Creative Directors. It’s time to create.
Times like these are meant for reflection. Not for holding on to the past, but to figure out how to embrace the future. To ask yourself, Do I really like what I am doing? Am I happy, or just comfortable? I had to ask myself those same questions last year. These days, at my new […]
Short Selling: 3 Steps To Becoming A 6-Second Storyteller
Six-second ads are here to stay as short content becomes the new normal for many platforms. To hammer that point home, Snapchat now considers 10-seconds as long-form video. Yep. 10. If you are a creative reading this, I can feel the collective eye roll. Many teams stress about their ability to tell a story in […]
Intellectual Property In The Age Of Social Media
How BRANDS (AND POLITICIANS) are breaking The Law. These days, the rise of social media has produced a gray area for brands and politicians, as some unknowingly assume high risk in their pursuit to be topical and clever while attaching themselves to celebrities. Most recently, Mike Bloomberg took to the social world to inundate people […]
5 Ways For Agencies To Build Stronger Client Relationships
Recently on LinkedIn, someone posted a battle meme with the caption “Waiting for client feedback on banners.” Yes, it was meant as a joke, but it seemed to be grounded in truth. Many people shared their battles in the comments to the amusement of other agency peeps. Which led me to ponder the following question: […]
Time to leave your ad agency? 6 questions to ask yourself.
In the incestuous world of ad agencies, people rarely settle at just one. Accounts change; needs change; money, titles and opportunity call. So it’s no wonder agency people hop from place to place. If you are considering a move or even wondering if you should settle in, here are some questions to ask before you […]
What I learned from watching the Big Game with non-ad people.
My partner Luis and I have worked on at least a dozen Super Bowl spots in some capacity. Throughout our careers, we have spent countless hours strategizing , creating, agonizing, pre-releasing, hashtagging and working long nights in preparation for that big day in February. Yet, when it come times to watch, we both separate from […]
Seeing diversity with 2020 Vision
Early in my career, I worked the front desk at a small marketing agency in Los Angeles. One day while I was answering phones and ordering lunch, the creative department was crafting a congratulations ad for a major music publication. The award was for Latin Music Producer of the Year. Instead of making it Del […]
The Castoffs That Made Cast Iron LA
How two 50-year-olds created a visionary digital marketing agency clients love. The last casting session I did was in March. While there, I got a meeting request that made it clear my job of 23 years would be gone. I planned for the worst, barely slept, and the next day, my fears were affirmed. Last […]
Breaking Brand
When others control your brand more than you do. Remember brand campaigns of the past? They were those splashy reintroductions to the brand, when a new tagline, new logo or new objective would come out. They weren’t selling anything beyond an idea, an ethos, a spirit to drive the brand forward in new and exciting […]
Are Stories Dead?
5 Tips to help brands make better video The last 4 years, I have been judging branded entertainment for the Webby Awards. As I watched submissions, patterns began to emerge. The one glaring takeaway was this: The stories we tell are beginning to look the same. As marketers, we have been coached, preached to, pressured […]