Well, it has been a long time since I last posted. No, I don’t have “Podcast fatigue” or “Blog fatigue”. I have just been spending a very long time rethinking our business model and this Blog & Podcast needs to mirror that. Right now, we are in THINK mode. Not publish mode.

We are a generalist agency (right now we are working on long-form DRTV, animated TV, mail and email direct marketing programs, radio ads, print ads, catalogs, to name a few….. many marketing tools for a range of clients). Is this what the market wants outside of the Pacific Coast where we have our geographic footprint and client base? Even though we are smarter and more creative than 90% of other agencies (hey, this is my Blog!), we wonder if this is the right model for 2007 and beyond. So, we are talking with a range of very smart people to get their views on the marketing landscape.

This entry is a shout-out to the many very smart people who have been helpful in the past few weeks in lending their knowledge, advice….. and, most importantly in acting like decent human beings!

Acting human is very important to me. If you listened to my Podcast rant #034, “Business ethics and good manners” you heard that I am blown away by how often people are rude in this business - as if it is OK to be rude anytime. As counter to rudeness, I find that the smartest aren’t rude and go out of their way to talk and help. I think that it is an insecurity issue for some. So, here is a quick list of thank you’s for your time and smarts.

Yes, very public. But, hey, why not!

Michael Donahue – American Association of Advertising Agencies

Al Moffatt - Worldwide Partners

Dina Howell – P&G

Randy Smith – P&G

David Jackson – Boston Guru

Michael Keeshan – MagikBox, Inc.

John Prunier – Petsky Prunier

Allen Berger – Cirrus Healthcare

George Carey – Just Kid, Inc.

Beau Fraser – The Gate Worldwide

Robert Hoffer - Newforth Partners

Joel Sackett - A pro photographer friend who is getting me off my ass to go shoot some serious photography in Beijing and Shanghai this spring!