Our Latest & Greatest Ideas

Like many companies, Hencove gets into “March Madness.” Our annual pool has nearly 60 entrants – if you want an invite next year let us know – and plenty of research, hand-wringing, and let’s be honest, guessing, goes into completing our brackets. All of this hard work, and agony, has taught us two things: 1) We should stick to our day jobs, and 2) There are valuable marketing lessons to be learned from college basketball.

Many years ago, an email about a college final project was being sent around. The professor’s instructions were to write a short story about religion, politics, sex and intrigue. The best answer was: “My God,” said the Queen, “I’m pregnant! I wonder who the father is?” If the Queen were running a business, how would this news be treated in today’s hyper-connected, digital-first world? If you worked for her, how would you handle the message and turn this news into an opportunity?

Despite what you might think after receiving your friend’s 22 texts with nary a period between sentences, punctuation still matters today. In fact, a recent lesson in proper punctuation may cost one New England company an estimated $10 million.