As we’ve been working on our own content strategy for the next six months, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what kinds of things we should be writing about. There are all kinds of options out there, but I increasingly find myself thinking that the most...

Great advertising is exceptional truth-telling. In 1912, Harry McCann and four partners launched the advertising agency that would later become McCann Erickson. Their founding motto was “Truth Well Told,” which beautifully expresses one of the most fundamental (and...

Is the Häagen-Dazs brand fundamentally inauthentic?The name “Häagen-Dazs” doesn’t actually mean anything. It’s not an ancient Danish city or the name of two Swiss ice cream masters or anything of the sort. The name was made up by Jewish-Polish immigrant Reuben Mattus,...

If your values live only on your company's walls, you might as well not even have them You may have heard of a large energy company called Enron. Here’s a fun except from their code of ethics: Respect. We treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. We do...

Once upon a time, Forty was totally into fixed-fee billing.  Several months ago we repented of our evil ways (we now bill 100% hourly) and life’s been awesome ever since.  How did we come to this change of heart, and what does it mean for our clients? The Quick...

After years of soul searching, experimentation, and dipping our toes in the water, we here at Forty have finally committed to fully adopting the Agile methodology across the board. This is a pretty radical change for a marketing agency.  The Agile methodology was...

When you're designing something, it's easy to fall into the trap of designing it for yourself. If you tend to be an emotional decision-maker, you might focus on feelings and sensations rather than raw data. Conversely, if you're a detail-oriented decision-maker, you...

When I was young, I had a really pessimistic view of marketing.  I thought advertising was about emotional blackmail and manipulation, branding was conceptual mumbo-jumbo, design was pointless visual fluff, and public relations was just a way to hide your faults...

Usability guru Jakob Nielsen has criticized web firms for being so quick to jump on the “Web 2.0” bandwagon that they neglect basic elements of good design. He’s absolutely right, and it’s great to see someone with his visibility discussing an issue that’s...

Wikipedia’s List of Company Name Etymologies is a fascinating read that gives some insights into how company names are really created. Notice that you don’t see too many origins like “Developed during brainstorming session with $100k naming consultant.” Just goes to...