The obligatory end-of-year wrap-up post you’ve been waiting for

The year in writing, recognition, loss, and life

If nothing else, 2024 for me was a year of transition and disruption. And — I hope — a year I learned to be more grateful and empathetic.

After 40 years of full-time work, much of it in academia, I entered a new phase of life last January. Some call it retirement, but it has hardly been that. My pursuit of creative writing and some freelance work has kept me busy enough. In addition, my wife and I and our cat had a couple of health scares that made us reevaluate our values and gave us greater insight into the workings of the U.S. health care system, the good, bad, and ugly of it. We also mourned the passing of a few friends from our church family and continue to honor their memory.

In other words, a lot of life happened in 2024. Here are some highlights from the year:

Continue reading “The obligatory end-of-year wrap-up post you’ve been waiting for”

(Off topic) I’m featured in ‘Confessions of a Higher Ed CMO’ podcast

This post has nothing to do with the writing life, but I wanted to share that Jaime Hunt, host of a wonderful podcast called Confessions of a Higher Ed CMO, interviewed me for her podcast about a month ago, and that episode goes live today. The focus is on my nearly 33-year career in higher education, all with Missouri University of Science and Technology. I had a great time talking with Jaime about my career and the many changes we’ve seen in higher ed marketing and communication over the past three decades.

If you’re interested, check out the episode, From PR writer to CMO: A Lifetime of Marketing in Higher Education, and consider subscribing to Jaime’s podcast or any of the other great shows in the Enrollify Podcast Network.

Billboards and branding

A Missouri S&T billboard in Kansas City highlighting the school’s Mars Rover Design Team, which won a world championship.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is apparently the odds-on favorite to win a lot of Oscars at tonight’s Academy Awards ceremonies. But whether the movie brings home any trophies, it has reaffirmed something many marketers in our digital age may hesitate to admit:

Billboards  work. Continue reading “Billboards and branding”

Friday Five: Building brand equity, the ‘Iconic Advantage’ way

Iconic Advantage is a new book by Soon Yu

Today’s Friday Five is lifted straight from the pages of a book I recently picked up called Iconic Advantage: Don’t chase the new, innovate the old, by Soon Yu with David Birss. This isn’t a book about branding or marketing. It’s a book about building on the intrinsic “iconicity” of a brand, product or service. But it contains troves of great information for any brand manager or marketer. An early chapter on brand equity offers five great reminders about what drives iconic brands. Even if you don’t think your brand is iconic, you can learn from Yu’s wisdom. Continue reading “Friday Five: Building brand equity, the ‘Iconic Advantage’ way”