Journal
Ideas designed to interrupt familiar thinking.
Short perspectives on brands, creative, culture, attention and strategy—written to challenge what feels obvious and reveal opportunity in what others overlook.
Danielle Fischer/Founder, Deegan
Note 01/Perspective
Familiarity creates efficiency. It also creates blindness. The longer something exists inside an organization, the easier it becomes to stop questioning whether it still deserves to be there.
Note 02/Strategy
Publishing content and determining the strategic identity of a company are two different jobs. Somewhere along the way, many organizations started asking the same person to do both.
Note 03/Creative
Note 04/Brand
The strongest brands can change the photograph, campaign, platform, format and message—and still be unmistakably themselves.
Note 05/Audience
Comments, shares, saves, searches, questions and conversations aren't simply engagement metrics. They're evidence of what people believe is worth noticing.
Note 06/Brand
Innovative. Authentic. Premium. Customer-first. Purpose-driven. When an entire category uses the same language, the words stop positioning anyone.
Note 07/Strategy
When content underperforms, the instinct is often to change the hook, format, creator, posting time or platform. Sometimes none of those things is the problem.
Note 08/Leadership
Note 08/Leadership
The most expensive marketing problem may be everyone doing their job well.
Read the note →
Note 09/Brand
They don't know which agency made the campaign, which team runs social, who owns the website or where marketing ends and customer experience begins.
Note 10/Culture
Trends feel safe because attention has already gathered around them. When every brand adopts the same visual language, sound, format and behavior, participation becomes camouflage.
Note 11/Brand
The strongest story may already exist inside the company—in its history, rituals, founder, customers, product or ordinary moments everyone stopped considering remarkable.
Note 12/Opportunity
Organizations naturally remove inconsistencies. But perfect conformity can also remove the unexpected detail that gives people something worth noticing.
Notes from the House
Occasional ideas on brands, creative, culture, attention and strategy.
For those building what others will eventually notice.
For founders, executives, creators and brand leaders willing to question what everyone else has learned to accept.