Change is the one constant

Inverse brand building, running notes, and links to make you think | Vol. 71

Oct 09, 2025

Good Morning MF/TS Readers - Welcome to volume 71 of the MF/TS newsletter. The last dispatch was weeks ago but to refresh memories we dove into one brand strategy thing I can’t stop thinking about, which speaks to how companies can leverage the real time test lab of social media to identify the best Ads for traditional advertising channels.

Traditional ads are things like a brand’s next Super Bowl TV / Social campaign a brand wants to go gangbusters. The thing is, the next Super Bowl TV / social campaign costs a lot of money. Like a loooootttt of money. And this is why the social test lab approach is notable because…

social media is cheaper and better at audience targeting, so you can get interesting insights on your creative test & learns against your known buyers
Traditional Ads are more expensive, not as good at targeting, but are way better at delivering large business effects and are seen as higher quality to consumers when compared to any content people see in the social newsfeed…which by the way higher quality tends to mean generating the kind of positioning for better pricing power for a business.

Research constantly shows traditional advertising pays off bigger business dividends but has also some real serious built-in risks.

What Eugene covers in the video from MF/TS last dispatch, is that in a world that’s constantly in flux. Building your brand with the world versus for the world is likely have better returns for a company.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

Without divulging too much personal details, I’ll say the family has been in expansion mode while we also settled into a new home. Which is to say, it’s been an incredibly exciting whirlwind the past few months. One that’s wonderful, beautiful, and exhausting AF lol.

Which is why it’s an absolute miracle I’ve been able to pull off marathon training in the middle of all of this to prepare for the 2025 Philadelphia marathon.

In this week’s dispatch we’re talking running, some cultural enlightenment, hot takes worth reading, and of course visual vibes by yours truly. 😜

NEW TRAINING CYCLE = NEW ME 🏃‍♂️🎉

They say every training cycle should be 18 weeks.

That’s the amount of time your body needs to get use to the mileage, the wear and tear, and energy required to run 26.2 miles at the fastest, most comfortable pace possible.

In the last training cycle I discovered the Hansons Method which is a pretty hardcore approach to preparing for the marathon but it has proven to work to improve race times. This training program wants runner to put up 50-60 miles per week for an 14 out of the 18 week timeline. I’m using Hansons again, but with a twist.

As this is my fourth marathon in two years, plus the fact that your boy (that’s me) is now edging to his mid-40s, it’s important that I don’t over do it in this training cycle. I got hurt 2x in the last one, and by the end of it, I was basically taking naps every other day out of pure exhaustion. LOL it was A LOT!

THE UPDATED APPROACH

In the first six weeks of the training cycle I got up 30 miles per week and then held it at 35 miles for a few more weeks.

In September I tried to push it to 40 but it was hard to stay consistent. But now that the dust has settled in October, I am looking to put in 50 mile/week.

While my legs require constant treatment to be able to handle the 45 - 50 miles per week volume, they’re feeling the strongest they’ve ever felt in my life. So the great news is I’ll be able to get high volume heading to November, meaning that by the time the race hits on 11/23 we’re going to be vibing.

TRAINING STATUS: BIG LITLE SIGNALS

Last weekend I met up with a fellow Dad/Runner who was doing his last big long run before NYC Marathon on 11/3. It was super cool to run with someone who can hang at my pace as I do most of my runs solo-dolo. I know. Sad. So it was refreshing to have a running partner push it with you and help you not even notice the strain of clipping 12 miles at sub 7-minutes.

We’re looking at a modest improvements here when compared to the last marathon training cycle when these splits were ranging between 7:25 - 7:40 last year. Now, in this latest season, 9 out of the 12 miles in the marathon pace workout were 7:15 or lower.

To maintain this for another six weeks will be an absolutely grind but this is also my favorite part of the training cycle. It’s the moment where you catch a glimpse of the possibilities. Where the initial goal can be blown up and replaced with a new, bigger goal.

I’m geeked about Philly.

It’ll be cool, it’ll be flat, and I’ll be ready to let ‘er rip.

LFG!!!! 👏 👏 👏

GET ENLIGHTENED: RECENT READS, 🎯 HOT TAKES, and REASONS FOR OPTIMISM

Here are some great reads, smart hot takes, my thoughts on current events in the world of AI, and an amazing optimistic/good news source that all MF/TS readers ought to bookmark and subscribe to.

1 - Eddie Huang’s cultural hot takes have been on fire lately

Eddie Huang always been an incredible storyteller whether it’s his TV shows, documentaries, and now his Substack! LOL. He’s had some great takes on the culture, the marketplace, and how bizarre this has all become. The latest How Social Media Turned My Social Life to Slop a little bit of a mirror of what’s transpired in my life and really probably to all of us who have or spent some time making a living within the media, entertainment, and communications industries.

I feel like the woman that used to sell ads to restaurants in the Orlando Tourist Guide that hustled from restaurant to restaurant gathering contacts, spitting out stats, promising foot traffic to the restaurant if we placed ads with $10.99 Prime Rib coupons except now I’m the chef, the owner, and the lady selling coupons on social media.
All of us are the lady selling coupons and its insane.

2 - Ted Gioia take on Hamlet being the play for Gen-Z is eye opening

I truly believe Ted Gioia is one of the foremost writers and breathtakingly honest thinkers of our time. His latest analyst of how Shakespeare’s Hamlet is the Gen Z Story we need right now was eye opening and also a little bit depressing but hey, that’s America in 2025 baby, am I right?

And now today we recognize a completely different Hamlet:

He’s the college graduate who can’t pay off all those student loans.
He’s the over-educated and under-employed worker who can’t get a job because of AI.
He’s the incel who can’t forge a relationship.
He’s the unhappy child of a broken home, struggling with depression.
He’s the scroll-and-swipe phone addict who retreats from the world, but at a devastating psychological cost.
He’s the person posting cries for help on social media—but nobody listens.

It blows my mind because when I read this list out within the context of the plot of Hamlet, making the parallels that Hamlet is essentially a failed influencer and his tragedy is a story of how he fails at that. It’s a wild analysis, but poignant.

3 - Pro-Tip get positive news into your life ASAP

If you’re like me and hate all of the doom and gloom noise that comes from our news media then you should you will find The Hopemakers refreshing AF. They share quick headlines of things that are going right in our world.

It turns out are many, many humans who are taking action to try to save this planet, to try to make our communities better, and to try to leave this place slightly better off than how we found it.

4 - My current thoughts on this AI situations

It feels like the confidence in AI is really starting to waver. And I can’t lie, I feel validated by it. But also, validated by Shannon Vallor’s book title AI Mirror.

I have been telling friends time and again that this AI thing thus far is just a big gigantic mirror. I’m not so sure what else to make of it beyond that. And as Shannon’s points out, is how that mirror has some serious limitations because we as humans we are limited by our own imperfections.