Everyone keeps saying everything in marketing “is dead”. SEO is dead. Brand is dead. Email is dead.

So I went to Death Valley to see what all the fuss was about. Surely I’d figure out what’s truly dead there. 😉

After all, Death Valley has a reputation for being dead. The hottest place on earth. Most people drive through it on the way to somewhere else, not stopping. Or if they stop, they take the Instagram photo, and leave. Most people don’t stay. My husband and I almost didn’t.

We booked a four-day backpacking trip months ago, and conflicts kept coming up.

Not only that, it was almost too hot. One week after our trip, similar backpacking trips to ours were re-routed to other parks due to temps above 100 degrees, making it too hot to hike.

But we protected the time, made the trip, and the heat was manageable. The afternoons were hot, but mornings and evenings were perfect. Sunny, warm, and a light breeze. We joked that the ideal weather showed up right on time, like it was ordered from Amazon.

But the weather wasn’t what impressed us. It was seeing the life it created. And it started with something I may never see again …

A superbloom.

What’s a superbloom? It’s a rare desert botanical phenomenon when millions of long-dormant wildflower seeds bloom all at the same time.

As we began our first hike, we weren’t surrounded by dry sand and dirt—we were surrounded by wildflowers … yellow, purple, white, pink, and orange—all different varieties. They were thriving in canyons, desert fields, and even on the sides of the Ubehebe Crater (a maar volcano 30 miles off the main park road and far from anything else). You’d expect nothing to be able to live there at all, but flowers were bursting from the floor in every direction. They almost looked like they didn’t belong, but there they were.

What caused the super bloom was an unusually wet fall and winter. Death Valley got about a year’s worth of rain since October of 2025 and saw the wettest November on record. After lying dormant for years, buried seeds were soaked by the fall rain. And a wet winter followed, providing steady moisture for the seeds to develop roots.

It was the first superbloom in Death Valley since 2016.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said our guide.

So on day two, we expected more of the same.

Instead, the variety of life grew. Desert horned lizards camouflaged in the rocks. A long-nosed leopard lizard sat by a bush. And perched on a sun-warmed rock, completely unbothered by our presence, was a chuckwalla—a large, thick, prehistoric-looking lizard who had apparently decided we were neither a threat nor interesting. It just sat there. Still. Certain.

At my feet, were sphinx moth caterpillars. We probably saw hundreds of them. They appeared at what seemed like every other step, inching deliberately across the desert—in no hurry, just going exactly where they needed to go.

None of it was performing for anyone.

But it certainly wasn’t dead.

It was very much alive.

And so are the fundamentals of marketing.

When I shared with a good friend of mine that my husband and I would be sleeping in a tent in the desert for four days, she looked at me confused.

“And you’re paying for that?” she said.

I could tell by her face it sounded awful.

The problem is, Death Valley has a reputation. A place that’s miserable. No life … endless dirt and sand. So most people assume it’s not worth it.

And just like most people skip or pass through Death Valley, most companies skim the surface of their customers' experience. Both make assumptions rather than staying long enough to really understand them.

We forget that what one person feels is miserable might look like a field of blooming wildflowers to someone else.

I wanted to know what marketers were actually feeling underneath today’s noise. So when I launched this newsletter, I asked, "What do you wish marketing felt like again?"

My favorite answer?

“I wish marketing was uncomplicated sometimes … I miss simpler times despite also being excited about what lies ahead.”

It’s not that we don’t appreciate technology, AI, or new ways of doing things. Sometimes there’s just so much pressure it gets way too complicated.

So we start running on the trail, instead of walking and drinking water, and we’re moving so fast we forget where we came from, where we’re going, and why we’re even on the trail in the first place.

And when things get complicated, we love a eulogy.

We declare things dead the moment they feel hard, or different than they used to be. So it’s no surprise the list of marketing channels and tactics we’ve now declared dead is a mile long (with panic turning up the heat to Death Valley temps).

I’d argue we’ve confused dormant with dead, and uncomfortable with irrelevant.

Just because a big new thing (looking at you, AI) is loud and urgent, doesn’t make the fundamentals dead or irrelevant. The seeds in Death Valley weren’t dead or irrelevant, they were just buried, waiting for the right conditions to grow.

And yes, the big new thing is uncomfortable, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore or hate it. I’ll admit camping in Death Valley (sleeping on the ground and listening to coyotes in the pitch dark) wasn’t as comfortable as my bed at home. But seeing a shooting star above the desert was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. What’s new can expand possibility, while we can still keep the fundamentals alive.

The fundamentals of marketing—Mindset, Empathy, and Logic (the foundation of The MEL Method)—are not dead. And neither is brand, email, SEO, print, or any other marketing tactic.

The seeds are still there.

