Research and Triton Digital presented the 2017 Infinite Dial Study, containing the latest research around digital audio, social media, mobile, smart speakers, and podcast consumption. It is the definitive source in this space.
• Conde Nast is joining NBC Universal and Vox Media to sell ads across their combined digital properties. It's the latest move by publishers and TV conglomerates to better compete with digital advertising from the likes of Google and Facebook.
• We focus too much of our time on acquiring better marketing skills. So spend some time reading about these four non-marketing skills that will help you become a better marketer.

Theme song: "The Liberty Bell," by John Philip Sousa, performed by the United States Marine Band and shared under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Incidental music: "One More Stripper" by APAMusic, royalty-free license from Pond5.com.

Voice over: Toni Deckers

Subscribe on iTunes - and leave us a review. Also on Google Play, Stitcher, Spreaker or SoundCloud.

We'd appreciate your support on Patreon.

The average tenure of the chief marketing officer is just half of that of the CEO. And yet the CMO is expected to perform more functions than ever before.

How can executives who fill these critical positions be ready for the challenges ahead, and what skills do they need to stand strong and stand out?

Be sure to check out other major stories from the February 27th edition of The Full Monty newsletter:

• One area CMOs might not be in charge of is employee engagement — an essential ingredient for effective business transformation.

• In this harried, on-demand, commodity-driven era, brand loyalty is one of the most discussed areas of marketing. What do you need to nail brand loyalty? It used to be convenience, price or even service that was highly prized. Now it turns out it's trust. Specifically a brand's trustworthiness around safeguarding and respecting customer privacy and personal data.
• Mark Cuban doesn't think that finance is the future. In fact, he recommends college students focus on liberal arts degrees, because our automated, data-driven future will require more free thinkers.

Theme song: "The Liberty Bell," by John Philip Sousa, performed by the United States Marine Band and shared under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Incidental music: "One More Stripper" by APAMusic, royalty-free license from Pond5.com.

Voice over: Toni Deckers

Subscribe on iTunes - and leave us a review. Also on Google Play, Stitcher, Spreaker or SoundCloud.

We'd appreciate your support on Patreon.