The brightest minds in marketing share thoughts and opinions on new strategies and old favorites.

Why Good Ads Are Often Loved and Hated Jaci Russo 09/02/10 Ads are subjective -- like music or art -- and some will love certain styles and messages, while others will hate the exact same ad.

Great Ad Buys That Marketers Overlook Robyn Tippins 08/25/10 In the current economy, all marketers are dealing with tighter budgets. The dollars have to go further, faster.

The Absolute Best Way to Get More Value From Your Ad Agency Sean Duffy 08/23/10 Having spent my entire adult life inside ad agencies, I know for a fact that the biggest asset any advertiser has is the enthusiasm of their ad agency.

Smart Is a Really Stupid Strategy Ed Reilly 08/19/10 We should take a stand against sloppy thinking, and planners should lead the charge in critiquing themselves.

Four Ways to Cope With Procurement Danny Flamberg 08/04/10 The world will never return to the old days, so use these four tactics to make the process easier, friendlier, and more productive.

Ten Tips for Choosing an Agency Jaci Russo 07/29/10 CMOs and marketing directors are faced with a decision that gets harder every year -- how to choose an agency. It’s a challenge that surpasses swings in the economy or geographic orientation.

Sorry, You Are Not a Marketing Professional (and Neither Am I) Sean Duffy 07/26/10 Since I started in marketing, I’ve been amazed at our inability, as marketers, to communicate with one other effectively.

Ten Assumptions That Lead to More Effective Ads Danny Flamberg 07/22/10 Traditionally, the tools for calibrating images, messages, concepts, and media choices were multiple forms of qualitative and quantitative market research and media-usage ratings filtered through creative gut instinct.

How You Can Stop Wasting 50 Percent of Your Advertising Jaci Russo 07/01/10 With so many different ways to communicate with consumers, there seems to be a temptation to jump right into the conversation of where to advertise. What tactics will be best for marketing?

Why Having a Strong Brand Voice Is the Best Way to Connect With Consumers Len Stein 06/28/10 The more people can relate to the brand as a distinctive, trust-worthy personality (read, individual), the more approachable it will become, and a deeper customer relationship (loyalty and engagement) will develop.

Presentation Skills That Pay the Bills! Rena Prizant 06/23/10 One of the challenges of being a creative is effectively presenting your creative work.

With So Many Specialized Agencies, Who Should Get Your Marketing Dollars? Sean Duffy 06/17/10 Today, the various services that make up a marketing campaign are siloed among so many specialized players that one must ask who manages the big picture.

How BP's "Beyond Petroleum" Branding Strategy Became an Epic Failure Jim Gregory 06/02/10 If an oil company is not 100 percent committed to dealing with any potential catastrophic disaster, how can it contemplate building the brand before it has addressed the basics of the business?

Make Your Marketing Magnetic Jaci Russo 05/27/10 The best message in the world isn’t effective if it does not resonate and is not seen or heard by its intended consumer.

Moms Win Out Over the Economy Robert Passikoff 05/03/10 Good news for Mom. Jewelry gifts showed the most improvement as more than nine of 10 consumers (93 percent) plan to celebrate Mother's Day, with total spending estimated to reach $15 billion, according to the annual Brand Keys Mother's Day survey.

Fundamental Gender Differences and Their Impact on Marketing Dr. Bob Deutsch 04/29/10 You cannot market to men the same way you market to women. It's not a simple transformation of changing colors, fonts, or packaging.

Creating an Effective Marketing Strategy Using Social Media Danny Flamberg 04/14/10 An effective social media strategy is a direct extension of a brand strategy executed artfully in new channels. The brand posture, positioning, and personality should guide the development and deployment of social media assets and attitudes so that the brand speaks with a single voice across media and consistently engages customers, prospects, media, investors, or other constituent audiences. The forums are new; the basic marketing approach is not.

21 Tips for Using Twitter for Business Brian Solis 04/09/10 Last year, Forbes magazine assembled a visual list for its Top 21 Twitter Tips to showcase business examples on how to use Twitter for marketing, service, sales, and ideation. The original compilation served as inspiration for a new list, one that helps businesses of all shapes, sizes, and focus embrace not only Twitter, but all relevant social networks. While many examples and quotes remain the same, the list is modified based on my observations and personal experiences.

