Guest Columnists

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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Lighten Up! Ford, Others Are Overreacting to Figo Fiasco

Lighten Up! Ford, Others Are Overreacting to Figo Fiasco

Perhaps the ads were offensive, but these are boundary-pushing creative exercises and no one should have been fired.

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Analytics Can Help You Identify 'Brand Clans'

Analytics Can Help You Identify 'Brand Clans'

Knowing what makes a group of individuals tick is the difference between a happy customer and an energized team of brand ambassadors.

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Don't Make the Mistake of Viewing Valuable Data Streams in Isolation

Don't Make the Mistake of Viewing Valuable Data Streams in Isolation

Integrating digital data into marketing-mix models provides the complete picture of the marketing landscape and the relative performance of marketing vehicles and tactics.

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Four Decades Later, Ad Industry's Self-Regulation Remains the Gold Standard

Four Decades Later, Ad Industry's Self-Regulation Remains the Gold Standard

Is advertising self-regulation still relevant four decades after the industry built its system? Short answer: Absolutely.

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Uncle Sam Wants You, CMO

Uncle Sam Wants You, CMO

"We the marketers" know there's a better way than the "nanny state" to inspire citizens to change behaviors. Maybe the U.S. government needs to think more like we do.

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POM Wonderful Ruling Holds Lessons for Food Marketers

POM Wonderful Ruling Holds Lessons for Food Marketers

Latest FTC decision in pomegranate juice case clarifies substantiation requirements for health claims for food and supplement products.

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Patent Trolls Are a Big Headache for Ad Agencies, Too

Patent Trolls Are a Big Headache for Ad Agencies, Too

Agencies are paying out an estimated $10 million a year to contend with "planned extortion."

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