The industry as a whole doesn’t seem a whole lot healthier anecdotally.

Agencies are still seem slow to hire four plus years after the mass layoffs. I’m still hearing stories of people giving up on the advertising as a career path. Permalance is now the new steady job.

There still seems to be a low-level confusion about digital and where it’s going. Mostly this is coming from clients but it’s also reflected in the fact that agencies are still trying to put a QR code on everything, integrate 4Square, Pinterest and build an app for each campaign. I’m not knocking the effort, just pointing out that we’re still in the kitchen sink days with online strategy.

2012 was finally the year of online video. The fact that you know what Kony and Gangnam Style refer to proves it.

On the positive side, people are not automatically proclaiming that Facebook is a strategy as they were a few years ago.

I’m also having much healthier discussions on online video strategy. Most people get it that it’s not about a “viral video” featuring a random cat or dancing baby anymore. Although, AdAge is still publishing the confusingly named “Viral Video chart.” Which for those of you who don’t know includes videos promoted by giant marketers and their very well funded agencies: not really viral at all.

On the technology front. New apps and social technologies came to the forefront including Pinterest. As the social space continues to mature,  instead of it being about jumping on the latest trend, smart marketers focused on a mix of what’s working rather than chasing the latest trend

I expect 2013 to be very similar to 2012. There’s still a lot of uncertainty in the business community but on the positive side, marketers know that they just can’t wait it out anymore — they’ve got to do something.

On the human side, personal connections and partnerships have continued to rise in importance. They’ve always been important but as human capital becomes more transient and skill become more specialized it’s becoming much harder to be a faceless worker in a cubicle — even though it may still feel that way. 2013 should be the year of connecting with people over coffee rather than Facebook. So if we haven’t connected in awhile offline in awhile, I’d love to grab one.

But I am in the creative business and am currently on my third start up of my own and have also worked at two other start up creative shops. So I think I have a little perspective on failure and success.

The first two I walked away from to take fulltime positions for more money than I could make myself — pretty lame, I know. But I’ve got kids to feed. We had clients and were producing nice work but it just wasn’t enough.

Now I’m a little older, have a little more perspective and am now in the video production business. So here are some things I learned the hard way over the years.

1) Client don’t have taste. Taste is what they pay you for but not why they hire you. They hire you because they trust you. Think of hiring a lawyer, you never think, “wow, she writes beautiful law”, you hire her because she’s effective and you trust her.

2) Being sold creative is kinda like being sold snake oil. Refer to item 1. They don’t have taste, so when you’re selling them something they likely don’t get.

3) The exception is taken as the rule. There are clients that do get creative and buy it all the time. Nike, for example. Also, your client will sometimes really get an idea and pat you on the back and tell you how much they love it. Unfortunately, this also is the exception. Most of the time, they’re judging the agency success with a spread sheet and there is no column for creativity.

4) The world needs another creative driven shop. There’s always a need for a shop that gets results. For clients, creative is merely a byproduct of their larger job of marketing their product. Sure the world would feel better to us, with more agencies doing great work, but the people holding the purse strings really don’t care.

5) Creative pitches warp our thinking about what clients really want. Working as a creative or a creative director even, you tend to get this warped perspective from participating in creative pitches that the the work is the most important thing. Sorry it’s not. I’ve walked out of many, many pitches hearing from the horses mouth that they “loved the work” it “was the best they’d seen” only to find out weeks later they’d picked another agency even though they “loved the work.” And also have been picked as the agency only to completely redo the work to something much worse than what “won the pitch.”

6) Clients spend maybe 1% of their day thinking about creative. Most of their day is spent dealing with personell, projects that have nothing to do with you, meetings, conference calls, their boss, their kids issues, the dentist, P&L reports, presentations to their sales people and lunch. Creative ranks well below all of it.

7) Creative skills have little to do with the day to day of running a business. A friend who owns a very successful agency who was once a creative director at several shops that would make you envious, told be that he felt like day one starting his company was day one of a new career. He’s right, your judgement about the work is still very relevant but that’s about it. More important are relationship sales skills and budgeting.

8) Creatives are trained to value the wrong things for starting a business. In order to get hired for their next job, a creative is judged by how many awards they’ve garnered and where they used to work. I’m sorry, but GS&P or W&K or even Droga5 on your CV will mean about as much to a CMO as your duffle full of Lions. Sure there are exceptions, refer to number 3.

