You Sleep When You Die

Yes, there are some heavy pressures on some consumers right now.
Yes, there is a lot of uncertainty in our economy as a whole, and in the retail sector particularly.
Yes, there are far fewer discretionary dollars for consumers to spend than there were a few years ago.
But I don’t believe that any of this means that consumers are now destined to be permanently wary of anything but store brands and coupon-driven purchases.

My point here is not necessarily that you ought to order a Papa John’s pizza tonight (even though that’s a great idea.) My point is that some companies are thriving, even in the midst of a double-dip recession. And some companies definitely aren’t. Papa John’s is one of those companies that is.

I’m clearly not alone in my fascination with the iPad. According to a recent article in Fast Company, Apple just sold its three-millionth iPad, just 80 days after it first went on sale in the U.S. Experts are calling the iPad revolutionary, claiming it will forever change the way we use computers and consume media…

Thanks to @casegilbreath for providing one of this week’s top questions. Remember, get your questions about advertising, business, the economy and more answered every Wednesday by posting comments to blog posts or on Twitter @JZspeaks via #askjz.

Jordan – what are your thoughts on performance marketing, affiliate marketing, CPA advertising?

I’m tired of these big, old, staunch ad agencies that focus on the output of creative work instead of the outcome of the creative work. Creativity is NOT the Holy Grail. A holistic strategy that’s relevant and important to the consumer IS the Holy Grail. Only after you have your strategy firmly entrenched should you add in creativity to activate that strategy in a creative way for a winning formula every time.