You probably can’t remember the last time you used Yahoo for online search. Today, more than 70% of all online traffic runs through Google. Coupled with the rise of Microsoft’s Bing, I wonder how much longer Yahoo will be able to stay afloat?

Although Yahoo’s reign as king of search is over, there is still a lot left in the tank for the Net’s oldest major directory. Instead of trying to go head-to-head with Bing or Google in the search market, Yahoo will make its attempt to become the authoritative source on Web content.

Earlier this week, Yahoo announced the launch of “The Yahoo! Style Guide: The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing, and Creating Content for the Digital World.” Available July 6, 2010, this book intends to offer advice to anyone who writes or edits for the Web.

In addition to answering all your grammar and spelling issues, the guide also others several other web-related resources, including information on how basic webpage coding and how to optimize a website for SEO.

One exceptionally useful feature is that users can logon to http://styleguide.yahoo.com and get their toughest questions answered by the editors. This book is truly the one-stop shop for all the information you need to create flawless and engaging content for your digital space. Plus, it’s much cooler than your outdated copy of “The Associated Press Styleguide” that now serves as a coaster instead of a reference tool.

“The Yahoo! Syle Guide” has received endorsements from some of the nation’s top scholars and institutions, including California State University, Nielsen, San Jose State University and Kent State University. The book will be available in both print and online editions and will be compatible with the Apple iPad and Amazon Kindle. The style guide will be hitting a newsstand near you at a manufacturer suggested retail price of $15.

My recommendation? This is a must-have for any media professional and is sure to overtake “The Associated Press Stylebook” as the go-to source for digital publishing. So, go clear off a portion off your desk and head to your nearest bookstore to reserve your copy today. After all, you don’t want to be the one person who still adds a hyphen to “email.”

Few things in this industry are more challenging than getting the public to pay attention to PSAs. We can market products, goods and services until the cows come home but it takes a truly talented team to create a PSA that gets noticed.

The Embrace Life PSA, created by the Sussex Safer Road Partnership with the help of Take2 Films, is one such PSA that left me speechless.

Maybe it’s the drama, maybe it’s the slow motion (most things are better in slow motion), maybe it’s because I’m not being sold something other than an idea or maybe I’m feeling sentimental today. No matter what it is, this one really spoke to me – and it didn’t speak only to me but also the 8,620,572 other people that have viewed it on YouTube.

Not only did this team get their message across that one small decision in your day, like choosing to wear your seatbelt, can affect so many, they did it with few words on a low budget. Without saying very much, they say a lot. They grab the public’s attention by tapping into their emotions without showing them something graphic or disturbing.

It just goes to show that it doesn’t take a big production or a lot of words to get your point across. With the right message, passion and teamwork, anything can get the attention you desire—even PSAs.

And yes, I always wear my seatbelt.

Being an Account Coordinator, working day in and day out with clients, my job revolves around service. My focus is on fulfilling customer needs and I take that responsibility seriously. Which means that when I leave the office I don’t stop thinking about service, it’s on my mind wherever I go: to lunch, to the mall, pretty much anywhere I see a transaction taking pace.

That said, let me tell you that I haven’t been especially pleased by most of the service I’ve been witnessing lately. Take the sandwich place I went to for lunch last week. There I was in line, about three people back from the counter, when the sandwich maker stuck his head out from behind the folks in front of me and demanded to know what sort of sandwich I wanted. I thought it was rude. A few minutes later when I got to the front of the line, the fixin’s girl wasn’t any nicer. She bullied me to tell her what I wanted, then threw the veggies on and pushed the sandwich along the production line.

So alright, you might say, that’s a sandwich shop. But would you believe the same thing happened when I was shopping for vendors for my wedding reception? Most of these folks I dealt with — from the florists to the decorators to the caterers — made me feel as though I was putting them out by offering to give them my money.

All of these experiences got me thinking: these days, marketing is about a whole lot more than websites, newspaper ads and radio commercials. These days, it’s the lowest paid, front line employees that are on the leading edge of marketing and branding, not a marketing director in some corner office. If the people who are performing the actual customer contact don’t treat customers right, it doesn’t matter what’s going on in the boardroom, because those customers are never coming back.

I haven’t done a formal survey, but my own sense is that more and more retailers are forgetting how important it is to market on the micro level. And that’s a pity, because that’s where the most crucial part of the marketing game is played.

I don’t know a lot about baby strollers. In fact, I don’t know anything about baby strollers. But if I needed one, I could easily be persuaded to buy a Britax stroller after seeing their new campaign.

The ads feature nude women, presumably mothers, holding and/or cradling their babies. This scene transitions to a stroller holding the same baby in the same position. The ads, created by New York-based agency Gotham Incorporated, seek to prove that Britax strollers closely replicate how a mother would hold her baby: safe, comfortable and secure.

Personally, I think Britax is taking an exciting approach to a sometimes dull product. The ads are beautiful and striking but also a little edgy and arty… just like motherhood. Take a peek and judge for yourself!

Hopefully in (+ -) 6 hours from now, we'll be welcoming our second child into this world.

As we made our last minute preparations, my FourSquare check-ins have been dominated by Kroger, Home Depot, Babie R Us and of course, Target. It was at Target that I came across a product straight from the pages of the Onion, Huggie's Denim diapers, seriously.

At first, I assumed it was some kind of weird baby-on-the-brain dream and I had imagined only them. Ohhh no, I was wrong.

Surely as a society, we have learned from our past mistakes, that unless your product is really jeans, adding denim just isn't a good idea.

I understand as much as the next ad guy that you constantly need to make improvements to your product. The consumer has grown to expect it. It needs to be sleeker. It needs to be faster. It needs to be WiFi compatible. Has the evolution of diapers come so far that the only improvement left is to add denim?