9) Creatives are perceived as immature. We’re all big babies in need of a sitter to get anything done. It doesn’t help that every time a agency president gives an agency tour, they stop by the rumpus room to watch the creatives play foosball in their ironic t-shirts and skateboard sneakers. Would you trust this gang with your 10 million dollar marketing budget? Yes, this even applies to you, EVP CCO types. You just happen to be the head clown.

10) Clients don’t trust agency people. And creatives are the epitome of agency people. We dress whacky, have hip haircuts and designer jeans. But the guy head of account management, he went to business school and speaks spreadsheet and business acronyms with the best of them. Who would you trust?

Truth is, that very few blogs are written with the same quality as popular fiction or approach the quality of a random Seth Godin blog entry. Very few videos on YouTube are watched on the average family room television over driving to RedBox for a DVD. Most Facebook post will never be read more than once and cherished like an old Batman comic book. Most UGC just isn’t good enough to be appreciated by more than immediate friends and family.

So what does this mean for marketers? Should you abandon social media marketing? No, but you should understand that scalability is a real issue. And if you want your story told well you’ll need to hire professionals. That may mean hiring an agency with a track record of success or a competent production company to bring your ideas to life and up to broadcast standards.

Why is professionalism so important today with everyone doing UGC? Because your audience still seeks quality content. That’s why so many TV shows fail every year and so many movies tank at the box office. And if your content is fighting against four billion hours or YouTube videos it better be damn good or it’s not ever going to be noticed.

Too bad clients don’t get it. The pressure is on to deliver more, for less and faster. I call this bending the triangle. Agencies have long been learning how to do more in house with fewer resources. Higher-end production and creative finish has suffered. There’s no longer six weeks to produce a photo shoot. The client has one third of the budget they had 10 years ago and they need it tomorrow, dammit. So they have a junior art director assigned to do an image search on Getty, or worse, iStockphoto. While somewhere, a commercial photographer cries and his kids starve.

Fortunately or not this paradigm won’t work in the commercials or web video advertising world. But clients still need it now and they’re awful reluctant to pay for sabaticals at the Shutters. This means the agency is too often stuck with a videographer or a local corporate video shooter and the in-house final cut guy trying to make shit shine. What’s a creative to do?

This is the gap in the market that I founded Fluid Films for. A creative led production company using state-of-the-art technology but with a guerrilla approach. We deliever high-dollar production values that I expected when creating award winning television spots as an ad agency creative.

How do we do it? How do we bend the triangle? It’s not magic, it’s mostly experience — knowing what can be done cheaply and what can be done quickly. You won’t find a lot of perks and extras on our set unless it’s really in the budget. But you will find Red cameras, Mole Richardson lighting and people who know how to work fast without sacrificing quality to truly get the most out your clients money.

Have a ridiculous budget, timeline and expectations? Let’s talk about it.

Rapportive: Rapportive works with your email and reports information on the person who sent you an email message. Don’t have a clue who the person is who just hit you with a curt missive? Well, their Linkedin information just popped up. So did their Twitter stream and their Facebook info. Now you know whether to click delete or politely respond.

Firebug: Sometimes a little more useful than the developer pane. It lets you mouse over sections of a page look at the code. As the name suggests, it’s great for debugging or just looking at how someone else accomplished a task.

Web Developer: Lots of cool features that help you work with webpages. Including turning off styles, measuring and inspectors.

Google Toolbar: Super-useful tool for everything from referencing page rank to a quick translation.

SEO: Wondering what Google page rank a page has? Wondering how many incoming links it has? Also like to know the Compete rank? This tool saves a ton of time for doing basic SEO research.

I haven’t linked these tools because the easiest way to install them is from within your browser. In Chrome, just click the wrench, in the drop down there is tools/extensions to find what you want. With Firefox, use the Tools drop down menu and select add-ons.

Without further ado, the 10 most arcane or baffeling things I never thought I’d learn over a decade ago when I started this journey as an ad creative.

