I’ve diligently covered such topics as the negative consequences of impulsive social media posts, pondered religion’s place on Facebook and Twitter and stressed the importance of continuity in branding; I even drew a comparison between Ernest Hemingway’s rules for writing concisely and advertising copy. But I have yet to write about two topics that are near and dear to my heart: grammar and punctuation!

It’s time to refresh you on the basics you learned in fifth grade—a few grammatical musts and never-evers that you may kind-of remember but have been hesitant to use due to uncertainty.

For starters, there is the good old lay versus lie issue. Lay requires a direct object and lie does not (translation: You lie down on the bed (no direct object) but you lay the keys on the table (the keys are the direct object).
I am so glad to have gotten that off my chest. Moving forward.

What emotions are conveyed when consumers hear your company’s name? Proper branding is critical to the success of any business.

Branding is more than just a logo (although the logo is high in the hierarchy of consumer impressions)—it’s an intangible asset.

Do you stand for something? What is it?
Are you marketing just a product or service, or do you stand for something consumers can relate to? People respond positively to companies that have passion and negatively to those who are perceived as trying to make a quick buck off them. Wouldn’t it be awful if you actually wanted to improve peoples’ lives by your product or service, but because of poor branding, you were being treating as just another source of unwarranted noise in the realm of advertising, marketing and public relations?

If Sigmund Freud was alive today, he might have seen his Pleasure Principle—a psychoanalytic concept in which individuals seek instant gratification (seeking pleasure and avoiding suffering)—come full circle. The concept is based on infancy and early childhood wants and needs. However, the need for instant responses, instant updates, instant imagery, instant information and instant results often creates negative responses when not addressed in a timely manner (i.e., now!). Anxiousness, irritation, possibly fear all come to mind when technological gratifications have not been met. The modern world, which now allows people around the globe connect instantly, has subtly reverted even the most technologically savvy back to a childlike emotional state.

You have followers on your social media outlets because for one reason or another, your audience cares. Don’t lose credibility by drenching your followers with unimportant, untailored posts. Your fate could send you into the Spam Zone, a very crowded and nearly inescapable place to be.

It’s understandable that you want to continually increase your number of fans. However, a common misconception is to take out the megaphone and turn up the volume all the way. Instead, focus on the interests of your followers and your relationship with them. Don’t post just to post. Tailoring your messages (and your list) helps build a reputation that’s worth owning.

If Jesus had a Facebook account, imagine the amount of people he could have reached. What if he could tweet daily lessons on love and kindness? The power of social media and its ability to connect millions upon millions of people around the world is awe inspiring, and the effect of powerful messaging can be extraordinary, if done properly. So where is religion’s place in technology, and how can it be used to impact the most amount of people?

While a website provides pertinent information, it fails to connect people.

What would Don Draper do with Google and an iMac? The savvy ad executive of ”Mad Men,” accustomed to cocktail-induced, cigarette-filled and feet-kicked-on-the- desk-style of creative meetings, might feel a tad nostalgic for his Lucky Strike days in 2011. What ever happened to the days of creative exchanges in person? Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM): but do they?

As a result of the increased use of technology, collaboration seems to be decreasing among colleagues and business partners. The days of collective brainstorming—in person—have been replaced by the sound of dinging Smartphones and the sight of a zillion unread e-mails.

The rules of social media apply to all: no person, no matter how famous or talented, no company, regardless of its big brands and big income, is exempt. No exceptions.  In fact, a misuse of social mediums, such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, can cause more harm than having no online presence at all.

Such holds true for John Mayer, one of the decade’s most popular songwriters and musicians, who used Twitter as platform for his most candid thoughts and opinions. As a result, he damaged his credibility as an artist while simultaneously offending many people. Sure, he enthusiastically exercised his right to The First Amendment—but he wants to sell records. Hence, all messaging on behalf of yourself, your brand or your company should be carefully executed. While performing in Nashville, Tenn., Mayer kept the apologies coming and finished his set with a defeating farewell: “I quit the media game. I'm out. I'm done. I just want to play my guitar."

For the first time in the history of marketing, a company that sells a legal item is being forced to package and sell it’s own product in the most negative way possible: starting in September 2012, cigarette packs will be required to contain a rotating series of grisly images depicting the health hazards and possible results of smoking. The FDA is ordering the new packaging as a way to call fresh attention to a message that has gone stale: that smoking is exceedingly bad for your health.

The full color images must take up 50% of the package, on both the front and back, and 20% of all advertising. Up until now, the anti-smoking message has come in the form of text only, the familiar Surgeon General’s Warning. But knowing how much more effective graphics can be than words, the new images’ shock value will be impossible to ignore. It’s hard to imagine how an effective media campaign can be put together when the product itself has become a liability. How will a print campaign work without showing the package? How can any other image you show overcome the overpowering negativity of the graphic warning? This is probably the greatest challenge that an advertising/marketing firm has had to deal with.

In response to this new law, the tobacco companies are suing the federal government, questioning the legality of the order, and protesting the amount of money this will cost them to implement. According to a story by CBS News: “The companies also said the new labels will cost them millions of dollars for new equipment so they can frequently change from warning to warning and designers to make sure the labels meet federal requirements while maintaining some distinction among brands.”

In April of 2010, Steve Jobs released a statement speaking out on why he wouldn’t allow Flash on “i” devices. There were several points he felt very strongly about:

1.    The web should be “open” and Flash isn’t. That means that there’s a company (Adobe) that controls what and when it updates. What if he can’t get them to do something when he wants it done?

2.    He talks about how Adobe says that 75% of all video on the web is in Flash, and then lists a string of sites that have posted “i” friendly videos including Netflix, Facebook, major TV networks and The Wall Street Journal. So, I suppose we don’t need to see absolutely every video there is, but what about the Flash elements that many web developers use for website intros, navigation, forms, image animations and the like? They still can’t be seen, and there’s a lot of it out there.

3.    Sometimes Flash can cause Macs to crash. The way I see it, if Apple expects everyone to get on board and make their software work for their machines, shouldn’t Apple do the same for them, especially with software that’s so widely used and accepted?

4.    Flash takes time to load, thereby consuming battery power. A valid point, but a well-done Flash site is worth the wait in my opinion.

5.    Touch. Flash used to be built with the mouse in mind. So we program it for clicking instead of rollovers. Solved.

6.    He said that Flash is a cross-platform tool, and the “i” devices aren’t its main goal. That’s true, but wouldn’t you want your software to be cross-platform? A lot of people run both Mac and PC and I’m sure would really appreciate if everything were available and functional on both. Not to mention the sales that could be made if ALL apps were available for “i” devices.

One of the greatest industrialist of all time once said, "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." Henry Ford is a person that you would not define as selfish. In every aspect of his business life, progression was a scale of teamwork. Over 100 years later, there is still no secret to the fact that teamwork is key to any success. Teamwork sprouts broad social interest and understanding of current events, while also promoting creative individuality. I like the word progression, which dating back to the 1920’s car boom, brought a whole other realm to advertising. Ford’s best attribute, other than creating the foundation for mass production, was his ability to relate to a variety of people. More specifically, he was able to develop an idea that was relevant to the majority of society at that time. He made his product available to everyone because it was cheap to buy, and once people saw other people driving cars, it was like a domino effect. The advertising took care of itself.

Breaking down Henry Ford’s quote in the beginning of this blog, it is apparent that he is defining the structure of great advertisement. The process starts with an idea, a concept. Many people throw ideas into the ring in hopes of a ringer. Most of the time, this takes a while to develop because it is the most important step. In the sense of budget and customer interpretation, the conceptual design steps are the most important to get right.