Mark Adams Creative

They’ve come for the em dash
—and I’m not giving it up.

Somewhere along the way, the humble em dash "—" became a digital red flag.

And to think—the history of this tiny punctuation mark stretches back to Gregorian chants and medieval monks toiling for years on a single illuminated manuscript. From parchment and vellum, it made the leap to printing presses and movable type. They even survived the age of typewriters—which didn’t have a designated em dash key.

Now, in the AI age, algorithms, detectors, and self-appointed “AI police” have decided that using an em dash means your writing isn’t real enough. Too polished. Too fluid. Too synthetic, perhaps?

But language isn’t code. It’s human—messy, expressive, rhythmic. The em dash is a tool of thought, a breath in text, a bridge between emotion and idea.

To ban it because a machine uses it is to surrender the craft to the code.

So here’s my stance: I love headlines, Oxford commas, and em dashes—but I don’t let AI tell me how to tell my story.

Next up in my video series: Waste Management and their sponsorship of the Waste Management Phoenix Open (WMPO) — the largest zero waste sporting event in the world.

I helped shape the brand’s event messaging, from the core messaging brief to social content, Facebook Canvas, and campaign headlines like “Trash talk prohibited” and “Recycle like a pro.”

It was a fun challenge turning a Fortune 200 company’s sustainability mission into storytelling that was approachable, witty, and human.

This project is still one of my favorites: a mix of creativity, scale, and scrappiness that made a real impact for Waste Management and the planet.

Excited to kick off a new series highlighting some of my past work.

First up: iland — a global cloud provider where I led brand and creative. In this clip, I share how we built a differentiated voice in a crowded market, from social campaigns and advertising to one of our biggest stages: VMworld.

It was all about clarity, consistency, and impact—making the complex world of cloud feel both approachable and compelling.

More case studies coming soon.