Columnist Doug Sacks rants from the USA. You can argue with him here: doug@focus-worldwide.com
Business seemed to pick up around September. Best results are for those having contracts and business with the federal government. Business in Washington, DC is booming – the rest of the country, not so much. DC building construction is rampant and traffic [...]

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Forget the not-so-good ‘good old days’, says Douglas Sacks, we are fast-forwarding into the future……and that’s a scary place, too.
I am not a proponent of returning to the Good Old Days. History has shown that those days were not all that good anyway.
The famous example of slow communication is the Battle of New Orleans: fought [...]

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In this column, US-based Doug Sacks discusses recent events in Japan, the Middle East, India and South America.
It’s a difficult time to concentrate on business affairs with so much global news and tragedy. Japan leads the list enduring a 1-2-3 punch of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency.
Ironically, no country in the world better prepares for [...]

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Doug Sacks reports on the run-up to the American elections . . . and fears for the future.
As I write this, it is election time here. Leading up to November 2, Americans have been bombarded for months with reminders of our failings and inadequacies.
These are brought up continually and painfully by the warring political parties, [...]

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Doug Sacks reports on feelings of negativity which are rife Stateside.
Attention marketers, businesses, employers, neighbours and strangers who pass in the street. The current cocktail of stressful issues which show no sign of abating is manifesting itself in dangerous ways in the US. 
One gets the feeling that many people are on edge or ‘on the edge’ [...]

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Doug Sacks brings clear insight into emerging markets which he says are now ripe for small and medium-sized businesses to explore. 
Recently, the iDi Marketers Forum was held in conjunction with the USA DMA’s Digital Marketing Days or ‘The Conference formerly known as DM Days New York’. 
As is the habit for the iDi, an excellent group [...]

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Doug Sacks explores a world where no-one tells lies.
 I have just seen a movie called ‘The Invention of Lying’. It stars and was co-written by Ricky Gervais. We are seeing a lot of him here in the US on TV, at awards ceremonies, in movies and so on. 
He has an English accent of sorts, a [...]

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On a visit to his local supermarket, Doug Sacks becomes a victim of marketers’ Shelf Space Wars.
Wait a minute. I’m still tabulating the results. Hold on. I’m using an abacus . . . Yes now I have it. I had ZERO responses to my last column, in which I looked for support to build a [...]

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DOUG SACKS is on a personal crusade to clean up the face of direct marketing. He knows it will enrich his life, but not his bank account.

This is the time of year for resolutions, although by the time this is printed it will be closer to Valentine’s Day. Can love and direct marketing make for a seamless segue? 
Here [...]

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Say what you mean, says Doug Sacks, who is flying the flag for a return to the use of clear language and less ‘direct marketing-ese’.
For decades, most trends have originated on our west coast  and quickly migrated eastward. This began with popular culture, music and fashion trends, thanks to Hollywood and the ubiquitous sunshine [...]

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