Perhaps you would like to hear the tale? It begins on a dark night, where a dark man waits… with a dark purpose. DISNEY’S ALADDIN 1992 What are dark patterns? The term “dark pattern” has been buzzing around the marketing and web design/development community and beyond lately after some… questionable tactics were used on a […]

What are user personas?  We should all be working from a user-centric focus, that much we know, but do we know who our users are? Broadly speaking, yes. There is a veritable smorgasbord of analytics tools and survey, testing, and feedback services to capture a snapshot of your target audience. Use them and you’ll have […]

It’s a bit ironic that I am writing a top trend post given my habit of largely eschewing trends in my own work. The issue I have with trends is that they are…well, trends. By their nature, they may make your website aesthetically obsolete in a year. Nonetheless, every January I find myself consuming top […]

Seth Godin’s brilliance just got tossed.   I just deleted more than 1,000 of emails of ‘Seth’s Blog’ without reading more than 10… ever.    SETH GODIN is missing the marketing… mark.   Inbox Zero Defining your message and the platform for your audience is key to reaching them. I know where I want information, […]

THE WAIT IS OVER. Every so often the world has something positive, global, and uniting to gather around with cheers and camaraderie. Think Olympics. This time, however, envision a culture of automotive fans building an empire for its automotive jesters… who coincidentally serve as their kings. Enter, The Grand Tour… and beyond. In this blog […]

Applications take many forms in today’s digital world. From web applications to native mobile apps, we are creating more and more tools to be added to our digital toolbox. For many people, creating something like a web application is a very new experience from previous work they have done. In a previous post, I spend […]

Money doesn’t grow on trees The Pachira Aquatica, also known as a money tree, is a traditional symbol of good luck and good fortune.  It grows well in low-light conditions, a perfect fit for office spaces. The trees are typically grown as ornamental plants; when you receive them, they will be about 5 years old […]

Scott Sayler is one of those amazing guys who is incredibly talented and somehow remains humble.  He and his team at RubyHaus partners with Lion + Panda to assist in the architecting web-based applications with a specialty in API generation between web services.  His mastery is in developing custom solutions to make otherwise incompatible systems […]

Aaron Adams has done a little bit of everything across the IT spectrum and accumulated quite a range of experience over the past two decades. That experience has led him to start his own IT company, Empyrean, which serves as part of a strategic partnership for our IT division, Lion + Panda Technical.  Since Aaron […]

Tracy is a marketer and communicator specializing in all things digital. She has an eclectic background, first working with small businesses in New York City, then moving on to scrappy startups in Austin, TX and Washington D.C., and finally on to international nonprofits. She has an absurd number of certifications and two Masters degrees, demonstrating […]

What is good storytelling? It’s a great buzzword and an even better sales generator, but where’s the meat of it?   In branding, a well-told story is the mecca of customer engagement. It’s the highly espoused air in which so many companies claim mastery. And some brands actually are great storytellers.   But because it’s […]

The sword holds a mythical place in human history, and rightfully so. Sure, they are just a sharpened piece of pointy metal, but they have helped shape empires for thousands of years. The first proto-sword dates back to 1600 B.C.E. and had been continually used in warfare until as recently as WWII by the Japanese. In the middle ages […]

“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is” – Scott Cook, Co-Founder Intuit Brand Definition In the marketing world, the effect of public perspective on brand is old news. The buzz terms have all been made, used, and bruised – “customer-centricity,” […]

Stellar Moves I like to imagine business like the earth or the moon.  If it either stops moving it will crash.  The moon would crash into the earth; if the earth stops moving it will crash into the sun (hopefully avoiding Mercury and Venus en route). One of the many lessons that I’ve learned in […]

When people are considering the digital presence they want to create, there’s an issue that can quickly arise – “Do I need a website or a web application?” The question tends to be more convoluted, but the basic element is whether they are creating a ‘basic’ website or a more dynamic web application. And for […]

With the proliferation of inbound marketing channels – social media, email, text, etc. – marketing automation is a huge concern. Clients and customers want to be personally connected using their outlet of choice, which is a daunting task for any one marketer. Large organizations invest millions upon millions of dollars in these outlets to create […]

Auto racing is an opaque sport. People can struggle to grasp and appreciate its finer points. However, even if you have caught only a glimpse of a televised race, then you are probably aware of one notable detail: Companies sponsor race teams. The idea behind this is simple. Sponsors pay money to receive exposure, and […]

Mobilegeddon For Google Search Results Is your site mobile friendly? If not you will want to pay attention. Google has announced an upcoming change in their search algorithms that will show preferential treatment to mobile-friendly sites on mobile searches. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly already, now is the time to make your move, since your […]