A few weeks ago I wrote about promiscuity in advertising and how, advertising companies always tend to keep two or more vendors in competition at any given level of the supply chain. Michael Griffiths replied that this is actually a
Career Success Through Non-Ladder Paths
This holiday weekend was the perfect occasion for some relaxation and reflection. With a stomach full of turkey and plenty of travel time, I did some thinking about my past jobs. Looking back over my career thus far, one of
Why Media Planning is the Most Stressful Job
In 2007, I started my career as an assistant media planner at an integrated media agency. In many ways, it was a very difficult year. Part of the difficulty was financial; my starting salary was just $30,000 per year. After
Inefficiency Pays
When I worked in analytics at my ad agency, a good portion of my job was pulling reports, copying reporting data to excel, wrangling data together with vlookups, stuffing data into templates and making the same charts every month. As
Selling Free Newspapers
I formulate some of my best thoughts on my way to the office after my morning workouts. Exiting the gym, calm and collected, ideas begin to blossom as I proceed down my well-worn path to work. On the way, I
The Future of the GRP
The universal unit of advertising measurement is the issue that will define advertising research and analytics over the next five years. Since the time of Don Draper, GRPs (Gross Rating Points) have been the predominant unit of measurement for Print,
The 100 Words Project: Mobile Technology
Last summer, I collaborated with Jen Beio to create the 100 Words Project (http://www.andreweifler.com/?p=127) – a fiendishly concisely challenge sum up thoughts and opinion on the future of advertising and Media. As this summer approaches, I’d like to revive the
Abe Maslow and Why the CDJ is Not the Answer
In 1943, Abraham Maslow introduced the “Hierarchy of Needs” as a theoretical model of human motivations, leaving a permanent mark on the curriculum of Psychology 101 classes everywhere. The main tenet of Maslow’s model is that human pursuits follow a
Digital Media – We’re Two Steps Behind
This week I was lucky enough to attend the IAB Conference on Digital Video. Apropos to my recent career move to Analytics, the one session I found particularly interesting was the panel discussion about digital video measurement. Sitting on the
The Newest Fad in Online Advertising: Microtargeting
What is Microtargeting? Microtargeting is the theory that very niche audiences (micro-segments) with yet-unknown, and sometimes counter-intuitive preferences, have a high propensity for interest in a specific product or service. Here’s a (made up) example: people who have just gone