Three retail shifts I saw walking New York this month One of the things I value most about travelling as a strategist is the opportunity to spend uninterrupted time inside retail environments, observing not just what brands are selling, but how they are making consumers feel. There’s a huge difference between reviewing retail through presentation decks and physically walking stores, watching how people move through spaces, interact with displays, engage with products, and respond emotionally...

Key Takeaways AI is shifting humans' role in marketing from execution to judgment Strategy becomes more valuable, not less Human insight is critical in defining problems, not just solving them Brands must optimise for both humans and AI agents After completing the AI in Marketing program at The Wharton School, I didn’t come away thinking everything has changed. If anything, I became more convinced of the opposite. My course notes and a-ha moments kept coming back to a common theme. The...

Every senior marketer I work with knows they need a proper brand growth plan. They believe in the process. They have seen what a well-written annual brand growth plan can do for focus, alignment, and the commercial results that actually move the needle. What they often question is whether they will ever find the time, space, and organizational support to write one that truly changes something. That is the problem this article is designed to solve. Over more than ten years and over 200 brand...