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If you work in advertising, there’s simply no avoiding the PowerPoint deck. Sometimes it’s needed to present concepts or creative work, other times it’s a major player in a subject matter presentation. We’ve all seen the good, bad, and ugly of presentations. In his book, Mastering the Art and Science of Exceptional Presentation Design, author Tim Pollard starts from scratch and lays out a case for thinking it through …

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The history and arc of the advertising industry isn’t widely known. Even the many advertising students I’ve taught didn’t seem to have much interest in the past. And while the AMC drama “Mad Men” was loosely aligned with some real events in the industry, it was of course heavier on drama than history. So to remedy this, The Smithsonian Channel is debuting a multi-part series called The Real Mad Men of …

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Frankly, I’m sick of talk about “storytelling.” All brands and marketers and ad people think they’re now in the business of storytelling, to the point where the word is meaningless. Even worse are people who use the word “story” as a concept the way snotty, wanna-be aristocrats use the word “sport.” Thankfully, we get none of that in Paul Smith's Sell With A Story: How to Capture Attention, Build Trust and Close …

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In 2016, it’s impossible to find anyone in marketing who doesn’t believe we’re in a period of rapid transformation. The change is coming from all aspects of business and technology, and everyone is scrambling for their share of the new landscape. Geoffrey Colon attempts to make sense of how it’s all occurring in Disruptive Marketing: What Growth Hackers, Data Punks, and Other Hybrid Thinkers Can Teach Us About …

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I have a soft spot for articles and programs where people get interviewed. Magazine profiles and shows like “Inside the Actors Studio” reveal a lot of insight if you’re fan of whoever the subject is. Which is why I really enjoyed reading Generation Creation: Creativity in the Age of Everything by Bill Green, Angela Natividad and Darryl Ohrt. The format of the book is simple, yet perfect: Each section features …

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As an advertising instructor, I rely on all sorts of books and materials to help my class learn where “the bar” is. But most of what I use is written by working professionals in the business, aimed at other working professionals. It’s rare that I ever see an actual advertising textbook. So Alex W. White’s Advertising Design and Typography was an intriguing look at what’s being taught in college-level ad …

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If you’ve worked in advertising and marketing for a good bit of time, then you’ve seen everything become more complicated. Creating marketing plans, the many ways to execute ideas, and the media landscape seem more labyrinthine than ever before. Yet somehow, it’s the simplest ideas, and the simplest executions, that stand out the most. Dan Ward takes a high-level view of these issues in The Simplicity Cycle: A Field …

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