I find it hard to believe, but today marks the two year anniversary of Hard Knox Life. As I did last year, I wanted to mark the anniversary by recapping my favorite posts that I have written on the site. I decided to include a handful of posts that made the Year One list, as well as a couple of new ones.

  1. A Brand Manager’s Call for Change: My riff on what Brand Manager’s need to do in order to be a Brand Leader in the 21st Century.
  2. Now is the time to become a Marketing Technopologist: The term was originally coined by the Wall Street Journal but I have embraced it fully. Marketing Technopologists are people who combines the skills of marketer, technologist, and social anthropologist.
  3. The new job of a Brand Manager is to facilitate conversations & community: Part of my series on Brand Manager 2.0, this posts talks about a change in who tells the brand story.
  4. Start-ups need to invest in building brands, not just products: Based on the comments, I riled the feathers of some entrepreneurs who took offense to this post. I still stand by the importance of mapping out your brand by day one as you start a new business.
  5. Lessons of the Square Watermelon: Probably my most successful post from Year 1, especially based on search traffic. Thanks to a plug from Guy Kawasaki and Marketing Profs, it’s had well over 25K views.
  6. There is no better time to be a marketer: In the heart of the recession, MarketingProfs claimed that “its just not a fun time to be a marketer.” Of course, I had to give my take on why that thinking was just plain wrong.
  7. What I believe in: My Personal Leadership Philosophy: The other post that search engines seem to love, this talks to how I approach my personal leadership philosophy in the business world. In 2009, it even had more views than the Square Watermelon post.
  8. Even a Brand Manager needs their 10,000 hours of practice: Inspired by Bob Lefsetz and Malcolm Gladwell, this is all about what it takes to be your best.
  9. Networking isn’t a dirty word: There are tons of interesting people doing interesting things out there. Are you the type of Brand Manager that sits in conference rooms all day or are you making it a point to get out there and find out what’s next in the world of marketing?
  10. Don’t make the mistake of giving up the voice of the brand: With a little inspiration from Tom at Brand Camp, my take on how Brand Managers should navigate the world of Social Media.