2012 has been a pretty good year for me. Not without it’s challenges but personally and professionally I have to say through hard work things going well.

The industry as a whole doesn’t seem a whole lot healthier anecdotally.

Agencies are still seem slow to hire four plus years after the mass layoffs. I’m still hearing stories of people giving up on the advertising as a career path. Permalance is now the new steady job.

There still seems to be a low-level confusion about digital and where it’s going. Mostly this is coming from clients but it’s also reflected in the fact that agencies are still trying to put a QR code on everything, integrate 4Square, Pinterest and build an app for each campaign. I’m not knocking the effort, just pointing out that we’re still in the kitchen sink days with online strategy.

2012 was finally the year of online video. The fact that you know what Kony and Gangnam Style refer to proves it.

On the positive side, people are not automatically proclaiming that Facebook is a strategy as they were a few years ago.

I’m also having much healthier discussions on online video strategy. Most people get it that it’s not about a “viral video” featuring a random cat or dancing baby anymore. Although, AdAge is still publishing the confusingly named “Viral Video chart.” Which for those of you who don’t know includes videos promoted by giant marketers and their very well funded agencies: not really viral at all.

On the technology front. New apps and social technologies came to the forefront including Pinterest. As the social space continues to mature,  instead of it being about jumping on the latest trend, smart marketers focused on a mix of what’s working rather than chasing the latest trend

I expect 2013 to be very similar to 2012. There’s still a lot of uncertainty in the business community but on the positive side, marketers know that they just can’t wait it out anymore – they’ve got to do something.

On the human side, personal connections and partnerships have continued to rise in importance. They’ve always been important but as human capital becomes more transient and skill become more specialized it’s becoming much harder to be a faceless worker in a cubicle – even though it may still feel that way. 2013 should be the year of connecting with people over coffee rather than Facebook. So if we haven’t connected in awhile offline in awhile, I’d love to grab one.

Posted on: December 31, 2012, by : Jimmy Gilmore