Last week was my annual pilgrimage to the same warm climate and sandy beach. Being Lutheran and a Minnesotan, the Weather God made me pay penance by siccing upon me a 36 hour layover in Atlanta on my way home. Over that excruciating period I read three items: the StarTribune’s Monday Business article on the state of affairs for local advertising agencies, the New York Times article on “The Future of the 30-Second Spot“, and Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent book “The Tipping Point.”

The first two pieces were consistent: advertisers, agencies, and publishers are all scratching their heads wondering a) how to reach audiences, b) how to perform and make money, and c) how to deliver audiences, in that order. The Tipping Point is a book that reveals how, when situations are ripe for upheaval, it’s often the little things that create change, not gigantic or deliberate forces. In the author’s own words:

It’s a book about change. In particular, it’s a book that presents a new way of understanding why change so often happens as quickly and as unexpectedly as it does.