• Media Metrics
    The $131 billion U.S. hotel industry recently received a wake-up call.
  • The New Next: More Choice, Less Richness?
    Humans are innately social beings. Since the beginning of time, it has been in our DNA to seek connections with others, always looking for more ways to communicate. It began with the formation of spoken languages tens of thousands of years ago. Then, languages became written, from markings on cave walls to alphabetical systems. To add another dimension, a portable medium was invented: papyrus. Soon people began to communicate over long distances, building infrastructure for a postal system. The state of economics and relationships between countries came to depend on the efficiency of these systems.
  • Taking Measure: Overcoming the Inertia
    All of a sudden, it seems like integrated marketing communications planning (IMC) is hot again. Particularly in consumer packaged goods (CPG), we are seeing clients launch new initiatives to better coordinate tactics and messages in their marketing programs.
  • Targeting: From Seeing to Believing
    Almost 40 years ago, the media community started negotiating television deals on gross ratings points for persons instead of households. Ten years ago, some intrepid buyers started to include the importance of unduplicated rating points, commonly called reach, in their negotiations. More recently, a few buyers began to target consumer ratings instead of demographic ratings.
  • Productivity: It's All in the Retelling
    The best advertising tells a story we want to share with others. Or, to put it another way, great ads spark conversation. The true power of terrific ads lies less in the telling and more in the retelling. We converse by telling stories that connect us to others and let others appreciate our feelings, intentions, and dreams.
  • Gestalt: A Millennial Santa Letter
    Dear Santa: I've been an extremely good boy this year. I ate all my vegetables, played nice with my sister, and actually bought a CD with money. (Well, my grandfather bought me the CD, but I think he paid with actual money, and all my friends are really enjoying one or two of the songs from it.) I've done all my homework on time, but haven't been to the library all year. Google is my library now, and man - does Wikipedia make writing my essays easy! And I'm an author, too; I got to update the definition of Panic! …
  • The Consumer: Reining in the Flog
    In the U.K., "flog" is commonly used as a synonym for "sell." As in, "I need to flog this old carpet." Although, to be more accurate, its use connotes dishonest selling - more like, "I need to flog the carpet I just stole." Which makes it a uniquely appropriate, if ironic, word for the practice of fake blogging. It's appropriate because fake blogging, a.k.a. flogging, is clearly a dishonest and shady activity. But it's ironic because I can't believe that anyone really believes they could sell anything to anyone by creating a flog.
  • Column: The University -- New Media Old Habits
    My autumn in academia continues here in Los Angeles, as temperatures plunge into the low 70s and the leaves - well, pretty much stay the same color.
  • Column: Integrated -- The Gift of Engagement
    In this season of giving, many of us find ourselves making lists: gift lists, holiday grocery lists, to-do-before-the-end-of-the-year lists.
  • Deconstruction: The Touch Of The Page
    The original title of this article was "Why I Love The New Yorker" (first mention). But Dana, who works with me and knows about my passion for The New Yorker (second mention), called me a suck-up, so I changed it. It really wasn't a shameless plug for The New Yorker (third mention). OK, so the magazine recently comped me a subscription after finding out about the love affair I was having with it.
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