Our job is to create the conditions for them to bloom.

It’s hard to imagine the conditions in Death Valley could be so much different than its reputation.

We camped in what’s now Furnace Creek, where summer daytime temps often exceed a blistering 120° F, and nights may not get below 100.

On top of that, it’s the driest place in North America, and where you’ll find the lowest point in the world’s western hemisphere—a salt flat (Badwater Basin), that we hiked through, sat at -282ft below sea level.

If that’s not extreme, I don’t know what is.

Yet somehow, some way, the right conditions were created for all that life. But for us to get the most of out of it, certain things had to happen that we could control.

Managing the extreme marketing environment we’re in is no different.

Here’s how to control it.

The Right Mindset: Push Your Assumptions Aside

Even when my husband first suggested Death Valley, I was skeptical. I mean, it literally has “death” in its name! He changed my mindset.

But before (and after) we went, we heard it all. “Sounds too hot.” “I couldn’t do that.” “Is there really that much to see there?” Or no words at all, just a confused look.

That’s what keeps most people away.

And it’s what some marketing conversations sound like too.

“People don’t read anymore.” “That channel is dead.” I’ve even heard, “We’re just going to keep doing what’s worked.”

We make decisions about campaigns, channels, and customers with a story already written. We think we know. And that’s how we miss things … by making assumptions before we’ve looked.

Mindset is your foundation, and staying curious allows you to see what you didn’t before.

Life in Death Valley was there whether we assumed it was or not.

But we had to show up with the right mindset to see it.

Empathy: You Have to Get Out of the Car

This fundamental is simple, but many marketers miss it.

To understand what your customers really need and want, you have to close the dashboard, put down the report, and get close enough to feel what they’re feeling—not what you’ve assumed from a distance.

Marketers sometimes mistake information for understanding. We think because we have more data than ever that we must know our customers better. But knowing what they clicked or opened isn’t the same as understanding why they hesitated or what made them finally feel helped.

I’ll never forget a new Fox Communities Credit Union business member that I sat down with. When referencing their past financial that they were with for many years, they said, “In all the years, they never sat down to talk with us.”

Many brands don’t get close enough, and because of that, they have limited understanding about what people are feeling, experiencing, and wanting. And not only that—they’re losing customers in the process.

Just like Death Valley, you have to get out of the car (and maybe even get a little uncomfortable) to see what’s actually there … feel the heat, let your shoes fill with sand, and keep hiking even though your legs are sore.

The wildflowers on the Ubehebe Crater weren’t visible to those who stayed on the road. The chuckwalla wasn’t waiting for an audience or thinking about conversion rates.

They were just alive, doing what they do, in the way only they can do it.

But we saw them differently because we stopped, got off the road, out of the van, and took the time to explore.

What may you not be seeing because you’re not close enough?

Logic: The Desert Has Rules. Follow Them.

It’s no joke that Death Valley’s heat can be deadly if you’re not prepared. Enjoying it, or even surviving it, isn’t random.

We had strict instructions on what to bring and not bring, not to rush, not to bother the wildlife, how much water to drink, what to wear, and we planned to hike in the morning so we’d avoid the hottest parts of the day.

Without a guide to help us, things might not have gone so well.

Logic without that foundation gets people in real trouble in Death Valley—we saw a few people unprepared with no sunscreen or water, and they didn’t get far.

Marketing is the same.

We can apply logic first without mindset and empathy as a foundation, but we won’t get as far. The work often feels empty, interchangeable, and doesn’t perform as well as it could.

And that’s because it’s execution without meaning. It works, it just doesn’t resonate. But when logic follows mindset and empathy and you know why you’re there and who you’re helping, things become intentional. You start translating something real into something meaningful.

Without the rules we followed, we could have had a terrible experience. But the rules themselves didn’t create an amazing trip … they allowed for it to happen.

What surprised me most about Death Valley wasn’t the impressive heat. It was the impressive beauty, and life, that I didn’t even know was there.

I just had to get closer, be patient, purposeful, and take the time to explore what others didn’t.

Death Valley has a reputation. So does marketing.

It’s up to us to make something meaningful from it.

What You’ll Need:

Go somewhere you've dismissed. A trail you passed over. A neighborhood you assumed wasn't interesting. A park you’ve never explored.

Push your assumptions aside and put your phone on airplane mode. Get close and notice what’s actually there.

Death Valley proved that dormant and dead are not the same thing.

The fundamentals of meaningful marketing—the mindset to show up open, the empathy to get close, and the logic to translate what you find—are still very much alive.

They're just waiting for the right conditions, and that starts with you.

If this story sparked a thought, a memory, or a question, I’d love to hear it. Share what resonated—or what didn’t. I’d love to make this a conversation so we can learn and grow together.