Guest Columnists

Coca-Cola and Skechers Offer Brands New Halos at Annual Licensing Show

Coca-Cola and Skechers Offer Brands New Halos at Annual Licensing Show

Beats by Dr. Dre is licensing the recycling brand Ekocycle from Coca-Cola.

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From Candy Crush to Bubble Wrap, Brands Descend on Licensing Expo

From Candy Crush to Bubble Wrap, Brands Descend on Licensing Expo

The Candy Crush booth is getting swarmed at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, where licensees think the game could be the next Angy Birds.

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Publishers -- And Marketers -- Must Meet Ethical Standards in Native Advertising

Publishers -- And Marketers -- Must Meet Ethical Standards in Native Advertising

If sponsored content can deceive consumers in a way that creates challengers for publishers and marketers.

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Transparency Is All the Rage, but Authenticity Matters More

Transparency Is All the Rage, but Authenticity Matters More

Authenticity doesn't demand that we always talk openly with the customer. What it demands is that we remain true to who we are as a company.

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Costs and Egos Aside, There's Business Value in Cannes

Costs and Egos Aside, There's Business Value in Cannes

The location, costs and self-congratulatory tone are targets for critics, but the Cannes Lions provoke and inspire our world for the better.

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Why Ad-ID Coding System Is Good for Marketers and Talent

Why Ad-ID Coding System Is Good for Marketers and Talent

A common coding system would provide immense benefits, including enhanced ratings measurement and advanced cross-platform analytics.

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'Total Market' Doesn't Mean You Should Give Up On Cultural Insights

'Total Market' Doesn't Mean You Should Give Up On Cultural Insights

To achieve marketing effectiveness, broad and multilayered cultural influence truly demands wide and deep cultural knowledge.

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Your Brand Caught in a Pop-Culture Crisis? You Shoulder Some Blame

Your Brand Caught in a Pop-Culture Crisis? You Shoulder Some Blame

When brands get in hot water because of tie-ups with rap-artist endorsers, the marketing execs must examine their own culpability.

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Baby-Boomer Marketers Are Misreading Millennials' Media Behavior

Baby-Boomer Marketers Are Misreading Millennials' Media Behavior

Why are so many senior marketers missing the opportunity -- and their piece of the demo's $200 billion in spending power?

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What Do 'Shopping-Haul' Viral Videos Have That Yours Don't?

What Do 'Shopping-Haul' Viral Videos Have That Yours Don't?

As much as we'd like to believe that well-scripted, beautifully produced and properly placed content always goes viral, again and again we see that that's just not the case.

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Beyond Leaning In: What I Learned on the Way to the C-Suite

Beyond Leaning In: What I Learned on the Way to the C-Suite

Sandberg and Mayer notwithstanding, ambitious women tend to think of themselves as the potential No. 2 in an organization instead of the No. 1.

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So You Want to Start an Agency? Pin These Tips to Your Wall

So You Want to Start an Agency? Pin These Tips to Your Wall

Here are 11 things you need to know, starting with: The world does not need another ad agency.

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It's Time For a New Approach to Client Conflicts

It's Time For a New Approach to Client Conflicts

So much has changed. Yet our view of what constitutes a conflict of interest has not.

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What Happens When Brands Come Out of the Closet

What Happens When Brands Come Out of the Closet

From a marketing perspective, there has been an interesting parallel with more brands than ever coming out of the closet on this particular issue.

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Why Marketers Need to Reorganize Around the Most Powerful Behavior Principle of All: Utility

Why Marketers Need to Reorganize Around the Most Powerful Behavior Principle of All: Utility

Above all, utility is a response to, and a requirement of, the inevitable time crunch in a tech-sped world.

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Don't Use Social to Generate Sales; Make Selling Social

The problem is not whether social value can be measured in dollars. Perhaps the issue is that we can't measure in dollars objectives that weren't intended to be profitable in the first place.

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How Local News Can Save Itself (Without Sweeps)

How Local News Can Save Itself (Without Sweeps)

Smart station managers know that the next time any of their kids plan to watch their newscasts is ... never.

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Thighvertising and Other Japanese Marketing 'Trends' You Shouldn't Fall For

Thighvertising and Other Japanese Marketing 'Trends' You Shouldn't Fall For

Don't believe everything you read about trends in Japan, including high school girls selling ads on their thighs.

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The .Domain Change Is Weeks Away; How Marketers Should Prepare

The .Domain Change Is Weeks Away; How Marketers Should Prepare

Ready or not, ICANN is moving forward with its new gTLD scheme. Here's how you can avoid .trouble.

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Relax, Mozilla's Move Will Not Break the Ad-Supported Internet

Relax, Mozilla's Move Will Not Break the Ad-Supported Internet

Mozilla is differentiating between sites that have direct relationships with consumers and those that don't -- which is more likely to meet users' expectations.

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