I give lots of speeches and talks each year and end each one with the quip, “Beware the artisan who claims 20 years of experience when, in fact, they have one year of experience 20 times.”

Now I’m adding a new line — “Beware the person who starts a sentence with “I’ve seen…” unless their next sentence begins with “I’ve done….”

Not search, not video, not even ads can muscle email out of the top spot in the hearts and minds of US marketing executives, according to a recent McKinsey survey.

It sounds preposterous during a time of expected excesses to even hint that the unstoppable Internet is actually receding. But shrinking it is!

In all the Web 2.0, Social Media buzz there are tons of facts, figures, news and opinions about blogs. Most are filled with large, impressive numbers. Most are about the personal sides of blogging. But few talk about blogs as business tools.

Those of us involved in the interactive business have known for years that retail was making a huge shift to online. But every time we mentioned it we came off selfserving and sounding like the typical “Chicken Little” news media.

Then came holiday shopping 2007.

It’s the New Year and time for each and every one of us to sit back and reflect on our shortcomings and resolve to do better in 2008. By the end of the first month most have broken, altered or totally forgotten what they promised under the glare of the New Year’s scrutiny.

Go ahead. Say it. I know you really want to. Say Merry Christmas and see what happens.

Are the Political Correctness cops watching?

In a recent study by ForeSee, more than 77% of the online shoppers polled said they were satisfied with their experience. That’s up from the previous week’s score and 3.3% higher than the same week last year.

Originally published on BRANDWEEK.com
(http://www.brandweek.com/bw/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003674866)

Creative is a funny thing. Designers are creative, no doubt. Directors, managers, AEs do creative things, of course. But somewhere along the way a couple of funny things happen—first, we begin to treat our ideas as if they were our beloved children and second, we moderate our creative thinking based on the client, corporate or agency, for whom we’re creating.

We have smart phones, smart cars, smart homes, even smart toothbrushes. So who’s surprised that today’s online consumer expects smart ads?

Well, lazy advertisers, I guess.