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Top of Mind Thursday Memo Archive
Top of Mind Thursday – June 11, 2026: Scoring Big
This week, the FIFA World Cup began in North America.
For those who may wonder what this is all about, an estimated 5 million people will attend 104 matches among 48 teams in 16 venues across the US, Mexico, and Canada.
Beyond that number, an estimated 5 to 6 billion people will watch World Cup events across all media. That doesn’t include the billions of marketing impressions from World Cup-themed products and promotions–from yogurt cups to soft drinks, apparel, personal care, and financial services—as well as unofficial local promotions, such as discounted pizzas on game day, or special offers for those wearing a team jersey to a local store.
Soccer, known as football outside the US, has long been the sport of choice for many countries around the world, with an estimated fanbase of over 3 billion people. Over the last 20 years, the number of players actively participating in soccer leagues has grown to nearly 25 million. Many young families are turning to soccer as a safer alternative to sports like football.
For the next month, expect to see and hear World Cup-related mania nonstop. With everything else going on in the world, this is a chance for soccer fans to root for their favorite teams and savvy marketers to score big with product tie-ins. That’s a win-win for everyone.
Check out our marketing leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday – June 4, 2026: Money Can’t Buy You Love (or Political Office)
On Tuesday, California held its gubernatorial primary election.
Two days later, we still don’t have final results, but if the trends hold, it looks like Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra will be the candidates headed to the general election.
This is in spite of the fact that the #3 finisher, billionaire Tom Steyer, spent an estimated $216 million of his own money to finance his campaign—record spending for a primary.
Steyer is not the only billionaire to spend big on a political race in California and lose. Meg Whitman spent nearly $145 million in 2010, Steve Westly $35 million in 2006, and Steve Poizner, $24 million in 2010—all in failed attempts to be governor.
If California were an independent political entity, it would have the 4th largest economy in the world. It is a state that has both urban and rural economies, and has been a leader in tech innovation while struggling with the largest homeless population in the country.
For the last six months, it’s been nearly impossible to escape a Steyer ad. Over that time, he promised to cut the price of both gas and electricity, solve homelessness, reform taxes, education, and immigration, and solve the climate issues as well (I’m surprised he didn’t promise he’d make us all young and beautiful too).
But managing a $4.3 billion economy is a complex endeavor. It was never clear exactly how someone with no governmental experience would go about making such drastic changes without breaking the goose that lays the golden egg.
Will either of the two top candidates improve California’s condition and address the state’s key issues? It remains to be seen. But once again, California voters proved it takes more than being the richest guy in the world to get the keys to the governor’s mansion in Sacramento.
Check out our marketing leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday – May 28, 2026: Please don’t write THIS book
More than 4 million books are published each year, with less than a quarter of those actually making it in print.
Unfortunately, some of those that actually do get published, including those by traditional publishing houses, should probably never have seen the light of day.
Former presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ 2025 book 107 Days is a good example. Harris writes about her failed campaign, blaming everyone from Joe Biden to the Democratic party to Donald Trump for what happened. The book reads like one long, continuous set of grievances and even supporters had trouble finding much good to say about it.
Now, former First Lady Jill Biden is about to launch her new book, View from the East Wing. She shares her experiences in the White House, including the 2024 election, the president’s cancer diagnosis, and their son Hunter’s legal issues. Excerpts quote Jill Biden as saying she wondered whether Joe was having a stroke during his horrendous debate performance or if he was drugged, and speculates that perhaps it might have been better to have publicly acknowledged the situation. Most of us came to that conclusion a long time ago.
While certainly there will be people who will buy these books because of their fondness (or hatred) of the author, it seems too many of these volumes are written to satisfy the author’s ego and the need to tell their side of a story from which most of us moved on long ago.
Don’t think this is just a Democratic habit. Just about every presidential aspirant on both sides of the aisle seems to have jumped on this train—from Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, JD Vance, and RFK Jr on the Republican side to Josh Shapiro, Gavin Newsom, Chris Murphy, and Cory Booker on the Democratic one. While it’s obvious these are meant to pump up a campaign, most of these books are positive, rather than focusing on failures and assigning blame.
When I coach nonfiction authors, we talk about the reason they are writing their book, their projected audience, why they are the best person on the planet to write on this topic, and what action they want readers to take after reading the book.
There are many good reasons to write a nonfiction book—to build credibility, support your business, share expertise, support a cause—but writing a book to air your grievances isn’t one of them. Spare us, please.
Check out our marketing leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday – May 22, 2026: Abdicating Intelligence
Twice this week I found myself facilitating a Zoom meeting where there were more AI bot attendees than actual humans.
How could that be? Because some of the people invited chose not to attend but sent their bots instead.
These were not presentations, where one could argue an AI bot could effectively capture the key talking points for review afterwards. These were interactive brainstorming meetings where every attendee was expected to participate and asked their input. Maybe some day it will be different, but at least for now, your AI bot is not able to actively participate in this type of discussion.
There’s so much talk and concern about AI taking over our world—eliminating jobs, disrupting relationships, even acting as a surrogate partner for some. Yet, it appears to me that too many people are abdicating their responsibility and allowing the bots to run around and do their thinking for them.
I regularly see posts and newsletters that appear to obviously have been written by AI. I see graphics and videos that absolutely must be AI-generated, because they strain credibility. There are articles that must have used AI research to confirm their arguments—without checking the sources or confirming the results are accurate or credible.
AI is a set of tools and technologies. These tools are neither good nor evil—they just exist. It’s what we do with them that determines if they help or hinder our work and our personal lives. And it’s how and where we choose to engage them in our lives that determines whether we remain in control or let the lunatics run the asylum, so to speak.
The choice is up to you. In my case, it took only a second or two to realize what was happening and understand that a room full of bots was not helpful for what we needed to do. My action was simple: I kicked every single one out of the meeting and will tell invitees in the future not to send in bots in their place.
Are you willing to abdicate your role to AI? Or will you take control of where and how these tools are used? Choose wisely.
Check out our marketing leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com