We all swore off brand. Declared it dead. Buried it under a decade of dashboards, funnels, and “growth hacks.”
But the playbook we tried to shred is clawing its way back. And the irony? AI, the very force accelerating sameness, is pushing us to rediscover the one thing machines can’t fake: brand, story, and the human spark.
My latest guest on Playbook Broken was Deema Tamimi, VP of Marketing at Creatopy, and I felt, a kindred spirit (shout out to Anne of Green Gables. If you know, you know). Deema lived through Xbox, YouTube, Flipboard, and Figma and is, like me, a non-profit veteran, where resources are razor-thin. That vantage point gave us a conversation that cut across AI, advertising, and why Don Draper might be a zombie worth listening to.
As Deema put it: “There is this moment right now or this sort of zeitgeist… brands are going to basically come back to be so important.”
The Death (and Resurrection) of Brand
For years, marketers bent the knee to performance. Every campaign optimized, every click accounted for. Talk about brand in a room and you’d get eye rolls. Still do.
Deema nailed the consequence: “We almost treated everything like a performance thing… so much of what’s been put out there looks like it was growth hacked.”
Now, AI is flooding the zone with content stamped from the same mold. The sameness is deafening. That’s why the pendulum is swinging back. What stands out? A story. A voice. A moment that connects.
Don Draper isn’t dead. He’s undead. And he’s here to remind us why ideas still matter.
AI Years vs. Dog Years
We used to joke that internet years were like dog years—seven to one. Deema went further: AI years are twelve to one. And accelerating.
Deema’s point: “In a month or two months, it’s gonna be more than that. That’s what’s so unique and daunting about AI.”
Speed matters. Playbooks don’t just get outdated; they disintegrate. What worked last quarter may already feel obsolete.
But speed also opens a door. AI can crunch numbers at a scale that no team can match, giving marketers space to reclaim the creative muscle they lost when they went all-in on measurement.
That speed isn’t just breaking playbooks. It’s rewriting how we think about advertising itself.
Nonprofits and the Grant Playbook
Talking to Deema reminded me of my decade in nonprofit (March of Dimes, LLS, Autism Speaks). That nonprofit work adds another layer because nonprofits often struggle with design, storytelling, and even basic marketing. AI could change that.
She reminded me of the grind of grant writing: “If you don’t get it exactly to the T, they’ll just throw out your application.” Imagine an AI partner turning that bureaucratic nightmare into a solvable task.
If nonprofits can use AI to tell better stories with fewer resources, what’s the excuse for brands with entire departments?
Slowing Down to Speed Up
We closed on something personal. Deema shared the moment she forced herself to break her own playbook: slowing down.
She’d been sprinting through meetings, tools, and metrics. Until she turned off the computer, went for a walk, and listened to Johann Hari talk about “stolen focus.”
Her realization: “When I slowed down and allowed myself time to think deeply… I was way more productive. I was slowing down to speed up.”
That may be the most radical broken-playbook idea of all. Not another tool. Not another test. Just space to think.
Five Truths That Stuck
The brand playbook was never broken. We just stopped believing in it.
AI can crunch numbers, but it can’t create meaning. That’s our job.
Performance without story looks like everything else.
Sometimes the most subversive move is to slow down.
Around the town, notes and musings:
I had the unique opportunity to attend and speak at Inbound (HubSpot’s big annual event). Beyond Amy Poehler, Colin Jost, and Glennon Doyle, my 4 colabs that focused on learning how to fight resistance and gain momentum were a gas to host and moderate. I’m doing a version of that same workshop on September 16th in Raleigh at the Triangle SEO meetup. You should totally come.
I’m doing my usual and reading too many books at once. I’m listening to Empire of AI on Spotify, and reading Impossible to Ignore and The Drawing of the Three on Kindle.
Attended my first-ever US Open and had the opportunity to see a big upset in person. #TEAMFELIX
Thank you for reading Playbook Broken.
