Brett Barash, VP at Digital Edelman, presented some interesting statistics at the recent ONE Travel Conference in Orlando, Florida. It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that 66% of US leisure travelers use the Internet to research upcoming trips. But if this doesn’t convince every business that relies in any way on tourists for revenue that a relevant and compelling presence on the Internet is important to survival, I don’t know what will.

What really caught my attention in his presentation was the life cycle of a travel seeker online. People seeking information about a destination spend an average of three months researching online. The thread woven throughout those three months? Google. Everyday I am more convinced that Google is the center of the online universe. Not your website or blog but Google. It holds the keys to your success because the majority of Internet users use Google for search and whether or not they serve up your links on page one can make or break the likelihood that a user will ever visit your site. Oh, and by the way, YouTube is the number 2 search engine in the world. And YouTube is owned by Google. See where this is headed?

The key to building positive organic search results is content. Lots of fresh, quality content. Not black hat links (we all saw what happened when JC Penney tried that trick). Not one-way promotional messages on Facebook. But genuine content that can be crawled by Google (and Yahoo and Bing) and ranked as having value. In fact, content that provides so much value that others are willing to share it. That’s the liquid gold of the Internet. When others are sharing your content through social networks, Google recognizes that and your rankings will grow.

Your destination, attraction, restaurant or hotel has a story to tell. Figure out all the many ways visually and through text that you can tell those stories. Build an editorial calendar so you stick to consistent content distribution. Outsource your content development if you don’t have the resources in house. The value the content will bring to your organic search will far outweigh the investment in time or money.

Hello 2012. The year flew by fast didn’t it? Do you feel overwhelmed with all the information out there these days? Things are changing so quickly it’s hard to keep up, even for the super techno genius. Even though technology is evolving at light speed, what we really need to pay attention to is how to use these tools to best communicate with our target audiences. As marketers we need to understand the audiences we intend to interact with and how we can best achieve a valuable interaction. Technology will continue to evolve and offer us different avenues to communicate, for commerce, for entertainment, and for business. Oh and it helps us learn in real time.

We are all almost always connected by that little tiny computer we carry around in our pockets and our purses. Let’s be real, most of us do not use our phone for just the purpose of a phone. I know you boomers are facebooking and texting, and I don’t even want to know what my little cousins are doing on their phones. It scares me because it means I’m behind and have to keep up. Stupid early adoption. I don’t know what I would do without my iPhone anymore though.   I use it for everything – phone, calendar, email, directions, recommendations, socializing, entertainment, a remote, shopping list, cooking, exercising, music – you get the point. It’s funny to think that when I was in college I didn’t even have a mobile phone, let alone a smart one. It is a revolutionary invention, and only the gateway to how we as humans interact with each other and technology.  It also gives us huge opportunities as marketers to reach our audiences throughout their day and consumption habits.

Although many things are changing and evolving, the core to how humans interact and consume what we put in front of them does not. Humans have habits, we are social, and we are contextual. As we become busier, technology will help humans to maintain these behaviors. I believe there are three core areas that will be highly influential in 2012 that will affect how we think as marketers. There will be thousands of new products and trends, but the list below will be central to how smart industry peeps think ahead of the curve.

Interactive Television

TV is going to become an even more powerful medium in 2012 as it combines with the Internet and offers a more interactive, on-demand and personalized experience. A lot still has to happen in this industry for TV to get to a truly interactive and digital medium that allows for real time measurement but steps are being made.

Content continues to develop in the on demand platform from Netflix to Apple TV to the advent of cable companies such as Cox offering TV Everywhere. I can watch TV on my iPad through my cable company’s app. I can stream my favorite shows via the internet, watch YouTube videos on my television, watch premium channels with apps such as HBO Go, watch all my favorite shows whenever I want either through on-demand, my incessant DVRing, or through new applications. It’s content when I want it. TV habits are going to change to Internet based habits and usability. Free content when and how I like it. Just wait till Apple launches its TV in late 2012.

The growth of 2nd and 3rd screens interaction with TV continues to grow.  Anytime I watch TV now I have my phone and iPad next to me. I recently saw a cool integration that Bud Light did with a Shazam tie in. The ad was aimed at the Hispanic market but had Pitbull’s song playing and as soon as the Shazam icon popped up on the TV I opened my app and it took me to an interstitial branded page allowing me to download the song and sign-up for the Bud promo. We are going to see more and more of this integration between the channels this year.   This year a third of the Super Bowl ads  you see will be backed by a Shazam integration and this trend will continue.

