Well, the classic Claude Hopkins book Scientific Advertising is still a must-read. It's a slim 56 pages, but blows just about every advertising book ever written out of the water. No less than David Ogilvy said that everybody should read it seven times and that it changed his life.

You plan for offensive operations, while you prepare to play defense. You'll find this concept in both warfare and sports, and it's applicable in business as well. I much prefer playing offense, because that's where you score and generate revenues. A strong business offensive plan also limits the amount of places you'll need to prepare to play defense, freeing up more resources for--you guessed it--playing more offense.

At one point during my college days I wanted to be an A&R guy for a record label. My reactions to smoke-filled clubs and early-to-bed habits caused me to rethink that career option. But music, and the marketing of it, has remained a lifelong interest. Last night, my wife and I saw Duran Duran at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. This was her 11th or 12th time and my 10th time to see the band. When you go to a Duran Duran show, you know you're going to see a great performance, an enthusiastic crowd and hit after hit. What I didn't expect was a textbook example of creating and maximizing a marketing channel, and an example of how big a part luck plays in everything we do as marketers.

According to Ad Age, sampling is coming back in Summer 2008. Are other "old" marketing techniques now worth including in your marketing mix as you build new campaigns?