Essays from inside the work.
Short, opinionated pieces on operating models, performance marketing, AI adoption, brand-agency partnership and how digital functions actually compound. Written by the partners, not by a content team.
More essays
4 pieces
- 02Operating Model
Why digital maturity is no longer a channel problem
Most senior leaders still describe digital problems as channel problems. Almost none of them are.
ME12 April 2026 · 9 min readMichael Ernst
- 03Operating Model
The four operating rhythms every digital team needs
Without a deliberate cadence, even talented digital teams end up running in circles. Here is the four-layer rhythm that fixes it.
CC30 March 2026 · 9 min readChrisa Chatzisavva-Ernst
- 04Brand–Agency Partnership
Why most brand-agency relationships underperform
After two decades on both sides of the relationship, the pattern is consistent. Underperformance is almost never one root cause.
CC15 March 2026 · 9 min readChrisa Chatzisavva-Ernst
- 05Team Build
Building a digital function that improves itself
Most digital teams plateau. Five elements separate the ones that compound from the ones that just stay busy.
ME22 February 2026 · 9 min readMichael Ernst
Want to talk about any of this in your context?
These essays describe patterns we have seen often. The interesting work begins when those patterns meet the specifics of your operation.