Philip Granof

CMO in Newton, Massachusetts

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When I was 13 I read Freud's "Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious." To my dismay, it really wasn't very funny. It did, however, propel me on a journey that I'm still following today: to understand why people do what they do and say what they say. I was certain that I would become a pipe-smoking psychoanalyst, but when I went to UC Berkeley, and realized that Freud had based his entire approach on nine people, I sought other avenues of understanding. I worked in the neuropsychiatry department at UCLA slicing brains, exposed myself to low-level radiation doing radioimmunoassays at Cal, and worked with alcoholic war veterans in Stanford's psych department. After graduation from Berkeley with a degree in psychology, I was invited to a party at the house of Daniel Kahneman (Nobel Prize Winner and author of "Thinking Fast and Slow) settled in the hills above the Claremont Hotel. There were delightful finger sandwiches over which he and I chatted about one of his research ideas. He was interested in exploring why someone might eat egg salad sandwiches everyday for lunch for 20 years, and then one day switch to tuna for the next 20. At first I thought, here is a pretty good argument against tenure. Later I began to consider the "egg/tuna inquiry," and realized that penetrating such a seemingly minor decision was at the root of what makes people fascinating. Since then I've worked at Ogilvy & Mather, Lippincott, Brand Union (when it was called AGP), and Protobrand as CEO, which I founded. Currently I am the Chief Marketing Officer of NewStore, an amazing company that is building a mobile-first e-commerce platform.

I am a Tuck alum, having graduated in 1991 with an MBA (sorry Dr. Freud). And, I adore both tuna and egg salad sandwiches. Mixed together is even better than apart. I've worked with every time of brand. From the list below it would appear I must be 100 years old: Allstate, American Express, Bank of America, Baskin-Robbins, Black Duck, BMW, Citibank, Deloitte, Dunkin' Donuts, General Foods, Hershey's, Houghton-Mifflin, Hallmark Health, IBM, MasterCard, McDonalds, Ocean Spray, RadioShack, Reebok, Samsung, Sprint, Taco Bell, Texaco, Toyota, Wrigley, and UPS. And many others.

Finally, I am a slightly resentful INFJ, have weirdly strong legs, and cannot get enough science fiction.

  • Work
    • NewStore, Inc.
  • Education
    • UC Berkeley
    • Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth