PASSION BRANDS IN THE AGE OF DISRUPTION
Every industry around the globe is being disrupted. Stalwart brands are losing market share to upstarts that capture our collective consciousness. Trillions of dollars are at stake.
Brands know a new approach is needed. But most don’t realize the strategic underpinnings need to change. Great brands are no longer built through interruptive advertisements.
Friction argues that brands don't simply need clever messages or new, shiny technologies. They need a fundamental change in strategy. Friction provides a system for embracing transparency, engaging audiences, creating evangelists, and unleashing unprecedented growth.
Friction reveals how corporations can divorce themselves from legacy business models to create a passion brand. A brand that breaks its addiction to traditional advertising. A brand that empowers its customers. A brand that dominates the competition.
WELCOME TO THE ADVERTISING REVOLUTION
The advertising industry has the ability to make the world a better place. That’s the driving theme behind The Naked Brand, the Questus-produced documentary about the advertising revolution.
There’s a seismic shift happening in marketing. Ad spending is at an all-time high but faith in corporate messaging is at an all-time low. Time-honored techniques are suddenly failing. Consumers have taken control. Their word has more impact on a brand’s bottom line than a clever ad campaign ever could. Truth in advertising isn’t an ironic platitude any longer. It is an absolute necessity in a time when a company’s smallest misstep can be exposed globally in a flash of a Twitter post.
Jeff Rosenblum
Co-Founder & Chief Client Officer
Jeff is the Founding Partner and Chief Strategy Officer of Questus, a leading digital advertising agency with offices in San Francisco, Orange County, and New York City. He is also a documentary filmmaker, author, public speaker, and noted disruptor in the world of marketing and advertising.
Since Jeff co-founded Questus in 1998, the firm has worked with some of the world’s most influential brands, including American Express, Apple, Capital One, Disney, General Mills, Ford, ESPN, the New York Times, The NFL, Samsung, Starbucks, Suzuki, Universal, Verizon, and Wyndham. Questus focuses on using digital advertising to build brands, drive revenue, and create evangelists through empowering content.
Jeff wrote and directed a documentary about the advertising revolution called The Naked Brand. It was praised for its inspiring message that corporations can improve the world, one small step at a time. His first book, Friction (PowerHouse, 2017) explained how passion brands are built in the age of disruption, and quickly became Amazon’s #1 selling business book.
Despite barely graduating college, Jeff has given speeches at some of the top universities in the world, including Yale, Cornell, Columbia and London Business School. His appearances at industry conferences have included ad:tech, TEDx, Hubspot, Inbound, Digiday, DMA, and iMedia. His media appearances include Bloomberg TV, Newsweek, the New York Times, Glossy, Blaze TV, Cheddar, Ivy, Entreleadership, ABC Radio, and more.
Before starting Questus, Jeff went to the University of Vermont with his best friend and agency co-founder, Jordan Berg. While there, he entered the Vermont Toughman Competition and got knocked out by someone much tougher than him. Apparently it was worth it, because he gets to put it in this bio. In his free time, Jeff is addicted to learning new skills, including telemark skiing, fly fishing, and playing funk guitar. His guitar instructor summarizes these endeavors, describing his playing as “mediocre, at best.”
Jeff serves on an advisory board for Special Spectators, which provides sports experiences for kids facing life threatening illnesses. He lives in New York City with his wife and two kids, who are much cooler and better looking than he is.