Nielsen reports an ever-growing increase of online video usage and cites that 57% of internet consumers use TV and internet simultaneously at home. I highly recommend you put on your campaign thinking caps and strategize about how your TV ad can tie into an interactive brand experience online through tablets, mobile phones and of course computers. Extend that thirty seconds to minutes in the digital space. Just take a look at what Heineken did with their “dual screen” mobile marketing campaign.

Mobility

Being connected all the time means big opportunities for brands and products to constantly have consumer interaction. Again integrating your campaigns across multiple channels can help activation through mobile devices.

A recent study reports that 40% of Facebook’s 800 million monthly users access the social media giant through mobile apps. Meaning they are socializing with their networks on a regular basis. In 2015 the mobile internet access will surpass wired connectivity. The number of smartphone subscribers using the internet has already grown by 45% since 2010. Businesses will start thinking mobile first and then integrating into other channels.

Shopping and payments will transform forever. I use Chase’s app to pay all my bills and deposit my checks. I also did a lot of my holiday shopping on my phone this year. Why? Because it is convenient and saves me time. And I can do it anywhere! Now that mobile advertising is establishing itself you will see more brands flood this space especially as we see the “traditional” online display ad space evolve and take even more of marketer’s budgets to the digital environment.  Check out how Coke utilized mobile and social to create engagement.

Analytics

Data will start to change the way we look at how campaigns and marketing initiatives influence, engage, and activate audiences. We aren’t just selling products, awareness and consideration any more. Relationship building with brands has become an even more integral part of all strategies now that there are so many social outlets available to consumers. Agencies that are thinking about developing a complete analytical ecosystem to help develop strategies and optimizations to their plans will be thinking ahead of the curve. It’s going to be all about synchronization of this data to allow a deep understanding of the business.

There are so many tools available to clients and agencies that analyzing data has become complex. Especially the ability to tie the data together and make a rational analysis of performance that will effectively help improve insights and strategies. We will see a big movement to data visualization that will help to communicate information clearly and effectively through graphics. Companies that understand data acquisition, analysis, governance, management and mining will be able to transform their learnings into actions. Brands need to start using their agencies to help digest data and simplify it. The digital world is starting to mature and it’s time to start synchronizing data coming from social and web interfaces with marketing strategies, promotions and offers.

Ideas will still always be king but don’t let 2012 pass you by without thinking about all the channels and information available to you as a marketer.  More opportunities for better results.

As the use of online video continues to skyrocket, advertisers and brands flock to online video advertising. The most recent report from comScore noted that in February 2011 3.8 billion video ads were served to 100’s of millions of viewers.  This is a major opportunity to engage your target demographic – if executed properly.

Over the last several months, I have been a part of the initiation of multiple online video advertising campaigns. In one campaign, we utilized online video to compliment a television buy by providing additional touch points and an expanded reach in the target demographic. For another, we helped a client with a smaller, non-broadcast budget leverage their video assets to target a 18-35 year-old, Californian audience.

In both cases, online video advertisements allowed for flexibility in scheduling, a strong branding opportunity and the availability of actionable data.

One of my favorite perks with online advertising is the ability to constantly optimize and fine tune a campaign. Once a campaign is live, marketers can gather precise data on statistics such as click-through-rates, view-through-rates, impressions, etc. All of this information will allow you to amplify the success of your online advertising and adapt as you go along.

With that said, I would love to share with you a few tips on just how to optimize an online video advertising campaign in order to make a good campaign great.

4 Tips to Optimize an Online Video Campaign

1.) Know what metrics are important

The most important factor in analyzing the success of a campaign and being able to optimize it according to your goals is to know your key metrics. Work with your team and your client to determine how success will be measured in this campaign. This will establish a foundation for your analysis.

Here is an example of measuring success with a common metric:

• If the campaign is being billed on a eCPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) model, then you are likely going to want to deliver the highest click-through-rates possible to ensure your client is getting the most out of their spend. If you are unsure of what an acceptable click-through-rate is, ask the ad network you placed the buy with for a breakdown of its benchmark numbers.

2.) Use multiple creative executions

When creating or compiling creative concepts, it’s important to incorporate multiple video executions for the campaign. A variety of creative executions will allow for the A/B testing of creative material. It is difficult to intuitively know how a demographic is going to respond to a particular joke or call to action. Therefore, the availability of numerous video advertisements will allow the strongest to shine through. Use your key metrics to analyze the performance of one video versus another, and eventually you will have enough data to begin weeding out the less popular choices.

