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change
As much as rumors have predicted a big alteration in media, advertising, branding, public relations, marketing and communication professions, now is the time when the change is touching ground.
Change is the theme of the hour, the year, the decade...the Presidential election.
The fact that change is necessary is not much to think about, really. The thing to ponder is what does the process of change look like and how will we know if the change that is being heralded in is change for the better, and by what criteria do we measure the refinements that change is manifesting?
Are we going to be a compassionate and creative humanity with all the change that is taking place? Are we going to have the capacity to digest the massive shift in so many paradigms that are in flux? Do we have a transition plan for the people who are not in a position to adapt to all the change?
Change, change, change, change, change. That’s all we hear about. At some point, it will no longer be startlingly surprising when more newspapers close doors or major networks merge or something rational happens to radio stations.
Agencies that were invented to create ads that then made most of their money taking a percentage as a placement fee have years ago altered fee structures but have not altogether reinvented.
As an industry, we are the creators of messaging and the outlet for the message in one powerful package.
It seems we could reasonably take on a task to allay fears that connect change to the end of the world. When people are hit with a double punch of unwelcome change in life, it could prove to be too much.
A collective state of disorientation will not be the environment where the change that gets set into place is one that serves more of humanity rather than less.
We are poised creatively and through distribution to direct messaging in a way that assists various demographics in understanding and feeling powerful within this vortex of change.
Give this some thought and let me know what you think by posting comments on this publisher’s notes, “change” at manyone.net/adnews.
 

It was only a matter of time before someone produced something new on the Web as simple and obvious as say roller blades and mountain bikes.

In this case a free, fully hosted professional standard publishing and content management system that average chronic technophobes can build...together. The ManyOne Universal Portal Platform (www.Trunity.net) is taking the Luddite community by storm.

You can go there now and create your first website/portal. Its too easy.

Among the many problems this platform solves is one of particular importance in all cases; it takes out the middleman. No more having to call ‘the Web guy’ to fix a misspelling.

Perfectly intelligent, educated professionals can finally stop declaring themselves chronically disabled when faced with the idea of venturing beyond the frontiers of e-mail into the dark and mysterious world of posting content on the Internet.

Such whimperings of helplessness bring pure joy to the hearts of techies -- the loyal keepers of this 'secret’. But I think the time has come to expose it. I herein betray my fellowship. The ‘big secret’ is...Drum roll please….?

Using a computer is really quite easy and you are not going to die before learn how. So you can either whine for another year or...

Here's another secret. Your 11-year-old is not really a computer genius. If you spent one tenth of the time on one as he does, you would be running circles around him (or her) in no time.

I use the word ‘computer’ here in the vernacular because to the Luddites, "computer" and "I don't do" strung together in a sentence, still buys time.

Calling everything that happens through the box a "computer" is like calling everything that moves in the water a fish. The truth is, a continental plate is not a fish and the Internet is not a computer.

The Internet is a continental plate that is drifting imperceptibly to those in denial.

One day they will wake up and discover an African Prince is President of The United States and wonder how we drifted so far without feeling a thing.


By Cliff Lyon
e-mail author

At first the “Go Green” initiative almost seemed like a trend. As though you had a choice. Spike heels one day and wedges the next.

As consensus grows towards a correlation between human behavior and the earth’s resources and climate, “going green” is labeled socially responsible. It is nearly politically incorrect to say you don’t believe in climate change (the tempered phrase for global warming). In fact, it’s more politically correct to say you don’t believe in God.

But to deny climate change is akin to littering. How many years of public service campaigns did it take for litterers to be shunned by the general populous. What would our roadsides and cities and neighborhoods look like if we continued to litter liberally?

We are now littering our atmosphere. And as opposed to being able to scoop up the cigarette butts, diapers and empty soda cans from the edges of the freeway system, carbon dioxide remains in the earth’s atmosphere for some 200 years.

We are encouraged to consider carefully every metric pound of carbon dioxide we emit into the cumulative that is approaching the tipping point with unmeasureable speed.

There are six primary greenhouse gases (GHG), and carbon dioxide has taken center stage as the gas that can be measured and reduced for the best chance of mitigating climate change.

So, what role does advertising play in this imperative that will very soon be mandated? The most important role of all. As the industry of reduction and offsets emerges, enterprise operations that officiate the measuring of emissions and reductions as well as entities that register and certify offsets are popping up over night. The broker system that steps up to mediate the exchange system is well in place.

Millions of dollars are changing hands. And what either follows or leads the way for any given utility, corporation or manufacturer is the articulation of the respective sustainable initiative—voluntary, mandated or both.

It goes beyond just doing the right thing. There are interesting forces moving things along—competitive advantage, talent acquisition and actual savings of capital operating expense.
Now exists one of the most powerful opportunities for branding, advertising and marketing partners to step into place and craft powerful, individual sustainability initiatives that align with a brand. This work is real and it belongs on the books of our extraordinary and creative industry.