Optimizing Your E-mail Marketing Campaign Danny Flamberg 03/29/10 Marketing is a process of nurturing interested prospects from awareness and info gathering through preference to conversion. E-mail has become our tool of choice because it’s widely used and accepted, easy to change or update, and it’s cheap. But assuming a prospect needs a series of messages or branded interactions between initial interest and sale, what’s the best way to engage, entertain, and grow the relationship?

What are the Building Blocks of Identity? Larry Ackerman 03/17/10 It doesn't matter what business you're in; if you're going to successfully re-shape your brand, you need to start by knowing who you are. This imperative isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a must-have.

Bravery's High Return Rate Jaci Russo 03/08/10 It seems that advertising is always the first line item cut, whether it is during actual or just perceived hard times. This forces marketing directors to accomplish more with fewer resources. However, when companies take the opposite approach and actually invest in their marketing, they are rewarded with significant growth.

Can Walking on Coals Unleash Your Personal Power? Karen Post 03/01/10 A few months back, I invested in a trip to Chicago and spent four days with peak performance coach Tony Robbins. If you don’t know Robbins or his work, he is worth knowing. He grew up in a household with little money, often experiencing holidays with no food and a rotating door of four absent fathers.

Orchestrating Social Media Strategy Danny Flamberg 01/25/10 An effective social media strategy is a direct extension of a brand strategy executed artfully in new channels. The brand posture, positioning and personality should guide the development and deployment of social media assets and attitudes...

How Can You Be a Good Client? Jaci Russo 01/20/10 In Confessions of an Advertising Man, David Ogilvy advises companies on How To Be A Good Client. For those of you that work “in house” on the corporate side, also known as “the client”, I hope that you will take the following suggestions from Ogilvy to heart.

Client Personalities Direct Agency Effectiveness Danny Flamberg 01/13/10 Personality determines client behavior which is then magnified or minimized at any given moment by the individual’s status in the food chain, political clout, savvy...

Personalities Give Each Agency Its Unique Complexion Danny Flamberg 12/07/09 Agencies have traditionally attracted people with broad interests, short attention spans and little ability or tolerance for corporate life. Iconoclasts, wise guys, alternative thinkers, smart alecks, frat boys, hippies, geeks, neurotics and hot women have traditionally populated agencies.

What Lessons I Learned from Seeing Oprah Karen Post 11/19/09 A couple years ago I saw that movie with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nickelson called Bucket List... I liked being reminded of the value of having bucket lists. And making sure, I knock off as many as possible things while I can.

Why I Love Twitter: Timing, Relevance and Immediacy Amy Howell 10/12/09 I have tried to embrace the social media revolution with open arms (and mind) and in doing so, I have met some really cool, great people out there and I know without a doubt, which would have never happened “pre-Twitter.”

5 Ways to Commit Job Search Suicide Danny Flamberg 09/30/09 Advertising and marketing have been devastated and decimated in the continuing recession. Nielsen reports ad spending is down 15.4% the first half of 2009 compared to last year. Everyone has a bunch of friends out, looking and anxious.

Living your Life Online Jaci Russo 09/17/09 It’s about time for you to start living your life online. No, that doesn’t mean plopping yourself in front of the computer screen for twenty-four hours. It means that your life in reality should be in accordance with the life that you project onto your social media outlets.

How Twitter Got Me a 6-Figure Gig Karen Post 09/14/09 For all the doubters and naysayers, social media can bring in the Benjamins. In fact, for me, Twitter scored an exciting, new, six-figure assignment.

Are We Out of Touch with Our Customers? Danny Flamberg 09/02/09 Know your customer is advertising's prime directive. Yet in the evolving digital age knowing your customer is harder and harder to do even tough we have many more ways to monitor, watch, listen, react, interact and measure customer behavior.

Experiencetising Mansi Trivedi 08/31/09 I am not going to hesitate to declare that, soon, advertising will be a bad word. Soon, social media will become an overused, meaningless term. We, as marketers, must take the necessary steps to define what’s next and bring it closer to today.

Seeking Answers in Search Results Danny Flamberg 08/10/09 We are looking for specific answers to specific questions rather than a trove of documents on a particular topic. It forced me to think about the changing nature of search and how quickly search has become an almost automatic reflex.

