Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

is once again upon us — this edition showcasing Spring 2010 Collections here in New York — and for the 13th time, I'll be directing all interactive, video, and photography work under the Tents and throughout town for Mercedes-Benz. See ya on the runway.

A quick iPhone shot from this morning's Duckie Brown runway show:

Advertising IN: a new social net just for us

A quick plug for Advertising IN, the new social network designed specifically to interconnect all constituencies of the advertising business. (I include the interactive space, too.) Their promise: Exchange Information, Ideas and Opportunities with your Coworkers and other Advertising Professionals.

Agencies, individuals (a.k.a., peers), vendors, clients, freelancers, job-seekers — in truth, anyone who wishes to expand his/her professional network — are invited to join and share what's up in their worlds. I'll pay it the highest compliment one can regarding a new business concept: it's about time.

My good buddy and former coworker Wade Murray is Chief Interactive Officer, so I know it'll be über-successful in approximately one picosecond.

Go sign up and get in on the ground floor of something that's guaranteed to influence the influencers.

Oh, and though it's new and almost totally bare, my profile's here.

The new site is up

After a lengthy brand re-stage, (simplified) site redesign, and addition of a Mobile section, the new BrandSpankingNewYork.com is live.

On branding a region of Panama

Last year, I was contacted by my buddy José Goldner to help him and a group of fellow landowners in Panama's Azuero Peninsula to brand the area. The value per square meter of this virgin Pacific shoreline had skyrocketed in recent years (and continues to do so), and it was their intention to craft a brand framework and control the voice of the area now, before the throngs of internationals, primarily Americans, come down and do it their way. Clearly, the time to build a world-class destination brand was yesterday.

Pedasí is a fishing village on the Pacific Coast of the Azuero Peninsula.

Outside of being a long-time friend of mine, José is also an incredibly accomplished businessman whose success is a testament to his work ethic and wealth of knowledge of the digital marketing space, travel, hospitality, multiple business verticals, local politics, even the fishing industry. Additionally, he's a partner in the country's largest content-based travel and business portal, panamabusinessandtravel.com, which boasts over 5,000 pages-and-growing of content.

What an amazing opportunity, I thought. Naturally, I jumped on board and began generating a framework immediately. In this case, undeveloped land equaled an undeveloped brand, and it was my job build responsibly and deliberately.

Despite the global economic downturn, attention from around the world toward this small isthmus nation — which is more associated with its famous canal than the charming people and stunning beauty — has shown no signs of slowing. With square kilometer after kilometer of untouched beachfront and inland property available at prices long since unseen by most investors, Azuero has officially achieved “land rush” status.

Last June I toured the area with José, beyond being blown away by the magnificence of its verdant expanses rolling toward untouched beaches, I was finally able to grasp just how special this place and this opportunity truly were.

I knew what I had to do. As I conveyed in the press release:

“It’s my sole intention to make Azuero’s image synonymous with bespoke luxury, privacy, authenticity, old world quality, and ecological responsibility,” Susi said. “We have something really special here — not just some of the most beautiful land and natural resources in the world, but a chance to control the voice from the start, to magnify its appeal for visitors and investors alike, and to lay the foundation of success early on.”

Susi plans to achieve this by aligning all marketing efforts to the area’s unique character and distinguish it from all other travel and investment destinations.

“For Azuero to reach its full potential, it will be crucial to administer this distinct brand in partnership with the hospitality- and real estate-based businesses in the area, as well as other stakeholders like economic development agencies and, of course, the media. Every business in Azuero has to see every other business not as a competitor, but as a partner in the brand and its progress. That’s how destinations like Monte Carlo, Dubai, and even Guanacaste have done it through the years, and that’s what I intend to catalyze in Azuero.”

Since finishing the brand manual in December and launching an online media campaign in early January — including a new website I built to create awareness for one small beachfront portion of the Azuero Peninsula, a town called Pedasí — our efforts are bearing fruit, both online and off.

José is now a principal in a new real estate fund built in conjunction with Briggs Capital in Boston, MA, which is dedicated to building a land bank offering shareholders maximum return on their investments, with land that's been increasing in value steadily for the past five years. And despite the slow economy, the area has seen a massive surge in investors — and not just visiting prospects, but buyers.

I'm heading back down in a few weeks, and I cannot wait to see the change in the land and the growth of this living, breathing brand.

Oh, and if you'd like to take part in an amazing real estate investment with low-to-negligible taxes for investors in the fastest-growing economy in South and Central America the past three years, leave a comment below and I'll be happy to point you to the appropriate parties — or visit pedasipeninsula.com/contact to submit a form for an instant response.

I love my

Mom. And really, who doesn't have supreme respect and affection for their life-giver?

Well, mine was a pain when I was a teen. I'm sure yours was too. My mom gave me hell for being the typical punk kid, poked and prodded at my anti-establishmentarianism, responded with ample friction to my angstful epithets, always had a smart-alec rejoinder awaiting each opinion.

Since then, I've been pulled kicking and screaming into the realization that yes, my parents were in fact accurate most of the time — and directed me away from wrong, toward a productive future. I would like to think they succeeded.

So then, what do I receive recently but the following email from my lovely mother but a letter to the editor of her local newspaper. It's something I just HAD to share. Oh how far the tree hasn't fallen from the apple:

Someone, please pinch me. I think I'm living in Bizarro World.

In the past week, I witnessed a group of people who told another group of people that having a political candidate cheered as a celebrity was laughable, but it was worth spending a lot of money on a TV commercial so America could see how ridiculous it was — thus turning a political candidate into a celebrity.

I listened to a group of people give speeches campaigning for AND against themselves to thundering applause. Was the applause for or against them?

I have witnessed a group of people — who not so many years ago, rallied around Dan Quayle when he told us about the dangers of a world where a well paid, intelligent, single woman having a child would cause the morality of the country to crumble — cheer a family on stage, accompanied by a young man who got a new suit, a shave, a haircut, and a free vacation to Minneapolis for the sole reason that he got a young girl pregnant.

I listened to a presidential campaign make an official announcement to the world that the teenage daughter of one of the candidates was unmarried and pregnant, then curse the reporters who did their job and reported that announcement.

I witnessed a candidate push personal views about abortion by bringing a special needs child into the discussion, then that same candidate's campaign people cried foul when people discussed said child, and whether the candidate had special "parental obligations."

I watched and listened to quite a number of people who have finally been motivated to vote in this 2008 presidential election, not by a candidate with a military background, but by a candidate who "hasn't really focused on the Iraq war" (and by that, I'm assuming not much focus on the volatile Middle East either).

I actually heard a few well known people say that because Alaska is near Russia, an Alaskan can have foreign policy experience. I live in Southwest Florida. Cuba isn't far away. I'm checking my qualifications with the Pentagon in case there's an opening.

I watched a presidential candidate announce his VP choice and heard people say "who?", because this person is completely unknown to the people of America. I listened to people from that campaign, who are extremely mad at those reporters who were earning their income by reporting, tell us that this candidate owed the American media (not the Japanese, Italian or Brazilian media, but the American media) no answers. That candidate, they said, only had an obligation to answer to the American people. I have a list of questions. I searched "the Google" and found her number. I keep getting her VM.

I pinched myself. I am awake. We are in Bizarro World. Up is down. White is black.

I guess this is why our parents back then (certainly no one does anymore) punished their kids in the first place — so they would NOT grow up to be like themselves.

And this time, it didn't take. (Mom, I'm extremely proud of you ; )