Mary Kate Feeney

Community storyteller. Creator of The Marketing Mixtape 🎧 — where music meets marketing. Ghostwriter. Writing Framingham with The Ham'er.

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

What does Johnny Cash, Blondie, Taylor Swift have in common?

They all teach great marketing lessons we can learn.

Subscribe to The Marketing Mixtape for an indepth breakdown of these lessons and improve your newsletter. https://t.co/ie5gfJOdwN

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

Most marketers ask for feedback like it’s homework.

Total Request Live on MTV made it entertainment.

That’s the difference.

People participate when it feels fun and meaningful.

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

Before social media, Total Request Live let audiences shape culture.

People voted.
Showed up.
Felt ownership.
Great marketing works the same way:
Don’t just broadcast.

Build participation.

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

Carson Daly said the Total Request Live crowd started as “2 kids holding signs.”

Then it became thousands shutting down Times Square.

Reminder:

Every meaningful audience starts embarrassingly small.

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

What does Johnny Cash, Blondie, Taylor Swift have in common?

They all teach great marketing lessons we can learn.

Subscribe to The Marketing Mixtape for an indepth breakdown of these lessons and improve your newsletter. https://t.co/5KGeaLMOJL

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

Remember Total Request Live on MTV?

TRL was basically a customer feedback loop disguised as a TV show.

Fans voted.
Artists adapted.
The crowd grew.

Meanwhile brands in 2026 are still guessing what customers want.

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

@LoganTGott Playbook

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

Above all, marketing is about trust.

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

Like Alice returning to his macabre roots, successful brands know that evolution should enhance their core identity, not abandon it.

Innovation within boundaries > complete departure from what made people love you.

(Still haven't seen the real Alice Cooper in concert...)

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

"On stage, I'm this figure who does things people aren't used to seeing..."

Alice Cooper ruined my 21st birthday. My aunt, a lifelong fan, finally took me to see the king of shock rock. Perfect for a Halloween birthday, right?

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

In marketing, brand consistency isn't just about logos and colors. It's about the core promise to your audience. Cooper promised shock and horror. His fans came for spectacle. When he didn't deliver, it wasn't just disappointment—it was a breach of brand trust.

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

If you’re going to use a ghostwriter, make sure they actually capture your voice and style.

Otherwise, people can smell a fake a mile away.

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

@dickiebush Yes. And writing every day.

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

Bob Dylan joining TikTok right before the possible shutdown of TikTok might be the most Bob Dylan move of 2025.

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

So, now I am back tweeting.

Have any questions about the old days? 🤣

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

Once upon a time I played a Governor on what we knew as Twitter.

Back in the wild west of the internet in 2010 politicians were slowly adopting this new medium of "social media". Plenty still thought of Twitter as a place for those pesky millennials.

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

It is great to see how elected officials (and their staffs!) continue to adapt and use this medium to meet people where they are... this is what we hoped to do all those years ago.

[Mary Kate Feeney @mkfeeney]

But my boss jumped in and soon we were one of the top 5 Governor accounts in the country. We were pioneers in exploring how social media and government can work to inform and engage residents.