How the Attention Economy is Redefining Traditional Marketing with Emily Ross

Jan 29, 2025

Emily Ross, co-author of Just Evil Enough, is a brand strategist with a unique blend of marketing and circus performance experience. She discusses subversive marketing strategies, emphasizing how creativity can transform challenges into opportunities. Emily highlights the attention economy's impact on marketing, drawing lessons from disruptors like Tesla. She believes that turning flaws into strengths can lead to powerful advantages, advocating for consistency as the key to success, rather than mere brilliance.

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ADVICE

Consistency over Brilliance

Prioritize consistent effort over occasional brilliance.
High performers deliver consistently, not just sporadically.

INSIGHT

The Power of Attention

Capturing and holding attention is a crucial skill.
This is a human superpower applicable to all areas of life.

ANECDOTE

Exploiting Loopholes

Exploiting loopholes is a short-term tactic due to channel decay and copycats.
Cultivate a subversive mindset to consistently find new opportunities.

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Just Evil Enough

None

Alistair Croll

Emily Ross

Just Evil Enough is a book that focuses on the importance of subversive marketing strategies in startup growth. It provides over 200 case studies and proven frameworks to help readers uncover clever, unexpected tactics that can give them an unfair advantage. The book covers examples from companies like Netflix, Airbnb, and Tesla, and includes historical and business examples to illustrate how to think differently and subvert industry norms. It emphasizes the need to understand the norms of your system to subvert them effectively and includes ethical considerations in applying these tactics.

Lean UX

Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience

Jeff Gothelf

This book helps readers focus on the product experience rather than deliverables. It integrates user experience design, product discovery, agile methods, and product management. The authors provide tactics for driving design in short, iterative cycles to assess what works best for businesses and users. Key topics include facilitating the Lean UX process with the Lean UX Canvas, ensuring customer-centric success criteria, and building product discovery into the team's velocity[2][4][5].

Lean Analytics

Alistair Croll

Lean Analytics is a guide for startups on effectively using data to build successful products. It emphasizes iterative testing and data-driven decision-making, helping entrepreneurs avoid wasting resources on features users don't want. The book provides practical strategies and frameworks for measuring key metrics, understanding customer behavior, and making data-informed choices throughout the product development lifecycle. It's a valuable resource for founders and product managers seeking to optimize their product development process and achieve sustainable growth. The book's focus on lean principles and actionable insights makes it a practical guide for navigating the complexities of data analysis in the startup world. It has significantly influenced the way startups approach data-driven decision-making.

Alchemy

The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business and Life

Rory Sutherland

In this book, Rory Sutherland explores the art and science of creating magic in brands, business, and life. He combines scientific research with entertaining stories and case studies from his career, including campaigns for AmEx and Microsoft. Sutherland emphasizes the importance of understanding human behavior, highlighting how decisions are often influenced by subtle external signals rather than objective qualities. The book challenges traditional marketing strategies by advocating for a more holistic and creative approach, using techniques such as storytelling, social proof, and framing to influence consumer decisions. It also explores how these principles can be applied to various social aims beyond just selling products.

Welcome to the UNLEARN Podcast! Today, we’re joined by Emily Ross, co-author of Just Evil Enough and a leader in brand strategy and creativity. With a career spanning tech innovation, marketing, and even circus performance, Emily approaches challenges from unconventional angles.

As Director of Brand Strategy at X (formerly Twitter) for EMEA, Emily also serves as an Advisory Board Member at SXSW and GoGreen Routes, an EU funded, pan-European research project on nature-based connectedness, as Co-founder of Resonance Festival (Resonance-Lough Derg), and a mentor to startups across Europe.

In this episode, she shares her approach to subversive marketing, reframing obstacles as opportunities and using bold tactics to achieve extraordinary results. Drawing inspiration from disruptors like Tesla, Emily reveals how creativity and curiosity can transform business outcomes. Whether you’re looking to reimagine your marketing strategies or disrupt the status quo, Emily’s expertise is an invaluable guide.

Key Takeaways:

Unconventional marketing tactics involve reframing challenges and using bold strategies like zero-day exploits to help brands stand out.
The power of creativity lies in applying attention-grabbing skills across industries, as seen through lessons from a diverse career.
Turning flaws into strengths, as seen with Tesla and Space Invaders, shows how weaknesses can become powerful advantages.
Consistency over brilliance emphasizes that success stems from daily effort and experimentation, not rare moments of genius.

Additional Insights:

The Recon Canvas Framework uncovers market opportunities and shows the need for constant adaptability as strategies evolve.
Capturing attention in the digital age requires standout marketing in a noisy, distracted world.
Subversive thinking from Just Evil Enough shows how breaking rules can drive business success.

Get ready for a fascinating conversation with Emily Ross on rethinking traditional approaches, embracing creativity, and crafting strategies that disrupt the status quo!

Episode Highlights:

00:37 - Introducing Emily Ross

"Emily is a powerhouse in brand strategy, creative leadership, and co-author of Just Evil Enough. She’s reshaping how global brands stand out in noisy markets."

03:15 - Lessons from the Circus The Power of Attention

"I spent years as a fire performer, and it taught me that attention is a superpower. Learning to capture and hold attention is a skill every marketer needs."

05:14 - Subversive Marketing Tactics Explained

"Subversive marketing is about being bold, counterintuitive, and creative. It’s not growth hacking, it’s about playing the long game to stay ahead."

09:47 - Turning Bugs Into Features

"The famous Space Invaders bug is a perfect example of how flaws can create differentiation. As the game progressed, it got faster, making it more exciting."

15:10 - The Product-Market Fit Myth

"Product-market fit isn’t real, it’s actually product-medium-market fit. Success lies in how you connect your product to the audience through the right medium."

20:33 - Zero-Day Exploits and Subversive Marketing

“We call those zero day exploits. So in cybersecurity, a zero day hack is one that is a kind of a finite hack."

22:42 - Underdog Success Using Unconventional Tactics

"When smaller forces use unconventional tactics, they can flip the odds. It’s how underdogs win in both marketing and warfare."

29:36 - The Recon Framework and Attention Economy

"One of the most practical pieces of the book is the recon canvas. We are drowning in noise, and Herbert Simon coined the term ‘attention economy’, where the thing in shortest supply becomes the currency of the day."

31:28 - Just Evil Enough: Unexpected Validation

"When I pitched the idea of Just Evil Enough sitting beside Alchemy on the shelf, I never imagined Rory Sutherland would not only read the book but offer such high praise. It was an amazing moment of recognition."

Follow Our Guest

LinkedIn Accounts:

Emily Ross: www.linkedin.com/in/emilyrossonline/
Twitter: www.linkedin.com/company/x-corp/
Resonance Festival (Resonance-Lough Derg): www.linkedin.com/company/resonance-loughderg/
SXSW: www.linkedin.com/company/sxsw/

Websites:

Twitter: https://x.com/
Resonance Festival (Resonance-Lough Derg): www.resonance-loughderg.com/
SXSW: www.sxsw.com/
Pre-order the First Edition Hardback of Just Evil Enough today at www.justevilenough.com/

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