Last night I had the opportunity to speak on a panel with Meghan Wilker and Nancy Lyons from Geek Girls Guide and Nathan Almquist from Webknowledgy at Brookfield Properties’ Boutique Retail Roundtable. It was refreshing to hear consistent responses from our panel—the industry seems to be coalescing around key elements.

A friend who doesn’t work in advertising came to visit the agency today. She asked me to explain what advertising was all about in 2009. I said advertising used to be created from words and images. But then we added technology.

Seth Godin suggests, “As long as your site is about something else and the ads are a distraction, you’ll see CPM rates drop.” I couldn’t agree more. The challenge, I think, is in rejecting publishing-as-usual and actively seeking greater collaboration to provide advertising ideas, placements and functionality that treat viewers as royalty.

Tomorrow I’ll be speaking along with Greg Swan from Weber Shandwick on “The Brand of You in the Digital Age” for an event hosted by the Minnesota chapter of the American Marketing Association and co-sponsored by MIMA.

One of the benefits of new office space is more space. More tables. More chairs. More rooms with doors so you don’t totally distract the rest of the team. More opportunity for collaboration. So we’ve been hosting and attending a lot of collective conversation since moving in. And it’s been inspiring.

This is one of those things that excites me about the Twin Cities marketing, advertising and technology communities. We show up. We represent. For everything. On Friday I’m one of two speakers for Social Media Breakfast event #16. I’ll be talking about the impact of social media on the advertising and marketing industry. (There’s a podcast preview within this post.)

When we founded Hello Viking, one of our motivations was a reaction (even a rebellion) against agency structures, systems and process we’d encountered in previous jobs over the past 15+ years. Something in those organizations felt broken, out-of-date, and a shackle on better ideas. Thanks to a tweet from David Armano, I found myself reading, then re-reading and bookmarking an article written by veteran advertising account executive Mike Carlton. His premise: “The bureaucratic organizational model thrived during the 20th Century. But is it the right model for advertising agencies in the 21st Century?

We are now located at 1005 W. Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55405. Second floor. Just off the corner of Hennepin Ave. Directly above Sebastian Joe’s ice cream cafe—a venue many consider to be the best ice cream in the Twin Cities.

Maybe television can teach us something about roles in the future of advertising and social media. I propose borrowing the “Show Runner” title for a new role that facilitates a blend of tasks within the modern advertising agency. It’s about being “hyphenate,” or “T-shaped.” Multidisciplinary, and always useful. It’s a role we’re using now to literally keep a brand’s show running in the ever-social landscape.

We’re almost two years old now. We’ve got eight full time employees. And, I’d like to think, a fairly impressive [...]

First Ashton hit 1MM followers. Now Oprah’s joined Twitter. Look out world—here comes everybody. I’ve been involved with Twitter for almost two years now. I’d like to think I “get” it, as much for what Twitter can do as what it certainly can’t. What intrigues me is how this rapid adoption (via the lure of celebrity) will change most of us, and continue to change how we do business together.

We’re so fortunate to have offices in the Twin Cities, and be able to draw from inspired presentations like this one from Bob Thacker, SVP Marketing & Advertising, OfficeMax who appeared at tonight’s 3rd installment of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising. We live in bewildering times, acknowledged Bob. But that shouldn’t stop us from seeking ever higher ground, from taking risks and above all—being human. (Video of Bob’s presentation included.)