Community as a Marketing Channel
GYMSHARK, SEPHORA, AND NOTION BUILT THEMSELVES ON BELONGING RATHER THAN AD BUDGETS. AS THE COST OF BUYING ATTENTION CLIMBS AND TRUST IN ADVERTISING FALLS, MORE BRANDS ARE TREATING COMMUNITY AS…
The Three-Tool Stack
Ask a chief marketing officer a simple question and watch them squirm: of all the money you spent on advertising last year, which half actually worked? For most of the…
The Grade Problem
In January, copper briefly traded above $14,500 a tonne. The metal had crossed $12,000 for the first time in its history only the month before. By the standards of a…
The Rebrand Gamble
Jaguar sold 49 cars in a month. Cracker Barrel lost 100 million dollars in a week. X erased one of the most recognised names on the internet. Companies keep betting…
Bigger, Cheaper, or More Capable: The Ad Groups Diverge
Laura Higgins runs brand and innovation at Dollar Shave Club. She spent years at Procter & Gamble, which is to say she knows exactly what an agency is for. Asked…
The ROI Obsession: Can Brand Building Survive Quarterly Pressure?
Every quarter, boardrooms in Bangladesh reverberate with questions like: How much sales did the campaign generate? What was the ROI? How much revenue was generated through Facebook ads? Marketing partners…
Ask Better Questions: The most underrated skill in every room
Think of the last conversation that left you feeling genuinely good. The odds are the other person did not dazzle you with stories. They asked you things, and then they…
The AQI Generation: When checking the air became as normal as checking the weather
The morning glance now carries two numbers: the temperature, and the air. In Dhaka, where the second one is rarely good news, a whole generation has learned to read the…
You Deserve a Little Treat: The tiny economy of getting through the day
You know the feeling. It is a Tuesday, the morning was heavier than it should have been, and somewhere between the bus and the desk a small voice suggests that…
Funflation: The economics of a good time
A World Cup seat now costs a median of $900. The world's top tours gross 60 percent more than they did in 2019. And in Bangladesh, the official price of…
The Long Game: Gulf’s Bet on The AI Stack
On the evening of 11 June, bankers at Goldman Sachs priced the largest initial public offering ever attempted. SpaceX opened on Nasdaq the following morning at $135 a share, raised…
The Illusion of Value in Modern Talent
Lately, I find myself thinking about how we define value at work — and more importantly, how we try to prove it. There is an increasing reliance on visible markers:…
The New Boardroom Conversation: Sustainability Is No Longer About Compliance. It’s About Competitiveness.
A few years ago, sustainability occupied a predictable place in most board meetings. It appeared near the end of the agenda. Usually after finance and sales. Sometimes after HR. It…
What the Hormuz crisis continues to cost Bangladesh
In May this magazine argued that the Hormuz crisis had not created Bangladesh’s vulnerability but revealed it, and asked what it would take to be less exposed. The strait has…
The Collab Economy: Why Every Brand Suddenly Wants to Wear Another Brand’s Logo
Coca-Cola is selling Crocs, Nike is co-branding with Kim Kardashian, and Louis Vuitton opened 2025 by reviving a twenty-year-old partnership. Behind the strange pairings sits a trade that has become…