Branding, Birds, and Joshua Trees

Hi friends,

Too many of us are performing for an algorithm now. It makes people act weird, and it’s embarrassing. Hence this: an occasional email about what I’m up to, what I’m noticing, and (best of all!) an excuse for you to write back.

🧹 Housekeeping: if you’d rather not get these, no hard feelings, just tap the bye-bye link at the bottom.

I’ve been away from the camera for far too long, so it was a real joy to pick one up for our recent trip to Joshua Tree. I really love it out there – I have a low tolerance for woo, but the way the desert shuts down your default mode network can feel almost mystical. One morning, I happened to wake up before sunrise and stepped outside to see a crescent moon staring at me through the interstice of a joshua tree.

It’s a magical place; if you’ve never been out there, I encourage you to go. Here are a few more shots.

The folks at Fazer have brilliantly reshaped brands from Coca-Cola to Nikon to Verizon, which makes it all the more bizarre that they’ve added me to their board of directors. I’ll be helping with strategy, business development, and communications. Here’s the announcement.

So: if you or someone you know is wrestling with a brand or positioning challenge, I can now plug you into the brightest brand strategy minds on the planet.

I redid my personal website to bring it more in line with what I’m doing and the decade we’re living in. Have a look.

Read my friend David’s new book about Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. It’s a fascinating story, and David’s a great writer.

A friend recently sent me a copy of Jerzy Kosiński’s 1971 Being There and it’s so perfect for the moment we’re in that I encourage you all to give it a go. It’s a quick read and really couldn’t be more relevant to 2026.

More Reading

Ed Zitron: AI’s Economics Don’t Make Sense

Max Read: People Prefer AI Art Because People Prefer Bad Art

Scientific American: Birds Practice Singing in Their Sleep

Ars Technica: What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he’s not coming back?

Buy This Car So I Don’t Have To:

We recently found two baby hummingbirds in our patio area in a rather precarious little nest. Our gardeners had come to trim the hedges and pointed them out. So of course the hedge-trimming was downsized so that these little dudes could do their thing in peace.

I kept checking on them, especially when the wind picked up a day or two later. On one of those checks, I saw that their little nest had gone almost vertical! I couldn’t understand how they were still in there.

These little guys were in big trouble – we no longer had any time to mess around. I carefully cut the flimsy branch the nest was on and jury-rigged a support base for their nest. They were super cool about this, chilling as I worked:

Once I’d completed their new nest foundation, I securely Gorilla-taped it atop a ladder, then tucked them safely away under the canopy exactly where they had been. Mom was skeptical for a bit, but quickly got with the program, feeding her babies regularly until one evening we noticed they had departed. Today, we saw what we’re pretty sure was one of the babies (still fluffy) at our feeder. Their names? Lolly and Pop. Hey, I don’t make the rules.

Your turn. What are you up to? What are you reading? Save any birds lately? Hit reply – I’m the rare bird who still reads his email.

Enjoy your weekend,
—Anthony