As a marketing leader, you may hesitate to pull back the curtain on your brand’s strategies when trade media comes knocking. What if you accidentally give away secrets to competitors? 
‍

If the idea of a company baring its soul to the entire world sounds crazy to you, you're not alone. Marketing vet Jameson Fleming has heard all the knee-jerk objections. As Adweek’s Executive Editor, he's had to reassure many clients who felt this level of transparency was taboo.

"I think those fears of 'Oh my god, I'm going to blow my competitive advantage' are way, way overblown," he insists. Major competitors likely already have an idea about what’s going on behind closed doors. So the simple reality is if a brand thinks it's safeguarding its competitive advantage by playing coy with the trade press, it’s time to think again.

So if hyper-secrecy is an outdated mindset, what's driving this refreshing new era of candor? For one, the trade press publications themselves. They're not interested in hollow, surface-level case studies or regurgitated 101 lessons. Outlets like AdWeek and Ad Age crave real stories that reveal genuine challenges, roadblocks, actionable steps, and meaningful results from brands and agencies. 

They're after the kind of provocative, authentic stories that deliver legitimate value to readers — from smaller operations seeking inspiration and insights to established players striving to stay innovative. As Jameson puts it, “We're looking for an honest discussion about how you did this. And that secret sauce helps people, especially younger marketers and lesser brands who are not out there to take your market share.” 

Opening up about what goes on behind closed doors allows you to inspire up-and-comers with your marketing success stories, not hand competitive edges to direct rivals.

But beyond simply feeding an industry's endless appetite for the extraordinary, trade press coverage also fuels another mission-critical goal: attracting better talent. Top-tier employees want to work for organizations doing work they can feel proud of and excited by. So if a brand remains quiet and lets its achievements fly under the radar, it's shooting itself in the foot.