Ashley Ann Vaness

Hi. I'm Ashley Vaness, a Minneapolis gal with a thing for smart advertising. Here you will find the thoughts, questions, ideas and opinions I have about the industry that muse about my mind. I'll promote brands, campaigns technologies and products I am a fan of. I will also post links, articles and stats I deem noteworthy of sharing. You'll find discussion around topics such as (but not limited to) interactive strategy, web design, social media, user experience, email marketing, SEO, SEM and web analytics. Want to know more? Visit my About page.

Said opinions are my own and not those of the companies or clients I work for. Interested in discussing? You can reach me at ashley.vaness@gmail.com

You can rock. But you can’t rock alone. — Me

A brand is only as good as the people who run it.

This industry is so new I am puzzled by how someone can say they are a social media expert. The one that is an expert is the marketer in the company that has found success by trial and error. — Michael J. Goldrich

It’s the orders you disobey that make you famous. — Douglass MacArthur

In a hyper-competitive market, competence is expected and only flawless execution is tolerable. But that's no longer enough. Today, the ultimate competitive advantage is passion. — Max Kalehoff

Wisdom is acquired by experience, not age. — Fortune Cookie

The most interesting effect of new communication technologies is, perhaps, not how we use them, but how they change how we use everything else. — Faris Yakob

We initiate projects on our own, rather than waiting for them to be assigned.

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies or water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don't bother concealing your thievery — celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: "It's not where you take things from — it's where you take them to." — Jim Jarmusch

All that is necessary for evil to triumph and succeed is for good men to do nothing. — Edmund Burke

Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You cannot try to do things. You must simply do them. — Ray Bradbury

It's always easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. — Carlos Abler

Nothing great has been, and nothing great can be, accomplished without passion. — G.W.F Hegel

Beware — this lifestyle is addicting. Once you start you will not be able to quit. You will lose days of sleep rambling on incoherently about the typeface names, Pantone colors and AS class structures you need to have for your current project. None of your non-designer friends will understand you and as you drift into the subculture, slipping away from reality day by day. But none of that matters, because you will love it. — Grant Eull