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I am inspired by the stand taken by the daughter of the Mayor of Aurora. She went to see the Dark Knight with her friends to send a message to the world that we shouldn’t be manipulated  by the actions of a gunman. This weekend, I went to crowded soccer fields and restaurants, and was able to enjoy my life and loved ones. This week, I am hard at work, serving accounts and pitching business....

At the risk of being offensive – I find the concept of building by consensus to be quite dull. The idea of modifying one opinion or vision to meet the expectations of a group is by definition a form of dilution. Of all places, agency work should not be managed by consensus. Clients come to us for big ideas and big results.Thus, we should be bold. We should be loud. We should be proud....

One of my favorite things about my job is the fact that I learn something new every single day. It's a pretty grand statement - but it's true (and often just a little bit painful).

This week, I learned a lot. And while attending a client meeting in Las Vegas discussing the subject of funeral planning, I was exposed to a new concept with great appeal: Umami....

Evangelical; adjective. Also, e•van•gel•ic. 1. pertaining to or in keeping with the gospel and its teachings. 2. Marked by ardent or zealous enthusiasm for a cause.

I am evangelical about Netflix. I am a loyal and enthusiastic member. And they have been a great client to Hacker Group.  One of the things that is core to any strategic discussion...

In advertising, if you don’t take risks, then how can you be innovative? A client of ours took a very big risk with their advertising campaign earlier this year. Rather than pull it when it didn’t appear to live up to its promise, they let it ride. After all, advertising is all about impressions and sometimes it takes a little time before you see real results.

Since we are the...

The era of agency specialization has reached its inevitable conclusion. I think it’s time for the pendulum to swing back.

For the past decade or so, CMOs have had to call on new types of agencies to help them with new types of media, new technologies and new ways of thinking about marketing and advertising. And it was understandable. If your agency didn’t have the technical chops...

I am fascinated by social media. How is it that by exposing your thoughts and opinions publicly, they are so often transformed?

When I read LinkedIn and see people I know recommending people I know they know, but I also know they don’t like, it really gets my goat. Why would your opinion change when it becomes public?  Likely it’s for the same reason that marketers shouldn’t...

Major trends in advertising are visible. Advertisers want us to know that they care about us, their consumers, our health and our happiness. They even want to show us the personality of their employees. The people behind the potato chips, for example, have families of their own and care about nutritional value of their product.

I think it’s fascinating to see the mass media endeavoring...

Selecting a marketing agency is a high-stakes, high-risk process. While marketers often find it exciting and enjoyable to have a cadre of smart people present new ideas to them, the final decision must be made both emotionally and rationally.

In general, it comes down to answering two questions: Can these people do the work? And do I want to work with them?

Of course, compensation...

We may not be in a real depression (yet), but a lot of marketers could use some Zoloft about now. Customer attrition is throwing a wrench in our plans for the quarter, if not the year.

My usual take on things is to see the glass as half full -- but it seems pretty empty. New leads and new customers are certainly harder to come by and churn is depleting the base. It’s become even more...

Around here, we question everything. It can get a little annoying. But in the long run it's the best thing for our clients. Here are some of the questions I've heard in the last week:

• What would it take to...

Does it really matter?

I guess it would be helpful for marketers to know who they're talking to — warts and all. We may have wart remover in our product line-up, after all. (But maybe Facebook isn't the place to be marketing wart remover.)

If Facebook or other...

I wish I could say we were perfect.  We'd love to have Hacker...