For our recent Inner Jockey campaign, we had both a :15 and :30 version of each video. After analyzing the data we realized that the :30s were stronger based upon our key metrics, so we increased the flighting weight of the :30s, and saw a successful bump in our key metrics moving forward.

3.) Give the campaign some time to run

Keeping the above tips in mind, it is also important that you give the campaign some time to run in order to make sure that poor performance in a particular  category is a pattern and not an anomaly. It is very possible that after two weeks one creative element will be under-performing, but given a longer sample period the success rate may bounce back-up. Therefore, we usually wait at least one month before making any drastic changes.

If “one month” is too nebulous of an identifier for you, then feel free to use the  number of impressions that a given video has received. Depending  on the size of your buy these numbers will vary, but for a smaller local buy I would begin optimizations after 40,000-75,000 impressions. However, for larger buys you may want to wait until several hundred thousand impressions have been logged because you have a larger bankroll of impressions to play with.

4.) Never stop perfecting

Last, but certainly not least, is the concept of perpetual improvement. If you have the time and resources there is no reason to stop improving the performance of the campaign. Once you have your best performing creative identified then you can move into optimizing the performance of individual sites within a buy. Your online video will be playing on a large variety of sites depending on the demographics of the campaign. Therefore, there is always some room for tweaking and squeezing out those extra CTR percentage points.

As the campaign progresses and everything is performing closer and closer to your high standards, then feel free to make optimizations at longer intervals, unless you see something drastic happen.

Go get ‘em! And feel free to share your own optimization strategies below.

The group buy phenomenon is hard to miss. As the economy continues to challenge consumers, shoppers are feeling recession fatigue. Consumers still want to spend and still want quality, just not at a high cost. Value – not to be confused with cheap product or low prices – has become exceedingly important.  Value-driven group buys have changed the way we purchase. There’s no going back, so embrace or surrender. While a group deal may not be fit for every business, the value-driven economy is unavoidable. Here is a quick list of things to consider before jumping on board the group buy bandwagon:

• Does your brand fall under any of the categories below that dominate groupon-type deals?
• Do you have the manpower to fufill an increase in demand for your product and/or service?
• Are you willing to educate your employees on how to properly execute the deal all the way through for an exceptional in-store or online experience?

In the end, a successful group buying experience does not end once it’s published online. Smart marketers who leverage the power of group deals, use the promotion as an opportunity to create new customers, gain loyal fans and ultimately bring people back to the store or online in the future to hopefully, spend more money – maybe even at full price.

To further articulate this idea, we give you a pretty rad infographic brought to you by our very own Sus Bandish. Enjoy…

Lights, Camera, Action!

I recently participated in my first commercial shoot.  We have been putting together a branding campaign for CalRacing, our statewide horse racing client over the last several months, and it officially launched last Thursday (check out the microsite, innerjockey.com). A major component of the campaign is two pre-roll video commercials that challenge users to listen to their “Inner Jockey.”

While being a part of this process I picked up a few tips I wanted to share with all of you junior account people or any reader who is new to the process of shooting a commercial.

1. Choose the Proper Talent (Actors)

The talent can make or break the quality of the commercial. It is therefore paramount that the agency and director find the best available actor(s) to bring to life the vision of the commercial.

For the Inner Jockey shoot, I was able to be a part of the digital casting session, which was quite a surreal experience as we watched actor after actor interpret the roles in the spots in their own unique ways. No matter what your seniority on the project, I would encourage all involved in the casting session to be open minded and forthcoming with their opinion because it will narrow down the choices and identify the perfect fit.

2. Understand Talent Contracts

Talent contracts are crucial to the commercial process, because an agency must secure the proper buy-out rights from the talent in order to ensure that the commercial can be legally played in all the desired mediums. For example, if you want to show the commercial on TV and online, then you need to pay the talent for the rights to show the spot in these mediums. Another tricky, but fundamental piece to any talent contract is the length of usage rights. Will this commercial be on air for one year, two years or does your client wish to be able to use it indefinitely? Each of these time frames require different contract verbiage and demand various pay rates.

Keep in mind that a standard buy-out is for two years and you should acquire rights for all advertising mediums that a campaign may grow into. Negotiating after a spot has already run will most likely be much more expensive.

Additionally, don’t forget to run your talent contracts by a lawyer. Legal language is often difficult to understand, and a professional’s opinion is highly recommend to ensure that your agency and client are getting exactly what they required from the talent.

