Marketing Doctor

10/02/2026

New column up at Newsmax today — they put it on the home page again.

Fifty-eight and fifty-nine. That's how many Americans view the Republican and Democratic parties unfavorably. One point apart.

Forty years in branding taught me what that means. When two competitors are disliked by the same six in ten customers, the problem isn't the competition. It's the category.

My father bought General Motors his whole life and assumed I would too. In 1976 I bought a Volkswagen Fastback. GM never saw it coming — they stopped asking what customers needed and started assuming. That was the beginning of their decline.

Both parties are doing the same thing right now.

As '26 Midterms Loom, GOP and Dems Have Entitlement Myopia

09/11/2026

New column up at Newsmax today — they put it on the home page.
A candidate in upstate New York beat an opponent who had every endorsement in the race, by nineteen points. The winner had no endorsements. He had one word: outsider.
That is the whole lesson, and it is the one I have been giving business owners for forty years. Credentials are what you have done. A brand is what you mean to somebody. Nobody buys your resume.
There is a warning in it too, for whoever wins on brand and then has to live with it.

NY's-21: Credentials Aren't a Brand, Nobody Buys Your Resume

08/25/2026

New column up at Newsmax today.
A polling outfit admitted last week that it had been putting out fabricated polls as a “social experiment,” just to see how far a lie would travel before anyone checked. The Mayor of Los Angeles liked one of the numbers enough to promote it herself.
My take: this isn’t a polling story, it’s a counterfeit story. And the thing about counterfeits is that they never damage the counterfeiter — they damage everybody honest in the same category. Nobody stops trusting the man selling fake Rolexes on the street corner. They stop trusting Rolex.
There’s something in here for every business owner who ever believed a number because it said what they wanted to hear.
Bogus Polls Damage Their Brand, Clients and Categories
mayoralty political campaign city of angels in the golden state of the united states
Karen Bass, Mayor of Los Angeles, speaks onstage during the 8th Annual AAFCA TV Honors at City Club LA on Aug. 8, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Bogus Polls Damage Their Brand, Clients AND Categories

Bogus Polls Damage Their Brand, Clients and Categories

08/24/2026

Here is my What's App Information

08/22/2026

In the early eighties, we turned down Tony Bennett for a fundraiser. The consensus? He was a has-been, and associating with him would make our candidate look out of touch. We were wrong. The conventional read is that Bennett got lucky, riding a nostalgia wave and a duet with Lady Gaga sealed the deal.

08/21/2026

We often pass on potential, not finished products. Remember, it takes over 20 years to truly become an overnight success. Let that sink in.

08/21/2026

In the early eighties, a campaign team turned down Tony Bennett's offer to sing at a fundraiser. They thought he was a has-been, associating him would make their candidate look out of touch. They were wrong. The conventional read is luck and a Lady Gaga duet, but that's not the whole story.