I wanted to share a short clip from one of our youth academy practices—our coach was chatting with the kids about our four core values: sportsmanship, safety, fun, and community.

The way they explained it back was… pretty magical (and also slightly chaotic—worth a watch). My favorite line might’ve been “the same planet!” I love the eco-energy.

What do values had to do with marketing?

When values are lived out, not just written down, they start to shape behavior. And when that behavior is consistent, it naturally becomes the story people tell about you and your business. That’s branding. That’s marketing. Whether it’s a sports academy or a retail business or a professional services, the principles hold.

Think of some of the most notorious value-forward brands - at least in the US, and how that attracts (or repels) those that are ideal clients.

Patagonia
Their environmental stance isn’t a marketing layer—it is the business. From donating profits to climate causes to encouraging customers not to buy new gear, their actions consistently reinforce their core values.

Ben & Jerry’s
Always vocal about social justice, environmental issues, and political causes. Their values are bold and unapologetic, and while they sometimes alienate people, they rarely contradict themselves. That consistency has earned deep loyalty.

Chick-fil-A
(sorry to our international audience - I'm sure they are coming soon)

Their strong values show up in policies like being closed on Sundays and how they approach service and leadership. For some, it’s an example of a company deeply aligned with its beliefs. For others, past stances on social issues have made them a brand to steer clear of. Either way—they’re a case study in how values can both build and divide a brand audience.

If you’re rethinking your own values (or haven’t looked at them since the last retreat), here’s a quick core values exercise I pulled together based on EOS. It’s simple and has repeatedly helped leadership teams land on the values that resonate.

We've carry forward two values from the first time I did this exercise over 20 years ago:

Make the client a hero (that’s you, and want we strive to do every day and every week with these emails and more)

Restless, pioneering spirit (that’s why you see us share the latest on tools, systems, and AI - we know learning is a lifelong pursuit)

Speaking of AI tools, I promised a review of Google Studio.

I'll say there is a lot of possibility here. I used it in voice mode with screenshare to help me work through an Excel error I'd been receiving every time I opened Excel.

This was possibly not the best use case to test - but it was the one where giving it access to my screen and the ability to "chat" seemed like a great way to test it out.

We cycled through the screen, my commentary, it summarizing (incorrectly) for about 7 minutes. In the end, I abandoned the effort and have since started to do more research.

There's a lot of hope for the Gemini AI toolset - as you can see in this video, but there is also a lot of room for improvement and a waiting list to gain access to some features.

We'll keep you posted here, and

If you are an Advisory 9 client, please look in your inbox for an invitation for early access to our new community. If you aren't a client (yet), we'll have an invite to you soon!

Until next week,

Rebecca and the Advisory 9 team

P.S. If you end up watching the clip, I’d love to know which part stood out to you. Just reply - I read them all!