Will Burns

1 month ago | ideasiclex.com | Will Burns

A couple weeks ago I wrote an opinion piece called “American Brands Suddenly Have a Trump Card: Here's How To Take Advantage.” In it, I recommended that American brands band together, pool their money, and create an advertising campaign that inspires American consumers to buy American brands. A campaign that avoided politics and appealed to our sense of belonging here in the USofA. Fact is, I have access to some of the greatest creatives in the business here at Ideasicle X.

1 month ago | ideasiclex.com | Will Burns

Prior to Ideasicle X I was the EVP Director of Business Development at Arnold Worldwide. I did nothing but pitch for 7 years and I learned a thing or two about the dynamics involved. And since then I’ve consulted with agencies helping them sharpen their approach to new biz. So for fun I isolated the variables of a pitch—the big five—and worked with Grok AI to develop an app to bring them to life. The five key variables: Responsiveness, Relationship, Brand Tone, Strategy, and The Big Creative Idea.

2 months ago | ideasiclex.com | Will Burns

Whether you love Trump or hate him, he's given American brands a trump card they need to start playing right away. It's in the interest of the American brands, but also in the interest of the American economy. And for some even patriotic, but that isn’t required. The “trump card” is the tariffs and I have three ways for American brands to take full advantage and to accelerate our economy through the tariff pain.

2 months ago | ideasiclex.com | Will Burns

I have been in advertising long enough now to see that “creative ideas” have had a hell of a ride. Depending on the decade, ideas have been the champion soaring to glory, they’ve been battered by industry upheavals, and nearly lost in a sea of endless channels. What follows is my interpretation of the “hero’s journey” of the creative idea through advertising’s chaotic past—its triumphs, trials, and a future where I believe it’s poised to reclaim its rightful throne.

2 months ago | ideasiclex.com | Will Burns

Here’s a jolt for all you advertising idea people: direct mail—that dusty relic you’ve been calling “junk” since the dawn of spam filters—is back.. Not as a quaint throwback, but as a channel with unexpected pull in our screen-saturated world. The irony? The digital deluge we’ve been navigating has cracked open a window for something physical to matter again. With 605 emails hitting inboxes weekly, a piece of actual mail suddenly feels less like an intrusion and more like a deliberate human gesture.