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Tom Fishburne

I draw cartoons inspired by my business life. I also make soap, at method.

Recent Activity

waterfall planning

(to instantly license this cartoon, click here) Crafting an annual plan is like getting a bill through Congress. Behind the final numbers and strategies lie countless hours of spreadsheet crunching, hallway meetings, and waterfall charts. We debate assumptions, broker compromises,... Continue reading

Posted Oct 17, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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all-knowing focus group

(to instantly license this cartoon, click here) Henry Ford famously said, "if I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have said 'a faster horse'". Many businesses treat focus groups as prophetic. Whether looking for inspiration or validation, they give... Continue reading

Posted Oct 10, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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the 8 types of managers

(to instantly license this cartoon, click here) I recently heard someone referred to as a "seagull manager", a term Ken Blanchard coined in 1985: "seagull managers fly in, make a lot of noise, dump on everyone, then fly out." This... Continue reading

Posted Oct 3, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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friends, fans, and followers

(to instantly license this cartoon, click here) In the social media bandwagon, brands place a lot of emphasis on the absolute number of friends, fans, and followers. They treat that number as a proxy for how well the brand is... Continue reading

Posted Sep 26, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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how brands talk

(to instantly license this cartoon, click here) Whether on package copy, TV ads, or websites, most brands talk in the same self-referential and self-absorbed way. It’s by design. That’s usually the first filter of a creative review: run through a... Continue reading

Posted Sep 19, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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idea prevention department

(to instantly license this cartoon, click here) I recently heard someone refer to their legal department as a "Sales Prevention Department". I realized that most businesses have some sort of "idea prevention department", whether they nickname it the "VP of... Continue reading

Posted Sep 12, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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the art of planning

(to instantly download this cartoon, click here) For many businesses, planning for 2011 is in full swing, particularly the horse-trading, haggling, and negotiating to choose the revenue target. The core business team develops a bottoms-up plan they feel is achievable.... Continue reading

Posted Aug 29, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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(to instantly license this cartoon, click here) Beta releases used to be restricted to small groups of Beta testers. A Beta release allowed you to work out the bugs before a general market release. When a product shipped, it was... Continue reading

Posted Aug 22, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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jumping the shark

(to instantly license this week's cartoon, click here) My friend Michelle introduced me to the expression, Jumping the Shark, which is used to describe "the moment of downturn for a previously successful enterprise." It comes from the fifth season of... Continue reading

Posted Aug 15, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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make the logo bigger

(to instantly license this week's cartoon, click here) The quickest way to rankle a creative director is to ask to make the logo bigger. It's an age-old feud that has existed since the dawn of advertising. It's often the first... Continue reading

Posted Aug 1, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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post-production

(to instantly license this week's cartoon, click here) If you're ever on a video shoot, you'll no doubt hear someone say, "we'll fix it in post-production". This usually happens toward the end of a long day, when everyone is tired... Continue reading

Posted Jul 25, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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devil's advocate

(to license this week's cartoon, click here) I've been hooked this week by Seth Godin's latest book, Linchpin. Seth briefly profiles the Devil's Advocate, which he describes as a "card-carrying member of the Resistance" -- a force that prevents remarkable... Continue reading

Posted Jul 18, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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brand archetypes

(to license this cartoon, click here) I learned the power of archetypes from Joseph Campbell's classic interview with Bill Moyers. The explore the universal themes, characters, and stories that repeat throughout history, appearing in every form of human expression from... Continue reading

Posted Jul 11, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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(to license this cartoon, click here) The very first Saturday Night Live in 1975 featured a mock-commercial with George Carlin making fun of the Gillette Trac II, which was the first two-blade razor. SNL spoofed it with a fake three-blade... Continue reading

Posted Jun 27, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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after the brainstorm

(to license this cartoon, click here) Last week I joined one of the better idea generation exercises I've experienced in a while. We split into small groups and toured the San Francisco Ferry Building to scout out retail merchandising ideas.... Continue reading

Posted Jun 20, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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lost in translation

(to license this cartoon, click here) I had a "Lost in Translation" moment a couple weeks ago in a meeting with 20 French and Russian executives. It was the first time I'd ever been in a meeting where someone simultaneously... Continue reading

Posted Jun 13, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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Tom Fishburne is now following sarah lacy

Jun 4, 2010

law of the brainstorm

(to license this cartoon, click here) We can thank adman Alex Osbourne for the Brainstorm (he's the O in the agency BBDO). Alex invented the Brainstorm in 1939 as an alternative to the usual meetings of "discouragement and criticism which... Continue reading

Posted May 31, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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shiny new thing

(to license this cartoon, click here) ADHD isn’t just for teenagers. It afflicts businesses and teams too. I once heard a venture capitalist offer to prescribe Ritalin to one of his portfolio companies. It’s easy to get distracted by the... Continue reading

Posted May 23, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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quality (out of) control

(to license this cartoon, click here) I’m enjoying Rework, the entrepreneurial handbook by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hanson, founders of 37signals. I was inspired to read it after meeting Mark Rohde, who drew all of the illustrations. One of... Continue reading

Posted May 16, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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the emperor's new tweets

(to license this cartoon, click here) In London last week, I happened across Mark Ritson’s column in Marketing Week: “Hoodwinked by the Emperor’s New Tweets”. The title alone sparked this cartoon idea. Mark lampoons the social media bandwagon, particularly the... Continue reading

Posted May 9, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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poking the bear

“Poking the Bear” belongs on a marketing lingo bingo card alongside “Low Hanging Fruit” and “Share of Voice”. It’s one of my favorite marketing buzz phrases because it’s so vivid. “Poking the Bear” means going up against a competitive giant... Continue reading

Posted May 2, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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where the creatives are

It cracks me up whenever I hear a creative director referred to as "the Creative". It makes it sound like creative directors belong to a different species. We wouldn't refer to "the Supply" or "the Accounting". But "the Creative" is... Continue reading

Posted Apr 18, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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the new product waterfall

Most products are developed like a waterfall. Waterfall development is the classic sequential linear process where you finish one stage before moving on to the next one. You aim never to revisit a stage once you’ve finished it, so you’d... Continue reading

Posted Apr 11, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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mission: impersonal

Last year, I heard Swedish axe maker Gabriel Branby speak at the DO Lectures. Gabriel’s company, Gränsfors, makes the finest forged axes in the world. He spoke about the essence of product development as craft. His company takes axe-making very... Continue reading

Posted Apr 4, 2010 at Tom Fishburne: Marketoonist

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