On our minds.

Signals turned into decisions. What is shifting in AI, search, and buyer psychology, scored for the ninety days that matter, and written for people who move markets.

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13 posts
featuredBrand·12 min read

What San Francisco was selling during Dreamforce week

After this you will know why one campaign about death outperformed a highway full of return-on-investment claims, which ROI claim survived the check, and what the difference costs a brand whose buyers ask an AI assistant first.

Anne Becheru
Anne Becheru
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A bike lane on a downtown street runs towards Salesforce Tower on the morning of the main keynote, 15 September 2026.

Latest thinking

fresh from the desk
The United Theater marquee reads "Moonshots Live, The Oscars for Optimists", 25 September 2026.
Strategy·9 min

What a day at Moonshots Live said about how the next decade gets sold

After this you will know why every speaker in the room was selling a position rather than a product, and why one line about agents choosing tools should change what a B2B brand publishes this quarter.

Anne Becheru
Anne Becheru
A cream paper shopping bag standing open and completely empty on a smooth navy surface, its twisted handles acid yellow-green, lit hard from one side
Brand·13 min

Priced In #2: What the Hell Happened to Lululemon

Nike stopped paying for attention. Lululemon kept the attention and had nothing to give it, which is the more expensive of the two mistakes and the one almost nobody sees coming.

Anne Becheru
Anne Becheru
A cream metal megaphone lying on its side on a smooth navy surface, a coiled acid yellow-green cord looped from its handle, lit hard from one side
Brand·15 min

Priced In #1: What the Hell Happened to Nike

The brand crash came first. The stock crash was the market catching up. I have been a Nike person my whole life, so let me be exact about the order of events, and about the decision that will land on your desk this budget season wearing a much friendlier name.

Anne Becheru
Anne Becheru
A pale bone chess knight tipped past its balance point on navy stone, caught mid-fall, acid yellow-green felt showing on its lifted base
Strategy·11 min

Is bravery worth more than brains? What the data says

IQ predicts income but not wealth, ability plateaus at the top in one contested study, and entrepreneurs are both smart and rule-breaking. What the evidence says about risk and success.

Anne Becheru
Anne Becheru
A blank cream price tag propped upright on navy stone, nothing written on it, an acid yellow-green thread knotted through its brass eyelet, casting a long shadow
Strategy·10 min

You cannot see risk. You can only see the price.

Risk is invisible before and after the event. Why buyers price your risk into your quote, why discounting signals danger, and what to charge for instead.

Anne Becheru
Anne Becheru
A single die balanced upright on one corner on navy stone, one pip picked out in acid yellow-green, casting a long hard shadow
Strategy·13 min

More things can happen than will happen

Every marketing plan presents one number. Howard Marks's four rules on risk explain why that number is the least useful thing in the deck, and what to plan against instead.

Anne Becheru
Anne Becheru
A red discount price tag cut in half by a blade of light on dark navy stone
Strategy·10 min

The 8% Trap: how promotion quietly kills brands

A short history of measurement, from Mad Men to the machine, and why the part of marketing you can count is the part most likely destroying your brand.

Brave New
A brass balance scale on navy stone, one pan low, casting a long shadow
Strategy·8 min

Reassuringly Expensive: why the long game is a pricing strategy

What Les Binet’s thirty years of data actually prove: brand building is not the soft half of marketing. It is the only reliable way to earn a firm price.

Anne Becheru
Anne Becheru
A plain unlabelled juice carton on navy, half lit and half in deep shadow
Brand·6 min

What the brain actually buys: why your features don’t sell

Your customer decides first and explains later. Most marketing is aimed at the explanation.

Brave New
A sealed envelope standing upright on navy stone, its wax seal catching the light
Strategy·6 min

How to talk about your value (when you’re great at the work and bad at selling it)

Nobody buys your hours. They buy who they get to become. A step-by-step guide to the value conversation.

Anne Becheru
Anne Becheru
A stethoscope coiled on navy stone beside a blank prescription pad
Brand·6 min

How to hire a branding partner (and spot a vendor pretending to be an expert)

If they take your order without a single hard question, you hired a vendor, not an expert. What to ask before you sign.

Anne Becheru
Anne Becheru
An analogue pressure gauge on navy, its needle deep in the red zone
Reports·6 min

How to tell your marketing budget is going south (and what to do about it)

The numbers can look their best right before the brand falls over. Seven warning signs, and the fix for each.

Anne Becheru
Anne Becheru

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turned into a decision.

The Brave New Business Journal. One macro signal translated into a marketing decision.

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