Blog

Google remains the big dog on the porch, so what does the future hold for this tech giant and what does it mean to those of us in the advertising industry? This week the U.S. Department of Justice filed its second antitrust suit against Google and aims to break up its...

As marketing and advertising professionals, we’re alway looking for the next bright shiny object that can attract attention to our clients.  But sometimes, glitz and tricks aren’t always the most effective way to do that.  In our zeal to be current, we sometimes...

First things first.  What the heck is the Metaverse?  Simply explained, think of the Metaverse as a video game, except there is no objective, no winners and no losers.  Sure, you can play games in the Metaverse, but you can also hang out with friends, go shopping,...

It’s the media many of us love to hate. Social media. It’s transformed the way people communicate and relate to one another. Whether you’re a fan or a foe, social media is here to stay. While I must admit that I have aged out of any understanding of Snapchat, I do...

Blogs are a wonderful opportunity for companies to share pertinent, important information in an unbiased way that helps their customers make informed decisions. Such is the case with this post for SEO and Marketing Guru Kristen Thompson of St. Petersburg-based...

Back in 1984, I graduated from the University of Missouriwith a degree in Magazine Journalism and an Associates in Commercial Art. Myfirst job out of college was as editor for On The Green Magazine in SouthFlorida. I pretended that I knew a thing or two about golf to...

The magic word in advertising right now is millennial. Smart businesses from all industries are wooing these young, discretionary and experience-craving audiences, and First National Bank of Pasco (FNBP) was no different. With the anticipated opening of a new branch...

I had the distinct pleasure of not only attending, but presenting at the recent Focus On Entrpreneurs Conference, held in downtown St. Petersburg last week on April 27th and 28th.  I learned a ton of useful information, met a lot of really great people, and came...

Google is becoming addicted to content. Not just any content, but the kind that gets people to react, to think, to take action. Content marketing is nothing new. Advertisers have been doing it for decades. What’s changed is the delivery of that content. What’s...

Bear with me, but I’m going to get a little technical with you. Take a look at your website in a web browser like Firefox, Safari or Chrome. Does it have an http: in front of it or an https:?. That one letter of difference could make a big difference in whether or not...

This is an inspiring story of a community newsletter that has come of age – and of me returning to my academic roots. I earned my Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri in 1984 with a specialty in magazine editorial and graphic design.  While I’ve...

n 2012, there was an hour of YouTube videos uploaded very second. By 2013, 72 hours of online video was uploaded every minute, up by 12 hours each minute over the previous year, according to Fast Company and Forbes. When trying to reach a millennial market, video...

Let’s face it. The idea of launching a new website can be intimidating and overwhelming, yet necessary and often overdue. As technology changes to accommodate new usage patterns and a propensity toward mobile viewing, today’s web design has completely evolved from the...

April 21, 2015.  That is sadly the last date I posted on The Creative Stable blog.  Which is ironic considering I’ve written nearly 40 for clients in that time period, in addition to dozens of projects, websites, scripts, and other content, so you can safely...

The canary in the coal mine isn’t just feeling dizzy, it’s not moving much.  That’s because there have been whispers about the changing Google algorithm that’s going to affect everything we do online, but today it became official. Google announced today that when...

At any given time here in the Stable, we have multiple website design projects going.  They can go very smoothly or a little rough, depending on how well you’ve prepared yourself for a web presence – yes, that’s right, I said “prepared YOURSELF.”  It might...

Just about every day, as I’ve done for over 25 years from my home studio, I try to craft words and images that provoke action.   Buy this, support that, LOVE these.  It’s my livelihood and my passion. And I’ve been so fortunate to do this from my home....

In the early 2000’s, it was predicted that print would die. It was “old school” compared to the nanosecond immediacy available via computer desktop. Digital resources were, and still are, seen as faster, cheaper, easier to track, and the wave of the future.  Or...

By Guest Blogger Tom Perricone, President of Shield Watch IT Services With technology changing daily we as consumers are constantly finding better ways of getting connected, staying connected and finding what we need in a simple and effective way.  Mobility...

Every Monday morning, you see it all over Facebook.  The “Oh Friday how I miss you” memes, and the oversized cups of coffee.  For many, Monday holds the unpleasant reputation of being the worst day of the week.  As the Mamas & Papas sang, “Monday,...

The year was 1989, and I was a copywriter, associate creative director and chief bottle washer with Tampa’s unofficial school of advertising, Denton Advertising.  Bob Denton was a tough teacher.  He demanded our best and had unique ways of coaxing us into...

This is a question I’ve been asked many times over in my career.  Grammar in advertising is a double-edged sword.  You need to know the rules to avoid the $52,000 mistake The History Channel made recently in their full-page New York Times ad for a...

There’s a lot going on over at Google these days.  Time was, SEO mean laying the foundation of on-page and on-site optimization and then building backlinks until your fingers bled.  Then Google came to an important realization:  The best content is...

It’s a question often asked of any advertising professional:  “what’s going to be my return on investment?”  While there are many metrics for measuring ROI, measuring the ROI of creativity itself if perhaps the most important consideration. So why do so many...

Back when I was a budding young reporter at the University of Missouri’s Journalism School, the highest honor you could get was a front page story placed “above the fold.” Even though that was, dare I say, over 30 years ago, the term stuck in design circles and even...

Last year for my 50th birthday, I was presented with a gift I adore – a signed black and white print called Tiny Dancer from Tampa-based photographer David Henry Williams. Of course, I love this gift. The music this little girl was listening to didn’t...

When an ad exec added one word to directional copy on shampoo bottles, it doubled shampoo sales overnight.  Of course, this was in the 1950s – the era of Brylcream and once or twice weekly hair washing – so people probably did require two washes and rinses to get...