Maybe the folks at Huggies R&D should focus on something that would really be an improvement, like making them out of some eco-friendly biodegradable materials. Or better yet, it would be really sweet if they could send me a Tweet to alert me that it's time to be changed.

Until then, I'll choose my diapers like I do my jammies, with Yodas and crap on them.

My favorite television show has come to an end.  Yep, I’m a Lostie through and through.  I’ve spent HOURS on Lostpedia and 4815162342, HOURS looking for Easter eggs, and HOURS debating theories.  And while it’s likely that the debate over what this or that means will continue for, well, forever, one thing is clear: Target hit a home run with its ads.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Just Google “Target ads on Lost” and check out the results.  There are spoofs all over YouTube (they're pretty good in their own right).

What I thought was most interesting about Target’s Lost ads was the response of my two teenaged children: after seeing the first one (Smokey selling smoke alarms), the kids were excited to see if there’d be more.  They weren’t disappointed as Target delivered two more outstanding ads for this campaign.

The Lost brand already “owned” me and Target tapped into that loyalty by acknowledging the power of the show.   I’m sure they knew they were creating something special for the Lost audience, but I wonder if they had any idea of the ads’ potential to reach such a younger skew of viewers.  I’ll bet Target’s agency did.

We recently partnered with Socialight to produce an iPhone app for Kentucky Derby Festival and they gave us some mad props on their blog!

These guys are way cool and on the path to blowin' up!

Everyone knows a gal's gotta have her shoes. For me, the arrival of a new pair from Zappos or Amazon makes my heart flutter. I'm happy to learn this week, PUMA has announced they will toss the standard cardboard shoebox for a bag. Stay with me...

This new design concept has been named, "The Clever Little Bag" and should roll out later this year, just in time for the holiday season. Yves Behar's development is a single folded sheet of cardboard in a reusable, recyclable bag, promised to protect the shoes from the time they leave the factory until they arrive to their final destination, i.e. my closet. PUMA reports the new packaging and manufacturing will reduce the paper used for shoeboxes by 65%, and it plans to make the remaining packaging materials fully sustainable by 2015.

Here are the stats (manufacturing to distribution):

• Approximately 8,500 tons less paper will be consumed
• 20 million Megajoules of electricity will be saved
• 1 million liters less fuel oil will be used
• 1 million liters of water will be saved
• Up to 275 tons of plastic will be saved thanks to the replacement of traditional shopping bags with the lighter built-in bag

The bag itself is actually stitched with heat and it is made of non-woven polyester and is also recyclable. Why throw it away when you can use it around the house or as a shoe carrier during travel though? As a shoe lover who fully supports sustainability on all levels, I am digging the introduction of this Clever Little Bag and what it represents for the industry. I can't wait for the day when plastic shopping bags are long gone and we can rely on our favorite brands to fully commit to providing us tangible alternatives.

With most photos being captured digitally and stored on photo-sharing sites, it seems like the old-school use for the standard shoebox just aren't needed anymore. I've been a PUMA wearer for a long time, but this move just encourages me to support the brand and its mission to improve our environmental standards.

Now just to figure out what to do with all those old high school pictures.

Check it out here.

In my quest to find the best kid friendly computing solution for my daughter, I came across Zoodles, an adobe air application that aggregates age appropriate content and bundles it in an easy to use interface. And unlike other kid computing solutions, Zoodles runs on your existing home computer and requires no additional hardware.

Zoodles browser known as the "toy box" consists of large kid friendly icons and easy to navigate menus. This is great for beginner computer users and makes their experience much more enjoyable. I mean, have you ever tried to teach a 5 year old how to use Firefox? If not, let me tell you, it's an experience. With handy features like ad blocking and content filtering, Zoodles offers a controlled environment for your child to learn how to use a computer and surf the net.

For an additional monthly fee, you can also look at reports to see what your child has played, block sites, games, or shows, and even promote certain skill sets that you want your child to work on. Subjects include language and literacy, life skills, math, science, and social science.

I’m the resident Miss Media here at Current and I love it!  I enjoy planning, love buying and get giddy about seeing the results of a campaign.  In addition, I’m also the resident Bracketologist™ on staff.  I love college hoops and can answer any question from why T-Will wears a shooting sleeve to if Brad Stevens should really sign a 12-year contract extension.

Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in the Kentucky Derby Festival Basketball Classic and act as a host to the players and their families while they were in town.  I work with our guests to make travel arrangements, provide transportation and make sure they have the best time possible while they enjoy all of the festivities in Louisville.

Aside from the good folks in Account Service, I’m not sure that many of us get to the opportunity to see the final product of what we all have worked so hard to produce.  That’s a big reason why this particular event is such an exciting and unique experience for me.

On the agency side, we kick off the creative by determining the overall annual theme for the festival.  While I’m not involved in that process, I’m always so excited to see what our team is able to come up with.  At the same time, I am working on media planning and buying.  Everything is usually finalized in the month leading up to the event, except for the event program which isn’t finalized until all of the participants have arrived safely in Louisville and been photographed for the program.

On the event side, I help to ensure that everything runs smoothly, including rescheduling missed flights and retrieving shoes that have been left behind at the hotel.  If there are any last minute cancellations that may affect any of our media or printed pieces, I call back to the agency to give everyone a heads up.

Most of my work is complete by the time the game tips-off on Saturday evening.  It is such a refreshing feeling to be at the game and look up at the 10,000 or so fans and realize all of the effort that it took from so many people to make this event, or any event for that matter, happen.  It is such a thrill at the end of an event to see everything come together, from design, to player contracts, to media placement, to crowd control and I am honored every year to play a small role in such a success!