Doug Kessler

Executive Creative Director

Doug is a displaced Yank who started his career at Ogilvy & Mather, New York.

Soap and fabric softener bored him rigid so he jumped ship to specialize in B2B.

Doug is an annoyingly ubiquitous speaker at marketing events and a prolific writer on all things marketing, content, tech, strategy and creativity.

His answer to why he’s spent so many years doing B2B (and loving it) is summarized in a quick slideshare called The Search for Meaning in B2B.

Other stuff he’s proud of include Crap, Insane Honesty, A Stakeholder Through the Heart and, mostly, this amazing place full of these smart, talented, committed and really nice people.

Doug is a copywriter at heart but with a secret jones for analytics.
And Lagavulin.

We’ve got 263 posts from Doug

Branding as body language

A friend of ours who also happens to be a God of Branding sent us an article he wrote ten years ago but could have been written yesterday. He’s Axel…

04. 11. 2008

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I beg you: don’t bore the bejesus out of me

Marketing is communication. B2B marketing is bad communication.…

31. 10. 2008

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Playing in the creative sandbox

Despite living in a ‘creative’ world, most agencies are pretty linear. They take the brief, then they do the creative. Velocity is a bit different. When…

16. 09. 2008

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The C word: the importance of confidence in B2B marketing

A great website. Lots of white papers and thought leadership content. Case studies and customer testimonials. Great campaigns and creative. Awards,…

04. 09. 2008

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The 4 steps to a B2B sale: rational meets irrational

My old boss Steve Trygg (a great copywriter) used to talk about the role of marketing in business decision-making by breaking down every purchase decision…

10. 07. 2008

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The power of “You”: the 2nd person singular in B2B copywriting

Most B2B technology copywriting is so boring because its so neutral. The best copywriting looks the prospect squarely in the eye and says, “I’m going to…

04. 04. 2008

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17 credibility builders that make your claims believable

Anyone can claim anything they like about their product or service. Claims are empty. Your job as a marketer is to get believed.…

28. 03. 2008

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Fighting Inertia: the toughest competitor of them all.

Most B2B technology companies have a clear set of competitors they’re battling. But for some (usually early stage) tech companies, there are no other…

29. 02. 2008

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Champions and the Siren Effect: how early wins can mislead

Early stage tech companies would do anything for those first few big wins — especially from blue-chip companies. But we’ve seen more than a few companies…

19. 02. 2008

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Empathy and foreplay in B2B Marketing

I don’t know how else to put this: nobody gives a shit about you. Your software or service or widget may be the center of your world but the people you’re…

07. 02. 2008

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7 ways to improve the signal-to-noise ratio in B2B marketing

Every marketing communication has two parts:…

22. 01. 2008

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Building a B2B case: 8 tips from criminal lawyers

We B2B marketers are in the business of building cases. We’re advocates. So I did some research into how lawyers do what they do, focusing in on the…

16. 01. 2008

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