• ONLINE SPIN
    An Online Retail Experience Where Somebody Actually Cares About YOU
    I don't like most shopping experiences. That includes physical stores and virtual ones. That's why I love Amazon and its Prime unlimited-shipping program. I can buy a wide variety of items at a reasonably good price, from one retailer, with speedy checkout and delivery. While I'm using Amazon a lot for holiday shopping this season, I just purchased a few items from Etsy, the marketplace of handmade goods. Sure, the items I purchased were all one-of-a-kind, from passionate artisans with small shops. The discovery, review and checkout process was simple. But it was a radically different experience, and not just …
  • ONLINE SPIN
    I Have Seen The Enemy -- And The Enemy Is Within
    Companies are their own worst enemies. The amount of wheel-spinning that takes place to get an initiative in place or even started, only for the rug to be ripped out underneath due to "a new CMO coming in" (or an existing one going out), "a budget cut" or "a reorg," translates into significant hours expended, and therefore has a very real price tag.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Our Lives, Reduced To Data
    It may or may not be true that, in 1899, the commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office said, "Everything that can be invented has been invented." But surely by now, technological innovations can no longer surprise. We have landed on the moon and had cars cover half a million miles with no drivers. Amazon is planning to deliver packages via drone, and Google will do it with robots. Our phones contain the computing power of 2,500 Apollo 11s, and we've invented a mind-controlled communication device for people paralyzed by ALS. So what does the future hold when everything is possible?
  • ONLINE SPIN
    We Should All Be Thankful For Advertising
    I know that Thanksgiving is over, but I wanted to say that I was and am thankful for the advertising industry (of course in addition to my family, health, friends and good fortune). And not just for the ad I saw in a taxi last week that informed me that I could use American Express Rewards Points to pay my fares (which I'm now doing regularly when in cabs with Verifone screens). I am thankful for advertising because it does so much for us, far more than most of us give it credit for.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    Does Marketing Work?
    I ask the above question to restate the obvious: Marketing influences billions of dollars worth of purchases every single day. Many years ago I was at a Club Med, and another guest said to me, "I never listen to advertising or marketing -- it doesn't influence me." I responded, "Oh, yeah -- then how did you end up at Club Med?" Well, that argument won't happen much longer, because 2014 is the year when marketing becomes 100% quantifiable. The fact is, marketing works, and soon it will be impossible to say that it doesn't.
  • ONLINE SPIN
    If You're Not An Agile Marketer, You're A Dead Marketer
    What will make you successful in 2014 and beyond? Presuming digital continues to pervade -- which it will -- the environment will favor marketers who are not only smart and deliberate, but can adapt and pursue serendipitous shifts and opportunities. Success will depend evermore on agility. Here are key areas where you should put your organization to the "agility torture test":
  • ONLINE SPIN
    What's In A Name?
    "Why?" is an incredibly powerful question that I have mastered by observing my son Robert when he was five. All parents will recognize that phase when your offspring questions everything you say. "Eat some fruit" leads to "Why," which leads to "Because it is good for you," which leads again to "Why?"
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