— THE JOURNAL
Field notes on brands,
culture, and the AI layer
underneath both.
Long-form thinking from inside SMG. Written for the CMOs, founders, and growth teams operating at the intersection of intelligence and intuition.
FEATUREDPOV · INDUSTRY
The Case Against Big Ad Agencies
The holdco is a real-estate operation with a copy department attached. Here is what the next generation of studios is doing instead.
— MORE ESSAYS
7 POSTS
AI · CREATIVE OPERATIONS
The Death of the Brief
The traditional brief died in 2025. Growth-native studios diagnose the P&L. Everything else is theater.
STRATEGY · POSITIONING
Culture Isn't a Vertical
Culture is not a rectangle on your org chart. It is the field every rectangle sits on.
GROWTH · RELEASE CADENCE
Revenue Follows Rhythm
The campaign is dead. The release calendar is the new P&L.
PARTNERSHIPS · GROWTH
The Co-Brand Playbook
Co-brands are the highest-leverage marketing move a growth-stage company can make. Almost no one does them well. Here is the playbook that does.
AI · CRAFT
AI Won't Kill Creativity. Slop Will.
AI is not the threat. Slop is. And slop is winning by default.
CULTURE · SPORTS · TALENT
Athletes Are the New Media Companies
2026 is the year the sports business finally admitted the athlete is not a face. They are a distribution channel with a P&L.
BRAND IDENTITY · CRAFT
Why Logo Design Is Not Brand Identity
Founders confuse the two constantly. A logo is the receipt. The identity is the system that made the receipt worth keeping.
— FIELD NOTES
Thursday morning
in your inbox.
Five things every week from the studio floor: one cultural signal · one co-brand to watch · one framework · one SMG update · one provocation.
FIRST DROP · THURSDAY · 8AM · UNSUBSCRIBE ANY TIME