3. Coordinate with the Producer

The producer is an account person’s best friend leading up to the shoot and during shooting because he or she will make sure that all the details are in place for the shoot.

During the two weeks leading up to the Inner Jockey shoot, I shared over forty emails and a handful of phone calls with the producer making sure that everything was perfect and would be ready for the shoot. Together we had to coordinate items such as travel arrangements, talent contracts, wardrobe approval, talent approval, shoot location, pre-production, and more. So, remember to stay on good terms with the producer and utilize their knowledge and skill set to ensure that everything is ready for the shoot.

4. Next Time

Just as with all projects, deadlines for this commercial came fast and furious. I would advise any account person to be aware of the below items and to make sure that you lock these down as early in the process as possible:

• Talent contracts
• Travel arrangements (if necessary)
• The collection or creation of wardrobe assets
• Payment for all parties involved

5. Enjoy the Moment

Last but not least, it’s important to remember what we do as advertisers is fun and exciting – sometimes we forget to sit back and enjoy the moment. Take pictures, Tweet about the shoot and be proud of your finished product. Hopefully, your next commercial will be a powerful marketing tool for your client and a strong addition to your portfolio and your agency’s.

Here is our final product for the “Inner Jockey” campaign – hope you enjoy.

Inner Jockey Pre-Roll

P.S. Don’t forget to take advantage of the craft services.

I haven’t blogged for a while.  Been busy busting out strategy to integrate a campaign properly in the digital space.  Clients are always looking at agencies to provide ROI.  Traditionally we as an industry have used campaign microsites as a landing portal to showcase results, create brand interaction and online engagement.  And yes, we will continue to do so, but as many of you know this has evolved to a much more interactive space.  Especially with the advent of Facebook and its capabilities to act as a microsite and database builder.

I love when you see a beautiful marriage of social networks, video, user-generated content and a well branded landing portal.  This drives brand interaction and fosters a relationship with consumers.  I was listening to Pandora the other day and was served an ad for Budweiser’s Band of Buds.  A very nice ad execution with a good promotional sweepstakes call to action incentivizing me to click on their banner to find out more.

Where did it lead me?  Right here.  This bad ass microsite uses video to explain Budweiser’s promo and drive users to get involved.  The entire site is driven around a competition showcasing your “crew” and submitting your profile online.  Check out how much user generated content they have driven as a result of effective content.  Now take a look at their Facebook page, they have developed many custom tabs around their various marketing strategies and promotions.  Lots of user interaction and commenting from their fans helping to promote the brand, their product and promotions.  You can login to the microsite through Facebook, start your own crew page on Facebook and then have it displayed on the microsite for users to vote your crew up the ladder.  Oh, and guess who markets this promotion?  The people who sign up, duh. Got to ask your FB friends to vote for you to win.  Why not use your brand advocates to market your promotions and products, right?  Got to love that social database.

Example number two was sent to me by our very own Sayamon Riddang. This microsite also uses video to communicate their PSA.  The development of their character “Rip” in the social space and through the brand site has driven interaction with all of their social channels, messaging and brand.

Weird right?  The videos and microsite act as an entry point for you to engage further with Rip the Drip on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.  This allows for messaging to continue on beyond the microsite and develop a further relationship with the user.  Now I can get all my water saving tips from Rip on whatever medium I prefer, giving me a better user experience for interaction with the campaign.

As digital communities continue to evolve and grow, brands have a unique opportunity to talk to their audience through multiple touch points in the online space.  The big goal is to garner online interaction and convert that engagement into real world results.  Will you help save water after interacting with Rip and the Shelton Group campaign microsite?  Will you buy more Budweiser after you and your buddies enter the Band of Buds competition?  These are the true ROI indicators for measuring any successful campaign.

We know if you can drive affinity for a product, brand or message, you are more likely to influence behaviors and consideration sets of consumers.  Marketers have been doing this for years in other channels, and it’s fun to see how the use of digital technology and community building can effectively move the needle for campaign effectiveness.  A microsite has more power now than ever to extend its reach into communities and build brand advocates.  Remember to always execute a seamless branding and campaign experience across all platforms.

We advertising creatives work crazy hours, often tormenting ourselves late into the night trying to discover the “big idea.” That’s why I find it interesting that Wieden-Kennedy’s latest campaign for Old Spice featuring Fabio seems to have almost no concept at all.

