I cannot begin to tell you the number of bad ideas I have had. When I first started receiving an allowance, at the age of 10 or so, I had grand intentions for my weekly five dollars. Surely, I thought, I can use this to pay rent on an apartment, which I can then use to house and care for homeless animals. E

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about what the next generation of professionals in this business should do to enter into and manage themselves in the workforce. I thought long and hard about that one, and many commented. Well, now it's time to think through the other side of the relationship: what we, the managers, owe to the incoming workforce.

Who said mobile check-ins were just for humans? They also work well for sharks, including great white sharks. Great white sharks?

Last week I was granted access to Mediaocean's new digital pre-buy application, SmartRFP, and was both surprised and impressed by what I saw.

Dear Reader: It is often (and dishearteningly ) the case, in these modern times, that etiquette is considered unnecessary: an anachronism, a relic. We seem to have agreed to dispense with courtesies, with gentleness, and with grammar. There are many people who, like me, believe that etiquette and good graces have an intrinsic value, that they do not need to be justified in terms of return on investment or value for time spent. But I am aware that "just because it's good manners" is not an argument likely to win over those who don't already agree. So I offer some …

Are TV and online the last two great areas of growth for marketing? As someone who has been in the digital marketing space since 1994, I've waved the flag that online is the future as long if not longer than most, but I've never said it was at the expense of TV. I feel as though TV is actually on the precipice of becoming even more important than it has to date, and it's a result of digital being embedded in the experience.

Over the past 15 years, I've served on both the client and provider side of evaluations and Request For Proposals (RFPs) for emerging marketing technologies and services. These days, I spend a lot of my time on the RFP receiving end for enterprise social marketing technologies.The RFP can magnify competition, which may prompt higher quality and lower pricing. Of course, that's why competitive RFPs are the hallmark of many purchasing and procurement departments -- which are often deeply involved in negotiating investments in marketing and advertising technologies. With stakes so high, it pays for both clients and potential technology partners …

If you've ever pitched to investors, you'll have heard the same five questions over and over. They're the same questions asked on "Dragons' Den" and "Shark Tank." They're the questions that must be answered well for any business to grow to a significant size, and, although they are simple, they are exceedingly complex:

TV content and TV audiences will never be as homogenous as they were in the '70s and '80s. That's reality and not going to change. The only way to deal with -- or overcome -- the challenges of fragmentation is to adjust our approach to TV media buying, selling and measurement. Here's what I mean:

When will creative catch up to targeting? Is it even possible that will happen? The answer is (most likely) yes. The targeting side of the business has become exponentially more refined over the last 10 years due to the increase in technology harnessed for audience buying and data management. Until this year, creative was being left in the dust, but heading into 2013 we're seeing creative technology finally begin to catch up.