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By Michael Mark, Creative Director/CEO at NYCA Here’s what our friends bring to NYCA each day. Read Full Story

We are re-posting this piece written by Michael Mark, CEO/Creative Director @ NYCA, in honor of the 10th Anniversary of 9/11.  To those of you who lost loved ones in the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, here’s what happened in their final moments. Your father was a hero.  When the building shook from the blast, he did not concern himself with fear.  He helped unblock an office door which had been barricaded by debris and furniture that had moved. He freed three people... Read Full Story

By Michael Mark, Creative Director/CEO @ NYCA Ask a Zen master how to make your life complete and he’ll tell you to wash the dish. That’s it. The same goes for your business, I would think. Wash the dish. Totally. Feel the warmth of the water. Look at the reflection of the light on the surfaces of things. Let your fingers touch the sides of the knife blade – being mindful of the edge. Feel the flat of the spatula. Don’t think about things – any other thing. These thoughts are just... Read Full Story

By Bethany Farrelly, Associate Business Manager @ NYCA NYCAers Meghan, Lauren & Dana work together at The Learning Grove A healthy work place culture is so very important. A group of co-workers who have respect for one another and make an effort to develop and nurture healthy working relationships have more of an effect on the business as a whole than they may think. When I entered the work force I did not understand the importance of company culture. Questions about the company... Read Full Story

By Michael Mark, CEO/Creative Director @ NYCA Why do these muckety-mucks muck up their jobs and their reputations, their loved ones lives and their own? Governor Schwarzenegger has an affair with his family housekeeper; Strauss-Kahn, the head of the IMF, comes out of the shower, sees a hotel maid, has a few minutes before his flight and allegedly forces himself onto her. New York Governor Eliot Spitzer works up an $80K bill for prostitutes. All of these men are married, by the way. And as... Read Full Story

By Michelle Edelman, President @ NYCA On so many creative briefs, we see the same objectives over and over. Build awareness, create that elusive thing called buzz, grow topline sales, increase customer loyalty. When’s the last time you saw a creative brief that instructed: thank our customers? For many of us, the answer is probably never. Our efforts are always so focused on asking for the order, or gaining likes or fans or friends, or inviting the consumer to attend, save, sign up... Read Full Story

By Michael Mark, CEO/Creative Director @ NYCA I love ideas. Not all ideas. Truth is I am a proud snob about the extremely rare ones that have the power to grow businesses. I pander to those. I’m brutal on the thousands of weak ones I toss away with as much regret as swatting a mosquito. Ideas kidnapped me away from an intended career of writing poems, plays, TV shows and novels. I found writing prose beautiful, empowering, challenging. Copywriting is an entirely other and more demanding... Read Full Story

By Michael Mark, Creative Director/CEO @ NYCA This past Friday, April 8, 2011 Manny Ramirez suddenly retired due to allegations that he was using illegal, game-enhancing drugs for the third time in his career. We first ran this blog in May of 2009. We figure another look at values and integrity was worth a second read, even for Manny fans. —– Full disclosure: I never liked Manny Ramirez. Not when he was a hero of the Red Sox Nation. Not now as a Dodger.  Not because he was good at... Read Full Story

…”Recent research has uncovered a trend called ‘boomer bummers,’” notes Michelle Edelman, boomer expert and president of NYCA, a Solana Beach, Calif.-based integrated marketing and ad agency. “As [older] boomers pass into the typical retirement ages — as they get their AARP cards and turn milestones — they start to get depressed.” Edelman, also a contributing author/editor for two baby boomer-related books, notes that the rates of suicide and clinical depression for these older boomers are... Read Full Story

By Michael Mark, Creative Director/CEO @ NYCA “It’s all too complicated.” We’ve all felt and sighed that. Life moves fast and can have so many layers, one can get paralyzed under the tonage. Same with work. With so many channels of information constantly being updated even as we’re analyzing it all, we can get caught up in just staying current instead of creating change. When we get overwhelmed, we can’t be our most effective or happiest. If you want to change the direction of your life... Read Full Story