"work"

invest in narrative infrastructure:

• From content → to storytelling,


• From messaging → to lore,


• From brand guidelines → to belief systems,


• From marketing departments → to film studios .

I think there's this idealized version of modern interactions where, especially in the context of startups, where there's this idea that you'll make something, you'll drop it or release it, and then you'll distribute it to thousands and millions of people. And I think what's actual, and the thing that's much more effortful, but much more human too,... See more

I'm fed up. At this point in my career, I'm tired of writing the most milquetoast, pushover, inoffensive, coddling copy that (seemingly) every brand wants to use in marketing and advertising communications. "We help build solutions." "Our people are our secret sauce.""Customer service sets us apart.""We're eco-friendly.Every brand says this. These ... See more

my cheesy oversimplification that i do think is true is that ultimately marketing is simply about publicly being in love with the problem-space that you’re operating in. your product, sure, but why did you make the product? because you cared about the problem, right? show us!!

You have a particular definition of business: “An experiment in survival involving money and the creative impulse.” For a lot of people, the idea that you can be capitalism-critical yet pro-

business is a tricky tension or paradox. Can you speak to that?

JA: My work exists not as an endorsement of or a reinvestment in the business paradigm. It’s mor... See more