The Inside Job Karen Post 07/20/09 The great brand is a wonderful thing—a symbol of your offering; the story of you; a powerful being that attracts new business, keep buyers from jumping ship, and earns you a prime position in the market’s mind.

Mobile Marketing on the Move Danny Flamberg 07/06/09 There's no doubt that mobile is the next disruptive technology, the battle for control and the quest to find the nexus between targeting, formats and offers has yet to be decided.

Odd Fish Finish First Karen Post 06/19/09 Odd fish are memorable. Odd fish command a premium price. Odd fish exude added dimensions of value. Odd fish finish first.

Return of the Personal Letter Danny Flamberg 06/08/09 Direct mail volume is down, Big traditional mailers are departing the scene. Costs are up. And a postal rate hike was on May 11th. But highly targeted and personalized direct mail can be an effective break-thru media during this spiraling recession.

Brandtown, Anywhere - Destination Distinction or Brand Disarray Karen Post 05/11/09 Communities, cities, and even states all compete in the world of everything—commerce, tax bases, cultural riches, hometown intellects, the creative class, and happy folks consuming it all. It’s the fuel to keep them going and growing. This also brews healthy combat zones, the seduction of buyers to destinations

Sleazebaggery - How NOT to Market Social Networks Danny Flamberg 04/22/09 I received an email recently from a certain website that borrowed a sleazy porn-like come-on to attempt to convert me from a freebie member to a premium spender. It's a bait and switch tactic that gives marketers a bad name.

The Name Game Karen Post 04/13/09 A great name is like extra octane in a brand. A bad, boring or sound-alike name won’t necessarily kill a brands chance for success. In most cases however, it dramatically dilutes the brand equity and potency.

Managing the Customer Experience Danny Flamberg 03/23/09 Every so often you have an encounter with a brand that reminds you how little marketers think about customer touch points and how difficult it is to control and shape the customer experience.

Remember What Your Mother Taught You Heidi Ehlers 03/12/09 I get it. We're all busy. Thank God. But we're no busier today than we were when we were children. There were things to be coloured. There were televisions to be watched. There were fortresses to be built and castles to be conquered.

The New Face of FREE in Business Karen Post 03/02/09 Just a few years ago, the question of utilizing a free giveaway might have gotten a snarky response from quality-seeking buyers. Must be second rate or defective, a desperate attempt at luring customers, or just pure no-value offer; “you get what you pay for.” Today, the land of FREE is landscaped quite differently...

Mobile Marketing Gets Mojo Danny Flamberg 02/23/09 Mobile marketing is on the cusp of moving markets and deserves consideration as part of the marketing mix for a wide variety of products and services. No longer the province of teenagers or a parlor trick perpetrated by nerdy early adopters...

Puking Pink Slips? Jumpstart Your Personal Brand Today Karen Post 02/02/09 Unfortunately, a lot of smart professionals are seeing pink slips and hearing the dreaded news: “Your position is being dissolved.” First off, don’t take it personal. Many of these dismissals are consequences of the horrific economy and companies being mismanaged; not individuals doing a bad job.

Living Out Loud: Thinking About Social Network Marketing Danny Flamberg 01/26/09 Participating in social networks means living out loud. Posting and sharing information, ideas and images that heretofore wasn’t public has become the new favorite past time for hundreds of millions of people.

Cause Marketing Can be Powerful Tool Michael Driehorst 01/19/09 If you read the news or the job boards like Talent Zoo, “the economy” is at the forefront of many discussions – both online and offline. While the impact of the challenging and often stressful economic times is evident, it also presents opportunities for marketers.

Your First Portfolio—an Industry Survey Tim Brunelle 01/05/09 My first portfolio was truly awful. Bruce Bildsten was at Fallon at the time, and was kind enough to tell me the truth. It took almost a year, numerous revisions...

The End Game: Starting Your Own Agency Tim Brunelle 12/31/08 I never thought I would work in advertising. When I was 13, I spent one of those “career days” with Lee Lynch, founder of Carmichael Lynch. Advertising looked like fun, but not like a career.

