The biggest tech trade show in the United States is just a few hours away, and as I prepare for my flight to Vegas (Baby) I’ll be attending my very FIRST CES conference along with my fellow colleagues from ALPHA; Katharine Belloir and Stephen Olshansky. Seasoned CES-ers Steve Greene and Erik Williams will be there too, getting in this year’s action.

This past weekend, I was using my cable DVR to fast forward through a series of commercials that ran during Saturday Night Live. Watching the brand spots whiz by got me thinking about what advertisers are currently doing to challenge a technology with such rapid adoption.

Article from today's Triangle Business Journal regarding my visit to China with the North Carolina Trade Mission.

As we approach the convergence of movie, cable and network content with mobile smart phone platforms, one wonders if the sluggish economy is delaying the speed which we adopt mobile video content services—or if the technology is clearly not ready yet to fully support these mobile services and tip the user-experience-scale.

Well, I will admit that I am one of those Mad Men fans that Nicky is referencing in her post below. Entertainment value aside, as marketers, I think we need to be reminded of the core advertising principles that are so evident in this program. 

The past year has brought significant scrutiny to the social media landscape. Security (or lack thereof) has been the latest “trending topic” for mainstream media, as major players like Facebook begin to introduce new and innovative applications to help third parties begin to target their communications more effectively.