The other day, my dad made a box of cheddar and broccoli chicken.

It was delicious — the cheese was creamy, the broccoli was tender, and the chicken was shredded to perfection. As we all sat around the table, my dad smiled, proud of the meal he’d just made.

And it was delicious.

But here’s the truth: all he did was follow the instructions on the box.

As long as he followed those steps — add this, stir that, cook for 25 minutes — the meal would turn out the same every time. Foolproof. Predictable. Reliable.

But that’s only because someone else had already done the hard work.

Someone had spent months, maybe years, in a test kitchen — experimenting, failing, adjusting, testing again — until the recipe was perfectly engineered to work anywhere, with slight ingredient variations, and in as few steps as possible.

My dad simply executed the final product of someone else’s innovation.

And honestly? That’s not a bad thing.
It’s safe. It’s consistent. It’s repeatable.

But it’s also not where the innovation happens.


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Most Marketers Are Like My Dad

My dad is like ninety-five percent of marketers.

As long as they follow the instructions on the box — the marketing playbook, the case study, the funnel strategy, the content calendar — they’ll get predictable results.

They’ll make something that tastes good. Something that performs. Something that looks like success.

And for a lot of companies, that’s good enough.

Some marketers might even sprinkle in a little spice — a new headline, a different call-to-action, an extra ad channel. But very few will ever dare to deviate from the recipe entirely.

Because deviating means risk.
And risk means you might burn the meal.


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But Here’s the Thing About Recipes

Every recipe that ends up on a box…
Started with someone who wasn’t afraid to blow up the kitchen.

Innovation comes from experimentation.

It’s messy, chaotic, expensive, and uncertain. But it’s also how progress happens.

The best chefs — and the best marketers — know that to create something remarkable, you can’t just follow someone else’s recipe. You have to create your own.

And that’s where most companies get it wrong.


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Let’s Talk About the People Doing the Hiring

When it comes to marketing, most businesses fall into one of four categories:

A. They eat nothing but box-instruction food→ These are the brands that hire based on the same safe résumé. They want consistency, not creativity.

B. They eat at fast-food chains→ These are the companies that hire cookie-cutter marketing agencies, hoping for fast results with minimal risk.

C. They eat at mid-level, fast-casual restaurants→ Think corporate marketing departments. Professional, predictable, and often… forgettable.

D. And then, there are those who hire personal chefs→ These are the companies that seek out innovators — the ones who write the recipes that everyone else ends up copying.

The truth is, every business needs all four at some point.

There’s nothing wrong with the comfort of consistency. Even Michelin-star chefs grab a burger at McDonalds once in a while. But how that burger got to market — the recipe, the sauce, the packaging, the brand — all came from someone who dared to push boundaries first.


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Why Following the Box Doesn’t Work Forever

If you’re a small business, following the box might get you started. If you’re a mid-size company, it might keep you stable. But if you’re a large organization or legacy brand — it will kill you.

Because the box doesn’t teach you how to adapt.

Every major shift in consumer behavior — from social media to streaming to AI — came from someone who ignored the box.

Following the recipe might make you successful today. But writing your own recipe is what keeps you relevant tomorrow.


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What You Really Need in the Kitchen

If you’re running a mid-to-large company, you can’t survive by following someone else’s directions. You need someone in your test kitchen — a Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer — who’s willing to fail fast, learn faster, and pass the perfected recipe down to your marketing team.

That’s the difference between the 98% of marketers who execute the box,
and the 2% who invent what’s on it.

The 98% follow templates, frameworks, and trends. The 2% create new systems, new communities, and new categories.

The 98% run ads. The 2% build ecosystems.

The 98% promote products. The 2% turn customers into marketers.


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Here’s the Takeaway

Every “recipe” that works — every viral campaign, every social strategy, every marketing framework — exists because someone once ignored the box and experimented.

That’s what I do.

I build systems that create the next recipe — not repeat the old one.

If you’re a brand ready to move past predictable marketing, if you’re ready to build a system that turns your customers into your marketers, if you’re ready to innovate in your own test kitchen — Let’s talk.

Because I’m not here to follow the box. I’m here to write the next one.

Joseph Haecker
Fractional CMO | Chief Innovation Officer | Marketing Platform Builder
Helping brands turn customers into marketers through Customer-Centric Marketing.