The original quote actually goes, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" and is initially attributed to Teddy Roosevelt. Unfortunately, this is too often the predominant approach of media salespeople. Far too many of them talk first and try to bludgeon you with their product rather than ask questions and listen.

Apparently boring is the new gold standard of branding, at least when it comes to ranking countries on the international stage. According to a new report from U.S. News & World Report, the Wharton School and Y&R's BAV Group, Canada is the No. 2 country in the world. That's right: Canada, the country that Robin Williams called "a really nice apartment over a meth lab."

Has "higher than normal call volumes" become the new normal? The simple answer is yes. And the wall of electronic options being put between you and a human is getting harder to climb over, leading to massive frustration.

Despite having come full circle - from brands questioning the wisdom of digital investments to plowing enormous amounts of money blindly, to now again questioning the wisdom of those ever-growing investments - there's still no robust debate about the outcomes of digital advertising.

If you follow the trade publications in our industry today, you know that TV is dead in the U.S. Right? Actually, no. But TV advertising DOES have a marketing problem.

If you truly want to witness the future, look no further than your own kids. Even better: If you want to keep your kids happy, simply give them some AI to play with.

Why do we build the tools we do? What's revolutionary is that we've finally found a way to decentralize trust -- which runs against the very nature of how we've defined trust for centuries.

Video is fraught with possibilities, potential, and import. And yet, today it's mostly a collection of false starts and half-measures. Why? Video is trapped in a economic model of the past, and while there are moments of extraordinary brilliance that can offer us a glimpse into the future, they burn bright and then mostly fade away.

The bomb dropped earlier this week: BlackRock, the largest investor in the world, with more than $6 trillion in investments, put its portfolio companies on notice: Do good or get out.

To believe that we will all wake up in three years and find that our lives as advertising and media professionals will have been transformed by AI is ludicrous. The impacts of self-learning computers will take many years to really manifest themselves. That said, however, I do believe that the TV ad industry will actually see some not-insignificant effects from AI in the near term. Here are two examples that jump to mind: