I saw a post today from Stephanie Agresta talking about SXSW and how they have reimagined the footprint of the festival. The post caught my eye because SXSW is a big part of my career.

I’ve been to SXSW eight times and seven of those were in a row, mostly with FreshBooks , but also tagging along with two other startups hellbent on making noise. And every damn year we managed to stir things up so well that we’d get a polite (but clearly annoyed) email from the organizers: "You got us this time, but we’re closing that loophole for next year."

For me, it happened last week.

I was talking with my cousin. She’s cool. She’s fun. She’s wildly successful in that effortless “Oh, I didn’t realize you were on that board” kind of way. We were bouncing around ideas about travel and food and all the things that make life feel like more than just a to-do list.

Then she said this.

“Do you know why they call things better? Because better is better. That’s why they call it better.”

I swear to you, time froze for a second.

Let’s get this out of the way first, the Bugonia stunt could’ve been legendary. The kind of PR moment that earns front-page headlines, floods TikTok feeds, and gets whispered about in marketing Slack channels for years.

But instead of legendary, it became lukewarm.

A while back I wrote about why I’m not exactly in the Savannah Bananas fan club. Don’t get me wrong, I see the genius. They’ve turned baseball into a TikTok-friendly circus, they’ve made millions, and they’ve brought people who wouldn’t know a double play from a double espresso into stadiums. But as a long-suffering baseball fan, I don’t want baseball to become a never-ending talent show. I want baseball to be baseball.

A funny thing happens every time a brand does something bold: social media loses its mind.

Take the recent Cracker Barrel situation. They make a simple logo change, and the comment section fills with people swearing they’ll never set foot in a Cracker Barrel again, and our beloved LinkedIn becomes well, I don't know how to describe it. From the reaction it got you would think they added plant-based sausage to the menu or told the world that the old guy in the logo is named Hershel and may be Jewish. Sales tank and then spike as new audiences discover them, and eventually the brand cements its relevance (again). The truth is this: no matter what you do, social media will scream. That’s its job, so make sure they are busy.

I’ve been in marketing long enough to watch it morph from a business built on instinct, creativity, and a little showmanship… into something that looks like a NASA control center for consumer behavior. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-data. Data’s amazing. It tells you who’s worth talking to, where they are, what they care about, and sometimes even the color of socks they’re wearing when they buy toothpaste.

But here’s the thing: data can tell you where to aim the arrow, it can’t make anyone care that you shot it.

I keep Google Alerts for a handful of things: my name (obviously), my book title, a few brands I admire (or envy), and the term “experiential marketing.”

That last one used to be my favourite alert.

Every few days, I’d get a little gem in my inbox, a recap of a jaw-dropping installation in Tokyo, a campaign that took over an NYC subway station, or some mind-bending immersive stunt in London that made people stop in their tracks and feel something.

Real talk: Coca-Cola gave the marketing world a gift with their 70-20-10 content model… and almost nobody’s using it.

I’ve been in marketing a long time. Long enough to remember when “viral” was just a thing you caught from making out with the wrong person in a burger king bathroom (don’t judge). So when I tell you this framework is one of the smartest tools for balancing brand consistency with actual innovation, I mean it.

The world is chaos right now.

Tesla dealerships are getting vandalized. Memes and podcasts are shaping political outcomes more than billion-dollar campaigns. The platforms that brands used to rely on, Facebook ads, Google search, even traditional PR is tried and true but you need something great for them to get excited about. People are choosing their own sources of truth, and in most cases, those sources aren’t mainstream media or conventional advertising.

It isn't just you, most marketing sucks right now.

That’s not just my opinion. According to Gartner, 87% of brands said their marketing campaigns underperformed last year. And nearly half (45%) had to pull the plug on campaigns early because they were so bad they weren’t worth keeping alive.

I have been on this internet a long time...like 4800 and 9600 baud modems speeds long time. I have seen every evolution of content and blogging and it wasnt too long ago when something like a Super Bowl halftime show or Elon Musk doing Elon Musk things would instantly trigger blog posts with the titles...5 things I learned from The Super Bowl etc.

When I first pitched the idea for the #IMAKEALIVING powered by FreshBooks event series, the goal was simple: bring business owners together to share what was really keeping them up at night. There were hundreds—if not thousands—of resources on starting a business, but very few places to turn when things got tough. What happens when your friends can’t refer you business anymore? When you feel like you’re all alone?

Let’s talk about the fun stuff. The bold, creative ideas. The ones that make people laugh, cry, share, and talk. The ideas that go viral, break the mold, or make brands unforgettable. It’s the work we live for at The Idea Integration Co. It’s also, unsurprisingly, the work everyone wants to do.

But here’s the catch: not everyone can.

Imagine this: you’re at a baseball game. The pitcher on the mound is known for one thing, his knuckleball. It’s unpredictable, almost impossible to hit, and when executed correctly, it’s a game-changer. But despite its potential to dominate, very few pitchers actually use it. Why? It’s difficult to master, it requires finesse and practice, and it’s just… not trendy.

Word of Mouth Marketing (WOM) is the knuckleball of the marketing world.

Tomorrow is my birthday (so be nice to me and share this post), and November 1st is the 15th anniversary of starting The Idea Integration Co. Inc. In those 15 years, we have grown, reinvented ourselves a few times, and had the absolute honor of working on cool projects with brands we love.

Disruption is an overused word. It can mean a lot of different things, but at its heart it’s a catch-all for pushing the limits of something. In the case of disruptive marketing, it can mean pushing the limits so you can be where your customers or prospective customers are. Sometimes that means going to a competitor’s conference (or any conference) with or without permission.