As the web has evolved from 1.0 to 2.0 to whatever point oh we currently reside, the maxim “the consumer is king” has begun to ring truer and truer. When the Earth cooled, brands could simply pound one-way broadcast messages into peoples’ minds. “We’re not selling enough?! Increase the frequency!”

Then, the world was given microphones in the form of social media. Communication between brands and people became a two-way channel. “They can talk about us, and they have an audience?!”

Now, add another layer of complexity: People can buy anything from anywhere at anytime. “They came into our store, but purchased from our competitor on their mobile phones?!”

The year is 2012. And retail will never be the same again.

Survival and future success lies in a combination of old-world common sense and new-world functionality. Go back to your original brand voice. What is your core philosophy? Why did you start your business to begin with? Think about it. Now figure out how to replicate that voice and story, intelligently, across platforms. Work to motivate people to engage and become a part of the brand.

As it relates to commerce, if people are buying online or from mobile devices in your store, resist the urge to fight it. Just as you’ve had to cede total control of your brand communication, you must loosen your grip on the purchase process. Take this leap: Make it easier for your customers to buy whatever, wherever, whenever. Revamp your online store and get moving on mobile commerce. Cross promote your various sales channels in-store.

Lastly, don’t forget that your customers are people. Your brand exists in the context of their busy lives. Give them a reason to like your brand and make it easy for them to buy. This takes guts, but people will love you for it.

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Google’s Think Education 2012 put it best, “Technology and innovation are propelling Education into a period of revolutionary change.” We’d like to enter into evidence our latest digital work.

Educator Studio is an online community for professional educators—a place to find and share relevant lesson plans in the classroom. It’s an inspiring tool for educators to provide the best learning experience for today’s students. No #2 pencils required.

Watch a one-minute video overview of the platform.

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The Webbys is one of the rare award shows in our industry that the general public has actually heard of, which makes it really fun to write this: Red Square has been recognized by the 16th Annual Webby Awards. Our mobile project for Full Sail University has been selected as an honoree in the “mobile web: education and reference” category.

Other honorees in the category include Deutsche Bank AG, the Guggenheim Museum, National Geographic and the National Science Foundation.

I’d like to thank our awesome clients, the amazing team at Red Square, and Al Gore for inventing the Internet and making this whole thing possible.

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I believe the three core functions of a conference are: networking, inspiration and identification of a few actionable items we can put into practice. Our SXSW team deployed in March and returned with a heaping helping of all three.

Here’s some of what they shared with the agency.

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To be successful in advertising, a mere interest in the craft is not enough. One must be obsessed. This is why I urge all of our people to study not only the latest in digital work in the Communication Arts Interactive Annual, but to read and re-read classics by masters like Ogilvy, Bernbach, Della Femina, Wells, Lois and Sullivan (no relation).

Here’s another on my list of masters: Jane Maas.

Maas is best known for her work on the famous and now ubiquitous “I Love New York” campaign, but her career spans several decades and places her quite easily among the best to have practiced our profession.

Her latest book, Mad Women, chronicles “the other side of life on Madison Avenue in the ’60s and beyond.” Part answer to the glossy, meticulously produced television drama Mad Men, part sociocultural thought piece on the progression (or lack thereof) of women in business, and part lesson in the fundamentals of advertising—it’s a great read, which I believe is destined to become an important read.

We were fortunate to have Mrs. Maas visit with Red Square Agency (the first stop on Maas’ book tour). As she regaled us all with battle stories from advertising’s “creative revolution,” Jane referred to our House Rules frequently, to which I finally confessed: “I stole them from you.”

Of course, I was only half-kidding. Our point of view is shaped by the work of incredible people like Jane. The House Rules weren’t really written by us, as much as they were inspired by great work we admire and thinking we emulate. Without the mad men and mad women of the past, there’d be no Red Square.

Pick up a copy of Jane’s book.

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