The greatest American designer had no design training. He came from nothing.

Now, he's synonymous with the look of old money—and he's worth $9.1 billion.

Here's the story of how the GOAT Ralph Lauren pulled off a branding coup and built an empire through storytelling. 🪡 Ralph Lauren invented the look of the American dream: cowboys, preps, athletes, and beyond.

But his fantasy of classic Americana became reality not just through design, but through great brand-building.

RL became both aspirational *and* for everyone. Just like America.

You've probably never heard of Joe Sedelmaier. But you definitely know his work.

PBS called him a modern Buster Keaton. The NYT compared him to Preston Sturges. Spielberg said his style was Tati-esque.

He's maybe the greatest commercial director of all time.

Most famous for the iconic Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" spot, Sedelmaier also popularized a lot of the practices we take for granted in marketing today: like using humor, surrealism, empathy, and normal-looking people to make actually-entertaining ads.

Especially in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, his commercials dominated television. They cleaned up at Cannes and the Clios.

Today, he's in every Advertiser Hall of Fame that exists.

As Sedelmaier once said: "Let's face it: a commercial is what you watch when you sit down to watch something else...you should at least try to make it entertaining!"

Here was his formula to do just that: 🎥👇
1. Casting "normal people"

Instead of movie stars & models, Sedelmaier cast "ordinary people"—the quirkier the better. He called it 50% of the reason for his success. It's how he found Clara Peller, an 80-year-old manicurist who became the face (and voice) of "Where's the Beef?"

You've heard about the Barbie movie's marketing team.

But did you know Barbie was CREATED by a marketer?

This is the story of Barbie's mom Ruth, and how her marketing smarts transformed her from a secretary into a mega-mogul...and a kids' toy into a global brand.

🪡 💅 How did a young stenographer at Paramount and her struggling art student husband end up creating the world's biggest toy empire—and indirectly, the world's biggest movie?

Simple: by understanding their market better than anyone else.

Let's get into it, dolls.

128 years ago, a midwestern manufacturer had a weird idea:

To sell more farm tools, they'd start a magazine.

This is the story of John Deere's The Furrow: one of the first (and most successful) pieces of content marketing in history.

Let's start digging. 🚜 Things were a lot different in 1895.

The US only had 44 states. Homes didn't have electricity.

The Post Office didn't even DELIVER to rural addresses.

So...how did a niche farming magazine help sell more John Deere products?

First, a little backstory:

When is a billboard more than a billboard?

Here are a few times out of home advertising used creativity that made us all do a double-take.

🧵 Some marketers think Out of Home campaigns are irrelevant in a digital world.

But w/digital ad space more crowded than ever, a great OOH campaign can be more delightful (+ potentially viral) than any banner ad.

Here's some inspo that doesn't involve wildfires:

123 years ago, two Frenchmen asked themselves:

How do you sell tires in a world without cars?

This is the story of The Michelin Guide, one of the most successful pieces of content marketing of all time.

Let's take a road trip. 🛞 You might have wondered before: how did a French tire company end up becoming the ultimate authority on fine dining?

And how did a restaurant guide help them sell TIRES?

First, some quick backstory.

Messi joining the MLS sent shockwaves through the sports world.

It could be a game-changer. But not just for soccer in the US.

Here's how a last-place team beat out a $1.6B offer to get the GOAT...and what it says about the future of the creator economy. Messi's announcement about joining Inter Miami stunned the world. But it was years in the making.

Apple, adidas, and ALL of Major League Soccer made unprecedented deals to make it happen.

Why'd they work so hard to get Messi in the dead-last team?

And why would Messi agree?

In 1985, Texas was spending over $20 million A YEAR to clean up their state highways.

After years of failed efforts to fix the problem, the state government decided to enlist the help of a local ad agency.

Here's how "Don't Mess with Texas" solved the Texas trash crisis 🧵 In the 1980s, America had a serious trash problem.

Many states across the country were experiencing unprecedented growth, while their largest cities were battling overflowing landfills and an outdated waste management system.

This was the decade of the Islip, N.Y. garbage barge

Did you know truffle oil is a scam?

In the food world, it’s a dirty, open secret: most "truffle oil" contains no actual truffles.

So, why are people willing to pay extra for a fraud?

Because of the crazy, indestructible strength of the truffle "brand."

Let’s talk fungus 🧵 If you've been fooled by truffle oil, you're not alone. There have even been class action lawsuits about it.

