Curious to Read a Sample of the Wilder Brief?

Kymm Martinez
Jul 5
4 min read

Wondering what The Wilder Brief is like? 👇

Below is the complete May 2026 issue so you can see exactly what arrives in subscribers' inboxes each month. Because it was originally designed as an email, the formatting is a little different on the web, but the ideas are exactly the same.

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The Wilder Brief

Marketing observations, ideas, and real-world insights.

Life in the Wild

Almost Heaven.

Not long after getting on the road in North Carolina in May to bring my college-aged daughter (and her car) back to Minnesota, we crossed into West Virginia.

At the state line, a giant sign welcomed us with two words:

“Almost Heaven.”

If you know the John Denver song, the rest of the lyric fires automatically in your brain.

And that’s when I realized that it’s not really the words themselves that matter. It’s what they instantly conjure: mountain roads, physical beauty, emotional exhale, slower pace, escape.

A feeling.

We can debate whether “Almost Heaven” perfectly reflects the roads, politics, or humidity, but as a piece of positioning, it sticks.

And that got me thinking about how many organizations struggle to create that same kind of emotional coherence.

Lesson from the Wild

Your strongest marketing channel is unsynchronized.

As a simple experiment, stop ten people connected to your organization — staff, board members, volunteers, partners, donors, vendors — and ask:

“What does this organization do, and what makes it different?”

Are you hearing the same core themes and emotional ideas repeated consistently? Or are you hearing ten different answers?

That distinction matters more than many organizations realize.

Because whether organizations intentionally shape it or not, people connected to the organization are shaping impressions through conversations happening every day in the community, at events, in meetings, and between peers.

And when the people speaking on behalf of an organization are laddering to fragmented ideas, a major amplification opportunity gets missed.

One of my favorite tools for addressing this is something I call a Pocket Guide.

I first encountered the concept years ago while benchmarking another organization. Their team shared a literal one-page messaging guide designed to help people consistently communicate the organization’s core story and priorities.

It was simple. Practical. Easy to keep handy.

The goal isn’t to script people or force everyone into identical language.

It’s to create enough shared understanding that people naturally reinforce the same key themes, priorities, and emotional impressions when they talk about the organization.

If seeing the simple visual I use to explain this to organizations is of interest — or if you’re curious what elements make an effective Pocket Guide — learn more here.

Marketing in the Wild

Worth Noticing. Worth Repeating.

The back of the van we were following on the highway read:

“It’s true. I have a big deck.”

I did a double take. After re-reading to make sure I’d interpreted it correctly, I got curious.

As we passed the vehicle, the full marketing story became clear.

Apparently, the company builds decks. Very big decks.

I wasn’t familiar with them, but my husband had heard their ads on sports radio, which make perfect sense given the obvious audience they’re targeting.

What they understood is that marketing doesn’t need to tell the entire story immediately.

It just needs to create enough interest that people want to keep paying attention.

A surprising amount of marketing fails because it tries to say too much all at once.

Worth Passing Along

Just for fun ...

Middle School Tacos (recipe)

Waking up with an unexpecting craving for hard-shell tacos with ground beef, shredded cheese and lettuce, I found this recipe in New York Times Cooking billed as “a taste of a time when … parents and sports bars looked for food to serve children and those who eat like them.” It’s been on repeat in our house this past month and my husband is finally crying uncle.

Love Trapped (podcast)

My daughter and I listened to this on the long drive from North Carolina to Minnesota. It has nothing to do with funnels or KPIs and everything to do with a true crime drama (the protagonist is a former Batchelor) . It sparked conversations we probably wouldn’t have had without being trapped in a car together for hours. Not suitable for children, but riveting listening.
James (book)

A brilliant, Pulitzer Prize Winning book by Percival Everett, James is the reimagined story of Adventures of Huckelberry-Finn told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view. It’s sad, funny, thought-provoking and unfortunately historically accurate all at the same. And it’s set in my home state of Missouri. Highly recommend.