Ten Things NOT to Do in 2009 Danny Flamberg 12/19/08 Don’t Panic. The earth will keep spinning on its axis and marketers of all stripes will need to communicate and persuade customers and prospects. Focus on the meat-and-potatoes issues in your business.

Marketing Yourself in the Recession Danny Flamberg 12/15/08 Layoffs are a daily occurrence in this recession. Too many of my friends and colleagues have found themselves involuntarily benched. If thousands in each industry are on the street finding a new job ...

Job Search and Marketing, What's the Difference? Michael Driehorst 12/08/08 Let’s look at five lessons, and with each one, I’ll show how you can apply it to your job search or your marketing communication efforts.

Making Sense of Social Media Danny Flamberg 11/24/08 When your 80-year old mother forwards a video to you each day and your mother-in-law writes a blog, you can't help but pay attention to the growth, acceptance and utility of social media.

Giving Gifts Tim Brunelle 11/17/08 Thank you, Amy Krause Rosenthal. One of your ideas has been percolating inside my brain for over a decade. It is a gift that has kept on giving.

Proper Planning Key To Setting ROI Expectation Michael Driehorst 11/10/08 ROI. ROI. ROI. Everyone is asking for justification and what have you done for me lately. And, they’re correct.

Evaluating Online Marketing in a Downturn Danny Flamberg 10/27/08 You don't have to be a member of the Federal Reserve Board to know that marketers across all sectors are hunkering down and searching for the fastest and cheapest ways to acquire and retain customers as budgets evaporate. In the race for low cost/high yield tactics...

Politics ‘R Us Tim Brunelle 10/06/08 I like Jerry Seinfeld. I even kind of like Bill Gates. And I like them together. I’m still happily confused about the two Jerry and Bill spots we’ve seen so far. The world’s richest man...

After the Crash: Rebuilding Financial Services Marketing Danny Flamberg 09/29/08 The Wall Street meltdown upended the positioning and customer credibility of most financial institutions. Rethinking fundamental marketing concepts and messages come in the wake of widespread feelings of helplessness, fear and loss...

People Are Talking About Your Business Online – Are You Listening? Michael Driehorst 09/22/08 I and other TalentZoo columnists have written about social media before. Let's get back to some 101-type information about social media, and why it's important to pay attention to it.

The Palin Parable Danny Flamberg 09/15/08 The choice of Sarah "Barracuda" Palin as the GOP "Trophy Vice" candidate has set off the most intense and creative political debate in my lifetime. John McCain's gambit short circuited...

Getting More Leads From Your Website Danny Flamberg 08/18/08 There is a movement afoot to make B2B websites more productive demand generation tools. It’s about time. The key to prospect engagement is focus, perspective, content and ease-of-use.

Women Rock! Michael Driehorst 08/11/08 If you’re a guy, you likely already know it. If you’re a married man, you should already know it. And, if you’re a mom, you are it.

Brand Films—Then and Now Tim Brunelle 08/04/08 Part of what continues to fascinate me about advertising is the rare opportunity to define a brand—to make tangible the intangible...

There’s Gold In That ‘Thar Name Michele Miller 07/28/08 It’s funny how consumers tend to ignore the obvious and forget the important part they play in the give-and-take of a business transaction.

10 Secrets to Become a Successful Marketer Danny Flamberg 07/21/08 Marketing is a service business in which the successful players super serve their clients.

Is The Age of Entertainment Upon Us? Michael Driehorst 07/14/08 Whether you’re in marketing -- particularly the digital side -- or just looking for a job in marketing and related fields, you may have noticed the growing emphasis on entertainment. Entertainment activities becoming more the focus of our digital and offline lives.

Inside Job Tim Brunelle 07/07/08 We live in disruptive times. New technologies pop up and usurp old assumptions. Consumers oftentimes have more persuasive effect for or against a brand than the brands themselves.

Getting to Know You Michele Miller 06/30/08 Whenever I’m invited to a “networking event,” a funny thing happens. The dread of subjecting myself to the process causes my eyes to glaze over, rendering me nearly comatose.

Quality Writing Skills Taking on Greater Importance Michael Driehorst 06/23/08 Whether you are fresh out of college looking for your first job, president of a company retiring next month – or somewhere in between on the career path – communicating through writing is an essential skill.

