Dwayne Flinchum

Having owned and managed IridiumGroup for 17 years, I thought I'd share a compendium of best practices for procuring a marketing or creative partner. Sure, I'm an agency-side professional sharing opinions on how to review and purchase the services of an agency, but when you get right down to it, what observations could possibly be more insightful?

Advertising has changed drastically over the years, in a world where keeping-or rather, earning- a customer's attention has become a much more difficult task with all the noise and channels that need to be filtered through first. Today, agencies and brands have adapted to become much more creative with shocking, bizarre, and in-your-face advertising, through guerrilla marketing, outdoor ads, and the like. How can we keep up?

To increase the image or reputation of their brands, many companies have resorted to paying for good reviews, which are disguised to look like honest, genuine reviews from actual customers. The case also applies to personalities who pay for Twitter followers, or positive reviews in exchange for incentives like freebies, and so on. Has social media marketing gone too far? Does this strategy ultimately damage a brand's credibility?

Whether it's an individual or institutional professional, one thing that the investment community shares in common is an aversion to uncertainty. It may or may not be the most turbulent time in our history. That much can always be debated. But across all platforms of society — on a global, socioeconomic and political level — no one could argue that tomorrow's news is in any manner a predictable forecast. Forecasts allow us to plan, to commit, and to build. That being understood, investors, consu

A wise businessman I once knew used to say that banks like to loan you and umbrella and take it back when it rains.