A story about trust, access, and restraint

Earlier in my career, I was the Art Director for two newspapers under the same ownership. Photography was not technically my role, but it had always been a discipline of mine, so I regularly shot for the papers as well.

When the Dalai Lama visited Washington to meet with President Obama, I was credentialed as part of the press pool at the National Cathedral. Access was tightly controlled. Photographers were given a short window before the speech. No movement during.

A man approached myself and two others and asked us to follow him. We later learned we were carrying different credentials. Quietly, he told us that His Holiness had seen our work and requested that we photograph the speech.

After the event, photographers who were not granted access asked for the images. Some offered money. Some were frustrated. But I was not there for them. I was there for the newspapers I represented. The access I was given was not mine to monetize.

Marketing used to work like this.

Today, loyalty is often treated as inefficient. Teams and firms reuse thinking across competitors, repackage insight, and call it best practice. It benefits the marketer more than the brand they represent.

Loyalty is not contractual. It is behavioral. It shows up in what you protect, what you reuse, and what you refuse to share. Strong marketing requires choosing sides. Not emotionally. Strategically.

A practical resource: The Loyalty Calibration Check

Before approving a campaign, hiring a vendor, or launching a new initiative, ask:

1. Would this strategy still exist if our competitors disappeared?
2. Who benefits most if this works?
3. Is this insight transferable without loss?
4. Are we protecting access or monetizing it?
5. If this were public tomorrow, would it weaken our position?

If the answers are uncomfortable, that is the point.

North Star Principle:
Loyalty is not what you say. It is what you refuse to sell.

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