10. What the hell a “blowdown stack” is.
9. The rules and stars of “international test cricket”.
8. How to code a reversed ordered list in HTML.
7. What CR39 is.
6. What a charette is and that you’re probably being manipulated.
5. In some circles, “floorplan” is a verb.
4. Anything what so ever about the waste water industry.
3. How that package that cooks french fries in a microwave works.
2. That a used car guy can tell more about a car by looking at the backseat than he can by looking at the odometer.
1. More than I ever wanted to know about industrial computing.

The recent craze for earned media I believe is misleading. Sure, a great deal of work can yield some decent results. But more likely than not, part of the mix will require paying for media to drive traffic and or PR representation to see significant results that will affect your bottom line. Unfortunately, many folks out there aren’t pitching it this way.

Kony 2012 received 120 million views on the substance of it’s content, right? Not only is this the exception that proves the rule, its success required influential celebrities to drive the initial hype.

Unfortunately, many Social Media gurus will fail mention converting fans, followers, viewers, and comments into buyers isn’t accomplished by some bit of Karma related to your hard work posting Facebook updates.

The real reason Apple and Nike have millions of followers and likes is largely because of great products and that they have been advertising like crazy for decades. They also both have experienced professionals managing and integrating their social and advertising presences.

Here are the top 10 clues your earned media guru is selling Kool Aid.

1) He repeatedly uses phrase “eco-system” to describe the capitalistic Websites owned by billionaires with yachts while he’s charging you $500 an hour.

2) Thinks that whipping out an iPad, while using a laptop and “checking in” on his iPhone all at the same time puts him in an elite group of super consultants.

3) Uses cryptic PowerPoint slides and sticks to talking points when presenting, even to a small groups.

4) Turns nouns into verbs and constantly uses silly buzzwords. Like “ideating” and “mocial.”

5) Thinks the average blogger’s opinion is more worthy than a CEOs.

6) Has a YouTube channel for rambling to his now dated Flip camera.

7) Finds overly deep meaning in random Google Analytics data points.

8) Understands “online transparency” but not click streams and that, for the time being, TV is still king.

9) Thinks user experience is 2 years of playing Farmville on Facebook.

10) Advises you to put him on a retainer instead of continuing actual ROI generating expenditures.

Note: I’m not saying that technology and the internet are not on the above list. If you’re a well rounded writer with a deep understanding of media, you have that covered instinctively.

With all that in mind, here are my top ten books that could help you to become a better advertising copywriter.

Strunk and White’s Elements of Style: Every writer should read this cover to cover every couple years. It’s that good. And it’s the only style book I’m adding to my list but other books worth reading include On Writing Well and all of William Safire’s books on writing including The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time. It should go without saying that we should all have a copy of The AP Stylebook on our shelf and even a copy of The Chicago Manual of Style. And if you’re really gung ho, grab a copy of The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. Nothing like pulling one of these off your shelf and settling an argument over why your copy should stay the way you wrote it.

The Medium is The Message: This obtuse little book by Marshall McLuhan, often misquoted as “the media is the message”, a good introduction to the thinking of someone who understood today’s complex interconnected world before it ever happened. Cool Design By Quentin Fiore as a bonus.

The Book of Gossage: If you don’t read anything else on this list, do yourself a huge favor and, not only read this, but understand it deeply. You’ll get an insight into, not only Howard Gossage, but his intellectual follower, Jeff Goodby. You’ll learn about an advertising man who was much more than an ad man or Mad Man.

Hey Whipple, Squeeze This: If you’re a student or a junior, this is a great book to read. Kinda like having one of the most awarded copywriters ever as your personal mentor. Luke also has a blog by the same name. Good advice in both places for the journeyman or student.

Anything by Hemingway: Ernest Hemingway, probably more than anyone else, has influenced the way the best copywriters, even if they don’t know it. He popularized an economical and understated style of writing that emphasized the story and ideas over flowery text. That’s exactly what a great copywriter should do.

Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth: You may think I’m way off course with this one. But as copywriters, we’re no longer just ad writers we’re “brand storytellers.” Understanding myth is at the core of storytelling. And if it helps, know that just about every Hollywood screenwriter has read this book.

At least one really good dictionary and a thesaurus that isn’t part of your word processing program: Yeah, they’re available online and even in Microsoft Word. But there’s nothing like thumbing trough the printed pages for inspiration.

