U.S.A.
I had two meetings back to back this morning with a friend and a client at The Regency Hotel (a 5W PR client and unbelievable power breakfast location), and our conversations sparked some random observations on this soon-to-be-spring day in NYC:
1: Advertising Age has become a great magazine to find the pulse of marketing and advertising. By changing a lot of the content, it’s transformed into the rare “can’t miss” trade. This week’s articles on digital content, and a variety of other dead-on articles week after week after week, are absolutely impressive. While other industry trades focus on account wins and the like, Advertising Age has become so much more, and I look forward to receiving it every week.
2: While I was sitting today with my close friend, who is involved in a wide variety of businesses, he observed that the magnitude of America’s power will never again be the same. Traveling regularly and simply observing the changing of the guard throughout the world, I’ve seen that the power paradigm has forever shifted, and I believe it will continue to shift. Will America continue to be the center of the financial world?
While everyone realizes how much the prices of gas and wheat (price of bagels) have risen, it’s far rarer that people regularly look at how much the dollar has fallen. So how much have prices really risen? In a global economy, the real culprit isn’t more expensive commodities; it’s weaker U.S. currency. This is something we need to continue to recognize as we build businesses. (I have another colleague who has cut back his business 60-70% in the U.S. and now spends that time in Dubai.)
3: Earlier this week, I attended a Torah class with a Rabbi who wisely observed that just 20 years ago, business people used to plan months in advance (travel, supplies, etc.), and now people rarely plan a week in advance. Many are on a plane more than 25 times a year, which would have been unheard of years ago.
For those of us in the marketing business, we need to realize that travel will only increase and that this concept of a global business will only continue.
Ronn Torossian
