IN PRACTICE
What 50 Years of Habitat for Humanity Can Teach Us About Building a Brand That Endures
Some brands endure because they protect what made them recognizable. The strongest endure because they also keep expanding what that promise means. Mention Habitat for Humanity and an image appears almost immediately. Volunteers. Hammers. A house taking shape. People working side by side with the family who will call it home. Few organizations—commercial or nonprofit—have […]
WHAT SHOULD BE ON YOUR RADAR NOW?
Events, dates, places to be—and a few global moments you might not expect. Bookmark this article. You may want it again. In case September disappeared while you weren’t looking… September has a way of doing that. New York managed to squeeze the US Open, Fashion Week, the UN General Assembly and Climate Week into a […]
How Marketing Makes a Meaningful Difference
The 2026 Marketing Makes a World of Difference™ winners suggest that marketing’s contribution may be expanding—from communicating value to helping create it. Each year, The Internationalist’s Marketing Makes a World of Difference™ Awards look for work that meets a deceptively simple test: Something meaningful happened because marketing got involved. That means looking beyond awareness, engagement, […]
Why Some of Advertising’s Oldest Real Estate Suddenly Feels Surprisingly New
Out-of-home advertising has been refusing to stay politely inside the rectangle for a very long time. In mid-century Times Square, the famous Camel billboard blew actual smoke over Manhattan. Maxwell House poured an endless cup of coffee. Signs flashed, moved, and became part of New York City’s visual identity. So spectacle isn’t new. Neither is […]
Cause Marketing Grows Up: From Campaign to Collaboration
For Momentum’s Mollye Rhea on why the strongest cause partnerships are becoming more integrated, more enduring—and more valuable to everyone involved. Cause marketing has come a long way from asking consumers to add a dollar at checkout or promising that a percentage of every purchase will go to a good cause. Those approaches haven’t disappeared—and […]
When Celebrity Becomes Credibility: Why the Best Endorsements Shorten the Distance to Trust
Rob Gronkowski’s relationship with regenerative technology company DNA Vibe offers a timely reminder that the most powerful endorsements don’t simply attract attention. They help consumers understand why they should care. (Image courtesy of DNA Vibe.) Celebrity endorsements are hardly new. For generations, brands have borrowed fame, familiarity and cultural relevance in hopes that some of […]
THE EDIT | The Best Marketing Solves Something
Sometimes through design. Sometimes through humor. Sometimes through the smallest of ideas. Every once in a while, a handful of seemingly unrelated ideas begin to feel strangely connected. At first glance, they have very little in common. Different companies. Different countries. Different categories. Some are recent. Others are not. Yet I found myself lingering over […]
How Marketing Is Quietly Evolving
One of the privileges of publishing The Internationalist is seeing remarkable marketing from around the world before anyone has labeled it a trend. At first, it’s simply an interesting campaign. And another. Eventually, patterns emerge. Across the work we’ve been reviewing lately—from World Cup activations, Cannes conversations, AI innovation, discussions with marketing leaders, to past […]
BEYOND BECKHAM: The World Cup Marketing that Added Something to the Experience
The official sponsors of the 2026 FIFA World Cup certainly received what they paid for: extraordinary visibility among one of the world’s largest shared audiences. And then there was David Beckham. The former England captain seemed to be everywhere—appearing in campaigns for nearly a dozen brands across sportswear, banking, food, technology, home improvement and telecommunications. […]
Mike Nelson: The Delicate Art of Brand Evolution
For nearly two centuries, Martin Guitar has balanced craftsmanship with innovation. Mike Nelson explains why enduring brands don’t choose between heritage and progress—they learn how to honor both. Marketing has always celebrated the new. New technologies. New platforms. New audiences. New ways of reaching consumers. Yet some of the world’s most admired brands have endured […]