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

Using marketing to deflect time-wasters like me

Marketing isn’t just a magnet. It’s a filter too. And sometimes it’s used to filter out people like… me.

B2B marketing / Customer experience

Read more

The art of narrowing your offer even if it hurts your soul

Just because your product does lots of things doesn’t mean you should talk about lots of things. Think narrow.

B2B marketing / Brand

Read more

Embracing ambiguity: creative confidence in disguise

This started out as an apology. I wanted to say sorry to the many clients and colleagues I’ve annoyed over the years because of my indecisiveness. I…

B2B marketing

Read more

The glory of low-tech: the first Velocity Letterpress Day

What happens when you let a bunch of digital designers loose on an old Stephenson Blake printing press and a bunch of wood type?

Velocity Culture

Read more

B2B marketers: take back your website!

Too many B2B marketing teams are locked out of their websites. This really shouldn’t still be happening.

08. 07. 2019

Read more

Tone of Voice: The B2B budget multiplier

This is about the most powerful but least understood force in B2B marketing. It’s about untapped potential that every brand can tap… but very…

28. 06. 2019

Read more

Vertical marketing strategy in B2B: when, why, how?

Vertical content often out-performs generic, horizontal content—by a lot. Here’s what you need to know.

B2B marketing / Positioning

Read more

B2B documentaries: the next big thing

This is about a woefully under-used tactic in B2B content marketing. But it’s also a metaphor for all of B2B marketing, and what’s wrong with…

B2B marketing / Brand

Read more

The galvanizing story part 3: a B2B positioning example

In the third post in the Galvanizing Story series, we look at the story created for OpenMarket—and its impact.

23. 04. 2019

Read more

The galvanizing story, part 2: The guts

What makes for a powerful galvanzing story? Five things that every compelling narrative has.

15. 04. 2019

Read more

What’s after content marketing? The galvanizing story, Part 1

Content marketing won. Now what? It’s time to re-center our marketing around big ideas. Meet the Galvanizing Story, the next (and first) big thing.

08. 04. 2019

Read more

Deadlines are killing your marketing

Deadlines dictate the daily lives of every marketer—often at the cost of the things we’re really here to do. Maybe it’s time to slow down…

B2B marketing

Read more