The entire premise of a new business pitch does not reflect the day-to-day reality of how an agency serves advertisers. Different people are put on the project than would actually service the account. The processes and tasks they perform are almost always different than what the agency does in the normal course of business.

Dave's column last week was not an attempt to take a pot-shot at the industry or call for other people’s mud to be slung. It is borne of a love for this medium and a desire to save it from the worst practices that are fast becoming the primary feature of the public’s understanding of what the industry actually does.

The customers are eating their tuna melts and sucking down their vanilla milkshakes. Flo is colorfully singing out the orders with her hairnet pulled tightly back around her head while Mel is in the back, charcoal spatula in hand, sporting a filthy apron covered in 13-year-old grease. Mel hollers back, “Cheeseburger, extra pickles.” Ding! “Order Up!” This is my impression of the technology behind most Inventory Management Systems in place for the major online publishers these days.

Last weekend, at a friend's wedding, I struck up a conversation with three gentlemen who worked as research chemists for a large pharmaceutical company. As is the case almost any time I tell someone that I work for an online marketing firm, they had plenty of feedback for me. As I listened to their frustrations, I began to see a common thread running through all of them.

As we approach the reality of reach and frequency programs in the marketplace from companies like Atlas DMT and Nielsen NetRatings, the subject of frequency capping keeps coming up. It has been the assumption on the part of myself and others that this aspect of ad serving will be of great benefit to us as we learn more about what frequency levels are optimum in communicating various strategies. But once again, everything we know is wrong.

Last week, Congress started down a slippery slope, with congressman Bob Barr, R-Ga, attempting to interfere with a recent pitch win by Ogilvy & Mather.

I’m writing today about something that has been stuck in my craw for a while. This weekend, talking to a pal in the business, the concept solidified. I'm mad as hell and not going to take it any more.

“Don’t create problems. Create solutions.” - Unnamed Ad Exec. This is another old quote that one of my first mentors told me. It applies in many situations, and in this case we’re going to talk about it in terms of online advertising.

Customer acquisition is one of the major building blocks for a business, but it's not the only one. Advertisers spend most of their money advertising to potential new customers, but what they fail to realize is that customer acquisition comprises most of the battle.

It was all triggered by a cute story. The Milk Board had awarded FCB the account in Chicago, supposedly because they painted their beautiful wood-paneled boardroom with Ben & Jerry-like landscape scenes of dairy cows. Suddenly, everyone considered himself a brilliant pitch strategist. The gimmicks flowed.