It's all because of the truffle's rep as the ultimate luxury food.

Ounce for ounce, they're one of the most expensive substances on earth, selling for up to $4000/lb.

This outdoor equipment company is so successful, it made $1.6B in revenue last year.

In fact, it now has a valuation larger than Squarespace.

How did they do it?

By turning a mundane, utilitarian product into a status symbol.

Here's how YETI became the Cadillac of coolers 🧵 When you think of Yeti, what’s your first thought?

It might be “Ah yes, that's the best cooler money can buy.”

Or, it might be “why the %&!$ does a cooler cost $400??”

Both of these reactions reveal years of careful branding and a deep understanding of audience.

I'll explain.

Abercrombie and Fitch once ruled malls with a denim fist. But by 2016, they were the most hated retailer in America.

So how did such an iconic brand go from a $7B valuation to the verge of bankruptcy?

This the story of the rise, the fall, and the return of Abercrombie 🧵 Abercrombie has been around for a long time.

Started in 1892 as Abercrombie Co., the company was originally an outlet for the elite outdoorsman, serving customers from Teddy Roosevelt to Ernest Hemingway.

They catered to this market until the outdoorsman lifestyle faded away.

It's December, which means that the Queen of Christmas is back.

Mariah Carey's song, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" has remained popular for almost 30 years now.

And it's all thanks to a secret marketing campaign.

This is the story of greatest Christmas songs of all time 🧵 In 1993, Mariah Carey was a rising pop star, having just released her third studio album, "Music Box."

Soon after the album's debut, Columbia Records executives suggested something that seemed crazy at the time.

They asked her to make an album for the holidays.

Over the course of only a few years, Dos Equis went from an unimpressive beer brand to something more interesting.

It's all thanks to a single advertising campaign.

This is the story of The Most Interesting Man in the World. In 2006, Dos Equis had a problem.

Sales of imported beer in the United States were plateauing.

Craft breweries were storming the country, catering to young drinkers looking to stray from the lagers and light beers of their parents' generation.

To celebrate the 2022 Spotify Wrapped, here are 13 of the best Spotify billboards:

1.) Taylor Swift Dolly Parton

12 of the best Christmas ads

1. McDonald’s IKEA’s Christmas Tree Book Shelf

In 1983, ad agency Chiat/Day created a commercial that one Apple executive referred to as, "the worst commercial I've ever seen."

Almost 40 years later, it's now considered to be one of the greatest ads of all time.

This is the story of Apple's "1984" Super Bowl commercial 🧵 It's 1983. Apple is preparing to launch a product that had been in development for over 5 years:

The Macintosh computer.

It was built to be the first mass-market personal computer with a graphical user interface, a built-in screen, and a mouse.

A few years ago, the Stanley tumbler was a failed camping mug.

Now, it's one of the most sought-after products in the world, with a waiting list of over 150,000 people.

It's all thanks to three women who staged a guerrilla marketing campaign right under the company's nose 🧵 The underlying technology behind all of these insulated bottles was actually invented over 100 years ago by an inventor named William Stanley Jr.

In 1913, Stanley invented a new application for vacuum insulation by a new kind of bottle.

In 1995, two Stanford roommates had an idea.

They wanted the be able to access their email on any computer from any place with an internet connection.

So, They built the MVP and released it to the world with one key feature: It was free.

This is the story of Hotmail 🔥 Originally, Jack Smith and Sabeer Bhatia built their email product for personal use.

They wanted to be able to exchange messages at work without using the company server.

But, pretty quickly, they realized that they could commercialize the idea.

9 creative Halloween advertisements

1. McDonalds Guinness

Before 1993, milk consumption was on the decline for 40 years straight.

Then, one ad agency took a radical approach to the problem.

Here's how the "Got Milk?" slogan became one of the most successful ad campaigns of the last century: After WWII, lifestyles were changing quickly.

The economic boom in the 40s and 50s meant people were eating at home less often.

Coffees, teas, and sodas were all growing in popularity, offering exciting alternatives to milk and water.

Netflix plans to release their ad-supported tier in early 2023.

It's the latest move in a huge trend: The $155B transition of ad placements onto streaming platforms.

This will be the biggest ad budget re-allocation in decades.

Here's the breakdown 📈 Connected TV (CTV) advertising refers to any ads shown on a streaming service.

This is anything from a banner ad across the Prime Video homepage, to a jarringly irrelevant mid-roll ad during your favorite show.

Until recently, most premium streaming services avoided ads.