EPISODE 5: Kristin Romaine LISTEN HERE (audio) Part I Part II Synthesis is a Root + River hosted webcast featuring nonconformist leaders whose ideas make them — and us — see the world differently. Our sixth episode of Synthesis featured our visit with Kristin Romaine, who is the founder and chief innovator and social impact artist at her company, Like the Lettuce. Kristin is ...
3 Corporate Habits that Will Crush Your Entrepreneurial Spirit
We heart entrepreneurial people. We heart them wherever they may be, and whenever they might find us. In the last year, we’ve seen an increasing number of what we term ATLs, or “about-to-launch,” folks who have finally found the corporate structure too oppressive to their souls to abide any longer. As they prepare their escape, they reach out to us. We meet at the junction and help ...
Small Brands: Storytelling is Yours for the Taking
6 Easy Steps to Creating a Storytelling Flow Storytelling — it’s one of the hottest buzzwords in marketing today. Everyone wants to tell stories, and do it in a way that gets others excited about their brand. Some of the biggest modern-day brands agree, and have employed a storytelling strategy to great success. Starbucks launched its Upstanders campaign, stories of altruistic customers ...
Synthesis Episode 5: Elijah May on the Human Experience
EPISODE 5: Elijah May LISTEN HERE (video + audio) Synthesis is a Root + River hosted webcast featuring nonconformist leaders whose ideas make them — and us — see the world differently. Our fifth episode of Synthesis featured our visit with The Experience Company co-founder, Elijah May. A breath of fresh air, a paradox, a success story, Elijah is exactly what we try to bring to ...
Amor Fati and Your Brand
As humans we love to quantify. Predict. Determine. Forecast. Around 300,000 years ago (when we as a human race began) predicting, determining and developing and sharing systems of knowing provided us humans with the opportunity to, well, not get eaten. So we became pretty attached to these systems. And we carried them through the various phases and eras of human evolution. These ...
Synthesis Episode 4: How to Make Deep Connections, a Conversation with Kristi Hall
EPISODE 4: Kristi Hall LISTEN HERE (video + audio) Synthesis is a Root + River hosted webcast featuring nonconformist leaders whose ideas make them -- and us -- see the world differently. Our fourth episode of Synthesis featured our visit with Conscious Connections founder, Kristi Hall. Kristi is driven by the belief that each person is here to create magic in the world. Her ...
Why You Should Stop Saying, “I Don’t Have a Story”
By Jennifer Lawhead “I have nothing to say.” “I don’t have an exciting story to tell.” “I’m just a typical business owner.” When I work with clients to help them tell their stories, I’m usually met with one or more of these excuses. I get it. I’ve long been this person too, who didn’t feel I had anything extraordinary to say to the world. I haven’t survived a life-threatening ...
Know Thyself: A 21st Century Branding Principle
One of the most surprising moments of a Root Session is when our beloved client has the realization their brand was already inside of them. We did not tell them what their brand is. They discovered it. How is this possible? It’s been taught that branding is an external thing. Something you want to be, some construct you build, one aspirational and slightly delusional brick at a time. The ...
A Very Different Kind of New Year’s Resolution…
New Year's resolutions are lame. For the most part, anyway. They are generally some in-the-moment super important idea abandoned as quickly as a battery-less toy on Christmas morning. But setting resolutions is fun! At least for self-improvement nerds like us. In looking back over more than 25 Root Sessions, 15 presentations, four BrandLabs, three Synthesis episodes, buckets of ...
How much money should I spend on marketing?
As little as possible, mate. Surprised? You’ve been taught to believe that marketing is a cost center. You’ve been trained to think that when you invest in marketing you are buying some tactic or system. No and no. Marketing becomes a revenue center when it is executed as an artful and soulful expression of your brand. The best brands understand this. See … Yeti Spiritual ...