How do the best brands connect with their consumers?

This has been the question that has kept me motivated to be in this industry for over twenty years. All of my work (as diverse as it has been) has been centered around this question. Last month, I was invited to Dublin, Ireland by Google to give the opening keynote address for their Retail@Google event. Hosting over 400 retail marketing professionals from across Europe at their office (which is the largest Google office outside of Mountain View’s Googleplex). Because I only make it overseas a few times a year, they wanted me to focus the content of my presentation on my second business book, CTRL ALT Delete (which recently came out in trade paperback), and how it affects the retail environment (an industry I have studied, am fascinated with, and was brought up in). It was an amazing day. It opened with the Dublin Gospel Choir, and the facilities at Google in Dublin are as spectacular as the choir.

This is what happened…