Where the Suckers Moon: This isn’t really a great book on writing per se, but it is a good look at how the industry and great creative departments  work from a 360 degree perspective. And perspective is everything. Inventing Desire is also a good one for the same reason. More recent and self-serving is Hoopla.

Aristotle’s Poetics: Not the most riveting read on the list but covers the basics of storytelling. And that’s what we do, right. If you don’t want to read and old greek guy, may I suggest a screenwriting book from Robert McKee or Syd Field for the nitty gritty on story and structure in a more palatable form.

The Cluetrain Manifesto: This is where the new mantra started — conversations and the end of advertising. A more practical book is Groundswell written by consultants at Forrester. I’m not recommending these books as great advice for advertising writing, but remember that bit I said earlier about understanding how media works. Read them, understand them, and then form your own opinions.

Honorable Mention:

Steve Jobs Bio: Good story where great design and conceptual thinking prevails. And a few nuggets on creative leadership buried in there too.

We should all realize that our digital community is a little more like the small town life filled with nosy neighbors, than an anonymous big city. Privacy is something we should all take seriously and only share what we’re entirely comfortable with everyone in Mayberry knowing — even Aunt Bea.

Here are a couple tools that can help you understand what is public about you or anyone else on the Facebook.

YourOpenBook.org

zesty.ca/facebook/

Here’s a tool that may actually help you stay a little more private.

ReclaimPrivacy.org

The truth is that Facebook is constantly changing how they address privacy. And because advertisers are Facebook’s customers and not you, Facebook is unlikely to hold your privacy more dear than ad revenue.

To paraphrase what a South Carolina State trooper once said to a smart-asssed New Yorker friend “when on Facebook, you act like you Moma is looking over your shoulder all the time.”

And one more thing; it doesn’t hurt to Google yourself every now and then too. You never know what you might find.

The advances in technology have made this problem worse. We used to shoot most things with film which required a separate audio system and professionals. Now with everything going digital and budgets under attack, some people are questioning why we need to spend all this money on sound when the camera records it already.

With this background, I present the 10 most troublesome myths about production sound:

You don’t need a dedicated sound department: Yes I said department. Even on a small shoot, there needs to be someone responsible only for getting great sound. If they’re worried about the camera and lights, odds are they will miss something.

Picture is more important than sound: Ever see a good movie with bad sound? Ever see a low budget indie movie with not so great camera work but was moving thanks to a killer soundtrack and dialog? Or how about a television commercial that was all type and sound but no moving pictures?

Cameras are a great way to capture sound: Very few cameras actually capture sound at the same quality a professional location recorder can. And none of them are manned by a dedicated sound professional that will be able monitor and control the input for best results.

Lavaliers (or any other type) are the best microphone: There are lots and lots of different types of microphones created for different purposes and environments. They all have their pluses and minuses. Lavs for example are great at isolating voices and are almost always better for wide shots. But they’re also susceptible to interference, rustling, and don’t do a good job with environmental sound.

It’s better to scrimp on sound than anything else:  Good audio is going to cost you. But not nearly as much as your camera department or talent. May as well save money on something like lunch, maybe hotels or how about that masseuse the producer wanted.

You can easily fix spoiled audio in post:  If you have enough money you can do just about anything in post. Just ask George Lucas. Big budget movies use a lot of ADR. But reconstructing audio in post is no easy task and it requires reassembling your cast, potentially weeks later, for a costly audio session at another location while trying to match the same energy captured on screen. Good luck and please don’t send me the bill.

What a location looks like is more important than how it sounds: This is only true if you are not shooting sync sound. If you are shooting sync sound, the way a place sounds if far more important than what it looks like. Sorry art directors.

A PA can do it: A PA probably shouldn’t even be holding the boom. If a PA can actually do it well while following the dialog, she probably deserves a promotion.

Shotgun microphones are for capturing sound from across rooms or are supposed to be attached to camera: They’re designed to be on a boom or stand, and usually just above the talent. Period. No matter how sensitive, a poorly placed microphone can sound perfectly awful.

You can easily enhance an actors voice or a thin recording in post: Yes there are post production tricks to make someone sound different. But if the recording is weak it will only get weaker the more affects are applied to it. Think of it like making a photo copy and then making a photo copy of the photo copy. The more times you repeat the process the fuzzier the image becomes.