One of the countless things that internal marketing departments frequently overlook is their own staff's social graph. More often than not, every company has staffers with active social media footprints. Brands need to understand that no matter how robust their corporate social graph is, it will only get them so far.

I find it incredibly interesting that in an industry like advertising where we mold "reality versus perception," that the majority of the industry, as a whole, still seems adverse to marketing to the LGBT community. I get that it's incredibly difficult to teach old dogs new tricks. However, we as marketing professionals should be pushing the envelope of "risk versus reward" with our clients. And the simple truth is this: Brands and businesses that take the LGBT community seriously now will reap the rewards over their risk-averse competitors that are.

Often speaking to peers, friends and associates in the business, I get questions regarding what they should look for when selecting an agency or service affiliate. Of course this is a double-edged sword because a company only wants to show the best and brightest of their thinking and results. There is no tab on any website that says, "biggest disasters and how we overcame them," but I would damn sure click on it first if it was an option.

There are very few things less interesting to me than Miley Cyrus. On an interest scale ranging from The Location of Carmen Electra’s Latest Tattoo on the high end all the way down to Parenting Tips From That “Kate Plus Eight” Woman, Miley ranks slightly above Kate only because I’m a sucker for a good train wreck.

For the past several months, I have been mentoring a University of Central Florida student Julia Harlow (I could spend a whole post about how great she is and how well she will do in the future, just take my word for it) who has her sights on an advertising and design career.

It’s a classic “chicken or the egg” scenario. Did our thirst for blood fuel the 24-hour news cycle and TMZ culture? Or is it the other way around? Regardless, I’m not surprised that the media has been pumping out non-stop content about recent stories involving the federal government’s invasion of our privacy, interracial killings and murderous mothers.