Top 10 signs you’re a douchey agency type?

Image by Tacit Requiem via Flickr Now more than ever, we agency professionals cannot afford to have cliche' agency jerks among our ranks. There's enough tension with clients and providers thanks to the economic hardships. So please, if you recognize any of these behaviors as something you or your colleagues…

On New Years Resolutions. Or why let an arbitrary day be so important to your goals?

I've never been a fan of New Years Resolutions. The ideas of self improvement and setting goals are great. But New Years Resolutions are for the most part, doomed for faliure. It's as if people subconciously say, "I'm going to set a goal that's slightly out of reach, then attempt…

Halfway-serious webvertising predictions for 2010

Most predictions are either easy, safe, or just wrong. So why not add a few more to the list? I dare you to go on the record on which ones of these are wrong. Mobile Web will become even bigger. The kids will continue to text at an alarming rate…

Faster copywriter! Kill! Kill! Or have ad agencies painted theseleves into a corner?

Gone are the days of the long lunches and concepting over beers. I have accepted it. The new norm is "I need it tomorrow." Or, "do you think you can have something by end of day?" No self preserving account executive uses the word "no" anymore. This leaves us creative…

Is content the future of advertising?

Image by neonihil via Flickr I'm writing this from the set. I'm a day and a half into the production of a series of informational videos for a B2B client. Trust me, if you're not in the automotive wholesale remarketing business, you probably won't ever want to see them. And…

It takes more than a wow to keep people excited

Image by danorbit. via Flickr The latest technology to get people all hot and bothered in mobile web marketing is augmented reality. Because the technology is so new we don't require any creativity from the people employing the medium other than than just using it proficiently. This is going to…

Return to Normalcy?

Warren G Harding ran for president for promising a "return to normalcy." The word normalcy didn't sound normal back then either. But his slogan did tap into the uncertainty and rapid change of the time. They'd just gone through a war in which the rules had changed thanks to a…

Whatever it is you’re great at, something else is probably needed

The early part of my career was easy. Seemed like things just got better every year. I had my picture in CA Magazine within a few months of getting my first business cards printed. On my second job was as primary writer on the Oakley sunglasses business. My next job…

Four predictions on the future of advertising. Yes, there is one.

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what's next. On both a personal level, for the agency where I work, and for the industry as a whole. One thing that's pretty darn obvious, things have already shifted. There have been several reports on industry spending and the shift…