In the world of online video, we’ve all seen how bizarre videos about a Honey Badger or Kitten DJs can garner hundreds of thousands, even millions of views. There’s no doubt that the pass along value is high and that people enjoy watching them. However, when it comes to online video advertising, is pass-along value all that matters? Will simply getting more views, without showcasing the brand’s UVP (unique value proposition), move the needle on sales?

Now, don’t get me wrong—I’m not knocking Old Spice. I loved the “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign. The ads were funny, but they also had a point—every lady wants her man to smell like a hot guy who lavishes her with theater tickets and diamonds—just like Isaiah Mustafa. And the way Isaiah responds to real tweets with video, is genius—an incredibly smart way to get consumers involved in the brand via Twitter.

The latest Old Spice campaign, “Mano a Mano en El Bano,” however doesn’t offer the same brand promise. Fabio is so hard to understand, I almost feel bad for him in his awkwardness. Even when you can understand him, he drones on about nothing that has to do with why you should purchase the product. Even the final “battle” between Old Spice guys is completely nonsensical and reminiscent of an Insane Clown Posse video.

Were the guys at W-K on drugs when they came up with these? It seems they have been given creative license to do whatever they want with the brand.

I will be interested to see what Old Spice announces about the success of the campaign and the product sales later this year. What do you think? Does Fabio make you want to buy Old Spice?

Right off the bat- let’s not even pretend like this is a spicy or sexy topic. And I know you all are thinking “but Alex, your posts are usually so spicy and sexy” and to that I would reply “correct, but sometimes you need to inform folks too.”

It is critical to understand Digital Ad Compliance and what it means for all parties. So whether you are an agency, a publisher or a client, buckle up and get ready to learn.

What is Digital Ad Compliance?

Digital Ad Compliance came as a result of advertisers wanting to track people online in order to serve them targeted advertising. They did this by placing cookies on computers to categorize online behaviors of people browsing the internet. This is a wonderful thing for advertisers but people began to see this as an invasion of their privacy and the industry has seen a lot of backlash as more people started to realize the process behind online behavioral advertising. According to TRUSTe, 46% of consumers are uncomfortable with the idea of online behavioral tracking. Think of this backlash as the modern-day “Do Not Call” list from the 1990’s.

Rather than get a formal government regulation involved, advertisers (being the proactive problem solvers we are) decided to police ourselves in the name of ethics…

What is our solution?

Seven major ad industry organizations came together to form the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), a self-regulatory program for online behavioral advertising.

The DAA have instituted an “Advertising Option icon” to serve a privacy notice and opt-out choice for any ad that has tracking activities. So simply put, if an online ad is placing any kind of tracking or cookie onto your computer to monitor your habits, the consumer will know because the triangle icon will be present on or around the ad. If the consumer does not wish to have their online behaviors tracked, they can select the icon and be lead to an “Opt-Out Manager” menu where they opt-out of tracking.

As advertisers, why should we care?

The diplomatic answer is that we should be concerned with people’s privacy. But the more realistic answer is that without being DAA compliant, your ad could be in danger of not being seen. Web browsers are growing smarter and are capable of blocking your ad from being displayed if it is not associated with a trusted DAA source.

What action can advertisers take?

Your best bet is to partner with a DAA-approved solution provider to ensure that you are compliant. Also, many ad networks have already taken measures to comply with the new DAA regulations and will offer to add the icon onto their clients’ ads as an added value, making this a very painless process for advertisers.

Although Digital Ad Compliance has been a slow process getting started, it is growing rapidly and will be the future of online advertising. Action among advertisers and publishers to become DAA compliant grew 23% from 2010-2011 and will continue to grow in the future. So my one takeaway for you – get on board!

There have been some big changes in the world of print lately. Publications struggle to keep reader’s attention and loyalty; some abruptly shutting down shop, others simply fading away as page numbers quickly decline. On the other hand, online content continues to grow in popularity and has proven to be the key to success in today’s world of fast-paced news, and social networks. No longer is it an option for magazines to bank on its glossy pages and pretty photographs – readers want their information quickly, and most likely online. There are a few digital publications in particular that have found a way to capture the essence of reading a magazine off-line, and translate a similar experience online via computer, iPhone, iPad, what have you. Here is one such example.

The New York Times recently interviewed Michelle Adams, editor in chief of Lonny, a pretty rad online magazine focusing on home décor and design. Adams came from a background in print, and when the publication she worked for shut down in 2009, she pursued writing online. Eventually she and a former colleague created Lonny, which caters to a niche demographic of young, fashionable women who want their content fast and fresh.

