Being a great creative won’t make you a great agency owner. Or 10 reasons why creative shops fail.

If I had a nickle for everytime a creative agency failed in this town. Then I wouldn't need to be in a creative business. But I am in the creative business and am currently on my third start up of my own and have also worked at two other start…

The truth about user generated content

I'm sure someone out there would argue that this blog is user generated content and thus proves that UGC is the wave of the future (actually I've been a professional writer for quite awhile). They may even go so far as to say UGC is all that people will be…

Earned media hype. Or are you being sold a bill of goods?

Do you want a substantial social media audience? One that can move the needle and advocate for your brand? Then you're going to have to pay for it. The recent craze for earned media I believe is misleading. Sure, a great deal of work can yield some decent results. But…

Video and search. Why it matters.

Do you know what the second largest search engine is? No, it's not Bing. Yahoo? Nah. It's YouTube. Yeah, really. Did you know that almost half of search results yeild video thumbnails? And as you might guess, those thumbnails tend to get clicked on. Is it time to get serious about…

Content creation is no longer a one screen process

Most single-media projects I've worked on in the last few years have included an afterthought. "Wouldn't it be great to use this ______." Fortunately I tend to over shoot things and have had the creative ability to find solutions for these afterthoughts. But the average commercial production these days usually…

Fluid Films Vision Part 2. Technology has changed everything

For the last 50 years, advertising broadcast and video production has been an outsourced process that utilizes a vast amount of agency billable hours, vendors and freelancers while providing little direct control over the process for the client. It's not uncommon for a commercial shoot to rival a movie production…

The Fluid Films Vision Part 1

A study by Cisco VNI states that by 2014 90% of web traffic will be video. You might want to read that again. And no, it's not a typo. This is probably one of the more shocking numbers on the rise of video on the Web but maybe not the…

Great big exciting changes in the next couple weeks

I don't usually blog about personal things. I usually post about personal stuff on Facebook. But this is one of those few times that the personal and professional are one. Over the last couple years my professional direction has changed slightly. No longer just writing copy for ads and social…

Why your advertising sucks part 9 – you’re bogged down in the technology

Back in the 50s, cutting edge advertising was inspired by science and research. Agencies like Ted Bates studied consumer behavior and attempted to manipulate consumers consumers into buying products with science rather than inspiring them thoughtful communication. Fortunately Bill Bernbach and the creative revolution came along and showed us a…

Convergence, is it finally here? Google TV and Apple TV battle to transform the living room.

Back in the 90s I was on a list serve (remember those?) on the convergence of media. The thinking back then was that sooner or later television would no longer be bound to the living room and that the Web wouldn't be bound to the desktop. They would converge. If…