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Posted by Dave Courtney on December 21, 2009 at 05:02 PM PDT

This is the time of year for reflection and looking ahead. Looking at the important trends in 2009 can give us an indication of what’s in store for the New Year. Here’s my perspective on the trends in digital advertising that will require brand managers, marketers and agencies to rethink their approach and strategy.

A key trend that will be transforming advertising next year is Consumer Mobility.  Today’s consumer lifestyles are undergoing revolutionary change; in the past two years, people are spending significantly more time on-the-go. PQ Media reported earlier this year that on average people spend 44% of their time outside both the home or office; yet during this time they increasingly want to stay connected.

Construction on the Space Shuttle began in 1975 and Columbia was successfully launched on April 12, 1981.  Imagine a bunch of rocket scientists sitting around a table in the '70s trying to figure out how to revamp the Space Program.  Eureka someone says "We know how to build a plane and we know how to build a rocket, so let's put a plane on a rocket!"

Inspired-

I feel the same way about Social Media.  We have media and we know how to be social but we really need to figure out something new on how to use it.  Alec Ross in the State Department under Hillary Clinton is globe trotting trying to tie in social media with bettering the world.  The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency launched the Red Balloon effort to see how Social Media could be used in emergencies.  It took MIT nine hours to find the balloons.  

I am excited to explore how social media can assist Trade Shows.  Social Media, QR codes and Augmented Reality are all new and intriguing ideas.  I am thinking and pondering on how to make the new tools work for me and my clients.  In a new way, not in the same ole ways.  Can I do it?  stay tuned.

Let's figure out how to make Social Media more than a plane strapped to a rocket!

Have you down loaded your QR software to you smart phone yet?  Check out my QR Page for an explanation on QR codes and ways to use this free service.

This week we will be celebrating Thanksgiving with our family and friends.  People we co-exist within our support system.   We may only see them once a year but on Thanksgiving day we re-connect and bond again.   I think Thanks Giving is a lot like Trade Shows.

Some clients you may only see face to face once a year at a trade show.  You invite them in and play the gracious host.  You ask how things are going and you catch them up with your company and your life.  It is a bonding with your company support system.   Without your clients, your company is nothing.

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.  ~William Arthur Ward

Humans are a social bunch and  Trade Shows reflect that fact.  We gather to bond, learn and meet new people and companies.  Relationships are important in Family and in Business.  When the chips are down and you need a favor from a vendor, you call someone you have a relationship with.  These are the people who care and that caring should not be an accident.  It should be a concerted effort by a company

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.  ~Melody Beattie

Breaking bread with family or clients brings us together.  It expresses gratitude that the person or company exists.  It validates the relationship.  Bonding is branding.

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.  ~W.T. Purkiser