With an endless amount of content online, what makes Lonny exceptional is the popularity and following it gained in such a short amount of time. The site garners more than 200,000 unique visits per month, and already has 18,300 plus followers on Twitter since it launched less than two years ago. In comparison Conde Nast powerhouse, Elle Decor, has 22,000 followers and has been around for decades.

Max McDonnell, CEO of Lonny, sent me his thoughts about the future of the magazine. He accredits the success of the publication to quality content first and foremost, and driving a very targeted group to the site in order to garner the interest of relevant advertisers. He also had encouraging words to share regarding profitability for Lonny,  “Advertising interest has certainly grown as our traffic has grown, but the biggest leaps have always been through interest in our content and interest generated through remarkable publicity events (like the NYT article). On the road to profitability we have sought to create the content and respectability that our advertisers appreciate, and both of those qualities are much more evident through a newspaper article, industry buzz, or reader feedback than through a cpm report. We focus very little on driving uninterested mass traffic to our site, and more on delivery high quality content. This strategy has certainly helped us in terms of both profitability, and strong advertiser relationships.” A smart strategy that I’m sure others will soon follow.

Additionally, here are a few other reasons why I think Lonny is doing it just right -

• Layout – The Lonny team uses a flipbook-style software allowing the reader to easily navigate through the issue. One can literally flip from page to page, or skip to the back of the book using the click-through index feature. Not only does this format provide the reader with the satisfaction of browsing from page to page as you would with a print magazine, but Lonny takes it up a notch, by providing new features like the index and excellent search capabilities, making the online experience more convenient than print.
• Video – Adams integrates video into her content with the editor’s letter – ditching the traditional all copy style for a monologue-esque explanation of the features and a little background behind the book. I dug this for many reasons, but mostly because it was engaging and gives the publication a little personality. It felt personal, and honestly got me more excited to dive into the rest of the content.
• Advertising – The ad oportunities in this online mag are seemingly ideal. The digital format allows the reader to click-through on an item of interest, directing you to the company website where you can purchase directly – a great thing for advertisers, a not so good thing for spontaneous spenders. Either way, a notable improvement and opportunity for many.
• Social networks – Undoubtedly, social media plays a huge role in serving any successful magazine. The folks at Lonny have built a 18,300 plus following on Twitter, and Jane Lilly Warren, another online magazine maven interviewed in the New York Times piece noted, “Even though we’re a monthly, we have this hourly interaction with our readers.” Staying top of mind now a days means having an active social network, and engaging every day with your readers to stay relevant.

While Lonny exemplifies best practices of an online magazine, there is something to be said for the glossy cover and pages of a traditional print magazine. There’s no way we will ever get rid of these publications completely, but you better believe only the digitally-strong will survive. These digitally savvy print publications will watch online pubs like Lonny, and emulate them in a way that doesn’t negate their printed magazines. They will make sure that, first and foremost, they are utilizing their websites smartly. They won’t be giving away all their print content for free, but instead, they’ll use their site as an opportunity to hook readers in between issues by providing a sneak peek into the upcoming issue, or expanding on feature stories. These print pubs know that it’s crucial to use their online resources to build a stronger network with their readers. This way, when it comes time for those readers to choose where they will subscribe, the print pub they have grown to trust and love will be top of the list.

While I’ll always be a fan of flipping through a beautiful print mag, publications like Lonny excite me. In a world of nonstop transformation and change, it’s encouraging to see companies adapt, continue to grow, and inspire changes across the industry.

This week is a big week for Advertising folk in San Diego. First, 500 of our ad, social media, and web friends will get together on June 1st at the annual Interactive Day. At this one day conference we’ll be talking everything from digital advertising, to SEO, to social media. There is a bad ass line-up of speakers including leaders from Google, Pandora, Facebook, HubSpot, and much more.

The following day, June 2nd, the San Diego Ad Club celebrates its 100th birthday and hosts the national advertising conference, AAF. This will bring more than a thousand advertising peeps from all over the country into our beloved city; all to talk and learn about advertising best practices. For any of our Twitter/local friends who are planning on attending, the BG crew will be there on June 2nd, at 7:30 AM, hosting a coffee truck meet-up to get you going and ready to learn. Be sure to stop by, say hello, and grab a HTeaML or a Chai Logo Latte and kick off your first day of sessions the right way.

In preparation for this big week, I sat down with fellow SD Ad Club board member and industry colleague Chad Robley to chat about Interactive Day (#IDSD for you twitter peeps). Just take a gander at this short video that our friends shot at SOIclave to get some insight on why you should attend.