Agencies often pitch exciting, ambitious "North Star" campaigns that get one department excited. However, these ideas frequently fail because the client's internal teams (e.g., digital, PR, comms) are siloed and not aligned. The agency sells a vision that other departments ultimately block, leading to an inability to deliver.

The first filter for fastvertising isn't creative potential, but the seriousness of the event. Brands must determine if it's appropriate to make light of a situation. Pop culture is relatively safe territory, while politics, disasters, and conflicts are high-risk zones to be avoided.

The power of reacting to a cultural moment lies in its perceived spontaneity. If a brand attempts this too often, consumers will see it as a calculated marketing ploy rather than a genuine response. The strategy must be reserved for select moments to remain effective.

Gumroad's CEO credits their rapid development to his role as a solo decision-maker. This structure eliminates the lengthy processes of gaining internal buy-in and creating extensive documentation (PRDs, specs) common in larger organizations, which are often more about alignment than execution.

Creativity thrives not from pressure, but from a culture of psychological safety where experimentation is encouraged. Great thinkers often need to "sit on" a brief for weeks to let ideas incubate. Forcing immediate output stifles breakthrough campaign thinking.

One-off creative hits are easy, but replicating them requires structure. Truly creative marketing integrates storytelling into a disciplined process involving data analysis (washups, SWAT), strategic planning, and commercial goals. This framework provides the guardrails needed to turn creative ideas into repeatable, impactful campaigns.

Contrary to the popular bottoms-up startup ethos, a top-down approach is crucial for speed in a large organization. It prevents fragmentation that arises from hundreds of teams pursuing separate initiatives, aligning everyone towards unified missions for faster, more coherent progress.

In AI-native companies that ship daily, traditional marketing processes requiring weeks of lead time for releases are obsolete. Marketing teams can no longer be a gatekeeper saying "we're not ready." They must reinvent their workflows to support, not hinder, the relentless pace of development, or risk slowing the entire company down.

Strict adherence to brand cohesion often stifles creativity and results in subjective boardroom debates. Brands achieve more by focusing on creating relevant, timely content that resonates with their audience, even if it occasionally breaks established stylistic guidelines.