The Structure Read
Five act structure, three act structure, the hero's journey — every model chases one shape. Here is that shape, and why a story can have it and still fail.
Read →The Reads
Short pieces on the story underneath.
One idea at a time — the thinking behind the client work.
The Positioning Muddle
Positioning vs branding vs marketing: three words founders use interchangeably and shouldn't. One decides what you are; the other two only carry it.
Read →The Liquid Death Read
The Liquid Death marketing strategy sells an identity, not a drink. The water inside the tallboy can is ordinary; the story is the entire premium.
Read →The Show-Don't-Tell Read
The best show-don't-tell examples aren't rules; they're scenes. The clearest are four wordless minutes into a Pixar film, and applies to your business too.
Read →The Old Spice Read
The Old Spice rebrand of 2010 didn't chase every man alive. It picked one absurdly specific story and sold it to the women who were doing the buying.
Read →The Louder Budget
Why isn't my marketing working? Often the message was never clear, and a bigger budget just pays to repeat something nobody understood the first time.
Read →The Season Two Read
Why do shows get worse after season one? Usually the premise expired: the question that carried the first season got answered, and the show kept on going.
Read →The Understood Problem
When customers don't understand what we do, the instinct is to spend more on reach. Usually it's a clarity problem wearing a reach problem's clothes.
Read →The Sagging Middle Read
The sagging middle story problem is rarely about length. It's that the strands haven't come together yet. Here's why the second act stalls and the real fix.
Read →The Tropicana Read
The Tropicana rebrand failure cost around $30M in two months. The redesign wasn't ugly. It removed the one element customers used to find their juice.
Read →The Boundary Read
Why do constraints make stories better? A small, defined world has more depth than a sprawling one — and to the audience, the bounded story feels the largest.
Read →The Stakes Read
What are stakes in a story? Not danger for its own sake — it's what a character stands to lose if they fail, and the reason an audience leans in.
Read →The Flaw Read
A character flaw isn't a quirk or a weakness for flavour. It's the false belief a story exists to break — and the best ones invert by the end.
Read →The Everything Pitch
How to explain what your business does, when you do a lot: stop listing everything. Lead with the one thing a stranger can hold, and let it earn the rest.
Read →The Core Read
What makes a character compelling isn't likability or backstory. It's the Core — character plus motive: the thing they want but never quite get.
Read →The Narrative Read
Story is what happened; narrative is the shape you give it. The difference between story and narrative — and why your business keeps sending the timeline.
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