WHAT I’VE LEARNED…SO FAR

When I was a client there were things that I loved about my agencies, things I disliked and things I hated. When I was an agency account manager there were things I loved about my clients, things I disliked and things I hated.

Two Beggers

Two Beggers

Two beggars sat on the ground in Mexico City, both with a tin-cup in front of them, hoping for a few pesos from the passers-by. What happened next?

JUST IN CASE–

Just in case anybody in accounting, manufacturing, shipping, media, creative, finance, human resources, IT or operations forgot–"NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL SOMEBODY SELLS SOMETHING." Lance English Sales Manager Envise, Garden Grove CA

Who cares what a brand is?

You would have thought by now that anyone with a basic business understanding and responsibility would know what a brand is. Apparently not. According to the Wall St. Journal, Frank Hurt, president of the Baker’s union that just brought down Twinkies, putting 18,000...

From The Back Of The Class…

Several semesters ago in my Advertising & Media Strategy class, I asked new students why their interest in working in an ad agency.  A hand shot up, and I only recall that his name was Tim and that he was very short…smallish actually. Tim was an avid sports fan,...

DON’T TELL THEM. TEACH THEM.

Lee Clow said, "Don’t tell them you’re going to learn their business.  Tell them that you’re going to teach them yours."  Every shop that ever did a pitch said that they were going to learn their client’s business from the inside out.  Learn what makes their client...

SHOULD HR SCREEN THE CANDIDATES?

There’s a reasonable argument that says they should, but several years ago a great client was seeking a senior professional to join their in-house marketing team.  I, along with Dave Beckert that handled the media, was asked to meet with the new person on the morning...

Who’s The Smartest One In The Room?

People say that we should have a president who is more like us–one of the common folk, just a regular guy.  Not me. I want to vote for the smartest son-of-a-bitch we can find.  He’s got to run the whole government.  If we only got somebody as smart as me to be...

George Zenger…

If we look back and make assessments about whether or not we’ve been reasonably successful over the years, we might tend to blame our good fortune on things like talent, experience, hard work and certainly a measure of good luck.  But in this business, we can’t be...

NOT ALL THE GENIUSES ARE AT THE APPLE STORE.

Last week I purchased the new iPhone 4S from the Apple Store in the Galleria.  No wait; they had them in stock, even the white one.  I paid the money, and then they took me over to the set up table where they attempted to transfer all of the stuff from my old 3GS to...

Jenna The Intern

For the spring semester of 2012, I had responsibility for an intern–Jenna. She was actually interning for Hadley Exhibits and I jumped in as the Intern Administrator.  While we hope that Jenna gained something from the experience, turned out to be a great experience...

No judgments; just an observation.

You can get a day pass to walk all over Disney World for about $90.  Go anywhere, do some rides and look all around.  Meals are extra. You can walk all over Paris, go anywhere and see cool stuff…for nothing.  Outdoor cafes are extra.  London and Rome have the same...