Marketing planning has traditionally been rigid in its operational discipline and very sequential in its process. The evolution of always-on capabilities means we need to get more nimble and agile, allowing for a degree of (adjustable) risk in our approach.

No one can survive on Big Data alone -- the real value of big data will only ever be unlocked if you have intelligent people to help comprehend it in more real terms.

Advertising executive was named "the most overrated job of 2012" by job-search website CareerCast.com. Indeed, while the public looks at advertising and imagines offices populated by suave Don Draper clones, here in the real world, the industry is facing a talent crisis.

If a local company is big enough to advertise, it is already doing it. If it is not big enough to advertise -- there's a reason. The myth of local advertising is that it exists at all. It simply does not.

Brands currently enjoy the benefit of very well lubricated and largely free platforms that have huge user bases and are visited regularly on mobile devices by people they are likely targeting.

For the next five days, I will clear my calendar with the intent to raise myself out of the muck by gaining some fresh perspective and ideas at Advertising Week. In no particular order, here is a sampling of sessions I will be attending and why.

Never before in the history of advertising and marketing has there been so much opportunity, so much media, so much technology, so much data and so many consumers devouring messages.

Content integration can instantly elevate an issue, spark a dialogue and spur consumer action. But to do it right, you have to both entertain and educate -- with a heavy emphasis on entertain.