Seven Secrets for Successful Marketing Danny Flamberg 06/16/08 Marketers fail because they try to do to too much and lose focus. The raison d'etre for marketing is to grow the business. It is the prime directive. Any CMO or any marketer who doesn't address this first and foremost deserves to be fired.

The Holy Grail Tim Brunelle 06/09/08 We're supposed to bow down to these altars in the digital age. We've stood on our soapboxes for over a decade, asking others, to believe—to acknowledge the proof.

Do You Need to Re-Invent Yourself? Michele Miller 06/02/08 Are you asking yourself the right (and sometimes difficult) questions? Do you even know what questions to ask? Could you redefine your market if you had to... and in the process, re-invent yourself?

Marketing Lessons from the Hospital Danny Flamberg 05/19/08 Every profession has a dedicated language; those words, terms, phrases and concepts that serve as both a short-hand for practitioners and as a filter to keep outsiders at bay.

Mass to Singular Marketing: Determining the Best Medium Michael Driehorst 05/12/08 While there is a lot of over-hype over emerging new media technologies, the one thing for sure is that those innovations are driving more opportunities for our industry.

Listening to Zappos Tim Brunelle 05/05/08 Zappos appears to have eclipsed Dell, H&R Block, Comcast, JetBlue and other name brands on the popular microblogging platform, in terms of its number of employee-participants.

Saying the Right Things in Marketing Your Business Michele Miller 04/28/08 As we sat there talking, I kept flipping back and forth between the homepage and the sign-up page. Suddenly, it hit me – they were saying the right thing, but not the right way.

10 Marketing Lessons From Inventors Danny Flamberg 04/21/08 Inventing is a supreme act of optimism. An inventor rejects the status quo in favor of what might be.

Dear Graduates Tim Brunelle 04/14/08 Traditional thinking suggests you go to school, build up a body of work, graduate and that's enough to get your first gig in advertising. But I believe your portfolio is just table stakes.

Size Up Your Social Media Commitment Michael Driehorst 04/09/08 In social media marketing, there are essentially two aspects: listening and talking. To decide whether you should talk – that is be active in social media – here are questions to ask yourself and your client or company.

Leading by (Simply) Listening Christina Kerley 03/24/08

Successful Marketing Means Seeing Things Through the Eyes of Your Audience Michael Driehorst 03/17/08 Marketing essentially boils down to demonstrating how the audience wants and needs are met by our employer’s or clients’ products and services.

Marriage Counseling Tim Brunelle 03/10/08 A love lesson for the marketer, the advertiser and the consumer alike.

Share and Share Alike David Parmet 03/03/08 What’s going on here? Doesn’t anyone want to make any money anymore?

A Guy’s Point of View (The Value of Colleagues vs. Clients) Christina Kerley 02/25/08 Which do you find more valuable, your clients or your colleagues?

Listen to Consumers; Don’t Control Them Michael Driehorst 02/18/08 I’m a firm believer that companies have more control over their brands than consumers do.

C+D+B+C Tim Brunelle 02/10/08 By all accounts we're heading into difficult economic territory. Credit's tightening. Advertising spending in the traditional spaces isn't predicted to increase as it has in past years.

What's Our Job, Anyway? David Parmet 02/04/08 Defining the job or typical workday for a public relations person in the good old days was pretty easy. We showed up in the morning, gathered a pile of lists and got on the phone.

Giving Value A Voice (many "voices," actually) Christina Kerley 01/28/08 I’m fascinated by how people think, what influences their decisions, the perceptions they hold... and whether those perceptions are grounded in reality or formed through really clever campaigns.

The Future of Advertising Tim Brunelle 01/14/08 There's plenty of irony to go around, of course. I don't pretend to know what that future may be. But as it's been said, "If you want to learn something, teach it."

Do Not Fear Social Media Michael Driehorst 01/12/08

Not a Fad, a Way of Life David Parmet 01/07/08 You’ve probably heard a lot about social media. You’re wondering if this blogging thing is a fad. And you should be wondering if this has any impact on your career.

Jerry Lewis’ Four Social Media Marketing Lessons Danny Flamberg 01/01/01 Along with the French, I love Jerry Lewis, not only because he’s an incredible comic, but because he is the original social media marketer who still has a lot to teach us.