The Millennial Commitment Blues
Employers, biz owners—and marketers—are still trying to get a grasp on just what Gen Y wants

Might Millennials be the most perplexing—and intriguing—demographic group ever? Made up of 18- to 34-year-olds, they’re bound by few commonalities; one being a fondness for social media and another, an overarching fear of commitment. This commitment issue is big news these days, as scorned bosses, lovers and advertisers everywhere ponder what went wrong. Some of the most common things Gen [...]

Bickering Over Bikes
As the number of urban bicyclists grows, something else is increasing in tandem: controversy

Biking: a boon to the environment or urban nuisance on wheels? It depends on whom you ask. Turns out that the growing number of bicyclists in cities around the world are subject to a bit of a backlash—call it a “backpedal.” And nowhere are the complaints more loudly heard than in New York City (natch). In the Big Apple, bikers have [...]

A Tale of Blue Cities
Is ranking cities a fool’s errand?

St. Petersburg, Fla., is the saddest U.S. city; Austin the funniest; and Nashville the manliest. The loneliest city on the entire planet? Dublin. And the very best city to live in all the world is … (drumroll, please) … Vancouver. Have qualms with any of these or questions about how they were chosen? So do lots of people, including one journalist who gripes that the cities frequently dubbed the [...]

The Law of Facebook Averages
The typical social media user is older and more connected than ever before

It’s so 2008 to complain that Mom and Dad have joined Facebook. The platform long ago ceased playing host to mostly college kids and their keg party pictures. These days, the average age of an American Facebook user has risen, to 38 in 2010, up from 33 in 2008. (Also of note: This average user has amassed 229 friends but [...]

Mad (Wo)men
Gender-specific advertising triggers laughs, buzz … and controversy

Have you noticed a gender stereotype emerging in some of today’s humorous ads? (Brands like Dodge, Dockers, Dove and Miller Lite come to mind.) Each ad has in common a hapless male weathering his wife’s requests while longing to reclaim his manhood. In spite of some backlash, this new generation of ads is an outright victory when held up against the 1950s ads that kept women all smiles in the [...]

Social Media Performance Anxiety
As the rules for social media engagement evolve, one thing remains the same: Brand value hinges on it …

Now that the social media footprint of corporate brands has been directly linked to a company’s growth and value, more emphasis is being put on the how-tos of branding via social media. For one, there’s the matter of “likes” and comments and how to get them. Comments, especially, are valuable to brands, as they lead to four times [...]

Staying on Task
In a world that’s all about how many balls one can juggle at once, experts are finding fault with multitasking

These days life’s great balancing act concerns not just the demands of work and personal relationships but of media outlets, as the majority of us are guilty of simultaneously checking email or Facebook while watching the tube. And while advertisers are over the moon about what “multiscreening” could mean for their clients—considering that 38 percent of connected device [...]

Emoticon Marketing
As emoticons pick up steam, more marketers—and even scholars—turn to them for sentiment analysis

If you believe the New York Times, there’s been an explosion of emoticon usage in the email exchanges of the dourest of colleagues; if you believe Jezebel,

The Science of Self-Control
Turns out willpower is like a muscle in our brains

If the recent econo-geddon has made us rethink our values and notions of success, how then can we recalibrate our scales when defining true happiness and prosperity? A new book posits that along with intelligence, self-control is a key ingredient to a successful and satisfying life. After all, willpower is brain power—a mechanism fueled by glucose that separates the strong from the weak. As for the glucose, [...]

I am on page 60-something of the latest and greatest RFP (and no, I can’t tell you from where—it’s confidential, even in this age of radical transparency), and you might surmise that it’s because I ramble and can’t get to the point. While I admit that editing myself is a challenge, my bigger beef is with the lack of convergence between the world of new business and the age of social media. (In case you were thinking it, I realize [...]