A brand's history is a valuable asset. The most powerful ideas for future growth are often rooted in the brand's 'archaeology.' Reviving timeless concepts, like the Pepsi Taste Challenge, and making them culturally relevant today is often more effective than chasing novelty.

Founders without a marketing background can bypass traditional learning curves. By using AI tools to analyze the strategies of successful competitors or admired brands, they can quickly gain a practical understanding of positioning, funnels, and messaging, and then apply those proven concepts to their own business.

For a 150-year-old brand like ADT, the most valuable asset is user trust, which is hard to build and easy to lose. Therefore, every product investment must first be validated against its potential impact on that trust.

AI can't replicate insights gained from direct customer interaction. Methods like joining sales calls, reading product reviews, and one-on-one interviews provide "first-party data" essential for creating resonant content and differentiating your brand from competitors relying on public data.

Creating a genuine brand voice requires deep immersion, not just a brief. By spending months interacting with dozens of employees across all departments, a consultant can uncover the shared language and core truths that form an authentic, resonant voice.

The first step in reviving a heritage brand like Chili's is to deeply research its history, founders, and original essence. This historical foundation provides the authentic DNA needed to build a relevant modern brand positioning, rather than inventing something new.

Adman Claude Hopkins turned Schlitz beer from fifth to first in market share by simply telling the story of their brewing process. Even though the process was standard, no one else was telling it. This highlights that "boring" operational details can be compelling marketing differentiators.

Instead of asking one-off questions, build a detailed, pre-written prompt (a "shortcut") within an AI browser. This standardizes your analysis framework, allowing you to instantly reverse-engineer any company's marketing strategy with a single command, making deep research scalable and repeatable.

The first step to humanizing a brand is not internal brainstorming, but conducting deep-dive interviews with recent customers. The goal is to understand precisely what problem they were solving and why they chose your solution over others, grounding your brand messaging in real-world validation.