Seat belts
clicked free after passing under the Old West Ranch sign that hung above the dirt road leading through Blackburn Canyon near Tehachapi, Calif. The mountain community, recovering from a fire last year
and filled with deer, bears and other wildlife, became a retreat on Saturday for a little rest and relaxation.
A little solace can open a world of innovations. With no electricity or
television reception and spotty cellular service, the sights and sounds of wind moving through towering pines; an opportunity to meet new industry people and come face to face with wild animals; and
learning how to hold, load and shoot a gun safely became the facets in this rare gem.
The acquaintance became TK Media Direct President Ted Kriesel. The animal was a brown bear that appeared
to play peekaboo behind an old oak tree near a water source, and the instructions on how to use a gun safely came from a former Marine with more than 26 years in law enforcement. These events gave me
another perspective.
Sometimes marketers need to share ideas and concepts with others to find answers because the solution to creating a well-developed search campaign may not be obvious
without gaining a view from the outside looking in. This year, data collection through tools and automation, cross-channel campaign management and social marketing and signals will have exponential
influence on paid-search campaigns, as well as organic Web site optimization and page rankings.
Marketers gain that insight by sharing information at the twice-yearly Search Insider Summit
(SIS) that MediaPost hosts. The think tank for search professionals takes place in Deer Valley, Utah, just outside Park City in December and Captiva Island, Fla. in May. It's a way for marketers to
step outside their comfort zone; share new ideas on connecting social media, display and other media to search campaigns; and hear the perspective of others. Those who want to provide input on a
session for the three-day summit can log on to the Speaker Proposal page of the Web site and submit
the form, or email me at sullivan@mediapost.com.
Makes me want to take a Blackburn Canyon back road to get back with my soul. For some reason, on Saturday the animals stirred more than usual.
Locals said they hadn't seen a bear come down to the homes in years.
Then on Sunday, a single-engine Cessna plane crashed in the Tehachapi
mountains, killing pilot and passenger and igniting a wildfire that leveled to the foundation more than a dozen homes in the Old West Ranch community. My heart goes out to those who lost their lives,
the firefighters trying to save a community, the residents whose possessions burned, and the animals left homeless and alone.