Be afraid of sacred cows. They cannot be trusted. Oh, they look harmless enough, but beneath that docile exterior lays a sly and treacherous beast. Promising an easier road to success, but providing a twisted path of destruction.

Going against tried and true practices is not a novel premise for our industry. Years ago David Ogilvy said, “Hal Riney has broken almost every rule I’ve ever written, and his work is genius.” Yet, more often than not agencies and brands return to a “sacred cow” mentality.
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To illustrate the power of social media, let’s take a trip back in time. All the way back, to 2006. Remember, we’re talking social media here, so things move pretty quickly. In 2006, I went to a restaurant that shall remain nameless to protect the not so innocent. It was a local establishment claiming to have the best Buffalo wings around. They had just opened up and their ads were popping up all over town. The owner himself was right there on my TV night after night talking about his “world’s best” wings. Supposedly he employed some kind of secret sauce that had not yet been discovered by man. I like wings, so this piqued my interest. A secret sauce? This was gonna be good.
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According to HSMAI the calendar year 2009 will see travel advertising expenditures in excess of $5 billion. How well spent is your share of those billions? How do you even judge how well spent your critical advertising dollars are? Are you maximizing consumer insight to help achieve max ROI, max occupancy and max ADR?

Tired of all these questions? Me too. Here are some answers by the numbers – “The Nine Stages of Consumer Vacation Planning”* to get back to our headline equation – and to help you tap into your best prospects at just the
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“Your audience is skipping your TV spot with a DVR. They’re talking about your product on Twitter. They’re chatting about you on Facebook. They’re searching for you on Google. In a world that is increasingly empowered by social “media,” connected by screens, out of your control and enchanted by innovation, all that matters is the story your customer tells about your brand — your brand’s value, in 140 characters or less. Is it a good story? A bad story? Or just no story at all?”¹

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I recently had the opportunity to participate in The Future of Account Leadership program held at the VCU Brandcenter. It was an inspiring—and at times, exhausting—experience, but I am very grateful I was chosen to attend. While there I realized just how fast our industry is changing, including some of its most deep-rooted beliefs.

I know we’ve all read about the 4 P’s in one Marketing text book or another: Product, Price, Place & Promotion. And that by using the proper mix we can
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Well, it had never happened to us either. But the other day, our friends  at the Battleship New Jersey received a call from a Philadelphia Inquirer reader asking if she could “buy the ad” that ran on Friday. How often does that happen? She will in fact be able to buy the ad – and the others – in poster format. The Battleship will be merchandising our Mailman, Dentist and Barber posters in their store and online. Soon everybody who visits the Battleship can take a hero home with them.  Our new campaign for them was recently featured on Ads of The World. Check ‘em out, and let us know what you think.
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Today everyone in the ad business is talking about how the adoption of social media by the masses is going to change everything. It’s going to be a seismic shift, we say…things will never be the same. But to really get it, I think you’ve got to use it. And use it not as a professional, but on a very personal level.

So the other day, my husband and I were talking about purchasing a new washer and dryer. A mundane but critical purchase. Top load or front load? GE, Maytag or LG? As you would expect, we visited all the usual sites.
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