I get a ton of of email.

It’s an occupational hazard, as I sign up for tons of things that help me keep up with what’s so in marketing and branding trends across a broad range of topics.

One of my more recent sign-ups was with an online marketer who came highly touted as a list-building genius and all ’round go-getter, but his #marketingfail did not sit well.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what proof do we have that artful visuals are a worthy branding investment?

Let’s start with a fine arts exhibit originally known as “Pacific Standard Time” launching its third huge exhibit in 2024 after major earlier successes.

Conventional wisdom has it that art is right brained, and science is left brained, as I’m sure you’ve heard.

Well, in recent years, science studies have upended that entire paradigm, so we may all be in for some surprises soon. We will have to rethink our personalities, lifestyles, and maybe our entire identities. What fun.

We in Southern California have too much experience with wildfires. This makes us especially sympathetic with our sisters and brothers in Maui who are grappling with an unprecedented, deadly tragic wildfire, raging in August of 2023.

I wrote what follows next in 2017, when six different fires overtook us.

Which came first? The picture worth a thousand words, or the words that painted a picture in our imagination? Let’s take a look together, just for fun.