Featured column
Building from zero in a market that doesn't know you
On the first year of trying to be read in a place that has not yet learned your name.
A column, slowly written
Thoughts We've All Had
While Marketing
I've asked myself this a few times, what is the translation between conversation and attention. Is it making something seen, understood, and remembered or is it how you make people care about something enough to choose it?
Hey.
Check out 7 Pillars that I write fromWhat this space is
A column, slowly written, for people who still read.
I kid you not, I first launched The Marketing Principle as a domain to run a sole proprietorship in the Netherlands. I moved over from South Africa in 2021, in a global agency role, working in advanced media strategy, better known as personalisation (DCO). Basically injecting data into HTML frameworks. It's more than scale; it's understanding micro-moments.
I was promoted into a Senior Executive role from there and supported an acquisition integration. Saw the woods for the trees, and skedaddled.
Running an SP in Holland is nothing new, everyone's an entrepreneur here. You're talking to the OG of commerce, the birthplace of the first B.V. Anyway, I'm now almost two years into that journey.
Stick around if you're keen to follow my stories. Live in someone else's narrative. I hope my stories meet you in freedom.
Seven places I write from
Once upon a time, all I needed was a fresh perspective.
Mine became poisoned. You don't have to believe what I believe, or agree with everything I say. You simply hop on and follow along with me.
I write from seven places, each relevant to the world we're in today, whilst I'm still a marketer. There is intentional power behind every word I write.
Life
Everyday observations that take longer than they should.
Faith
Belief held lightly enough to carry, firmly enough to mean something.
Change
The shape of transitions when you are in the middle of one.
Identity
Who you are when the shorthand stops translating.
Immigration
Letters from a life I did not plan and am learning to love.
Ambition
Honest work and the gap between promise and delivery.
Rest
The quiet work of becoming. What the world is too loud to teach.
Why subscribe?
I suppose it depends on what you're looking for. If it's perfection, you won't find it here. If you want to learn something, sure. But if it's a real marketing, still unfolding, you might want to stay.
Scroll slowly. Everything else is going fast. Slow down here with me. Trust me when I say, I write because it's necessary.
It's plain conversation. I have no hot takes. No personal-brand theatre. The thing I actually think, I write down.
One letter at a time. That's all I have. Unsubscribe with a single click, I will not take it personally.
Recent writing
Fresh columns.
22 April 2026
Building from zero in a market that doesn't know you
On the first year of trying to be read in a place that has not yet learned your name.
18 April 2026
Holland was not the plan
On arriving somewhere you did not choose, and letting it become a place you did.
3 August 2025
Roads, and how I think about outcomes
On Kilimanjaro, a 1985 Mercedes, and why the best outcomes come from slowing down.
"There was a time when words were treated as something valuable.
May mine meet you with the same care."
The Marketing Principle
My deliberate philosophy
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind."Romans 12:2
…..Because the moment you do, you stop being understood. That's where authentic marketing begins.