Although I have been in advertising and marketing for over 25 years, I am very new to the idea of social collaboration. However, I must say that I can see the opportunities especially in the area where my business is focused.

Sustainability is an important issue and one that is near and dear to my heart. How sustainabilty can be applied to marketing is something I am very interested in learning more about.

My focus on joining the word of collaboration is to learn more and to tap into the experiences of others who also have knowledge and skills that could add value to my company and those of our clients.

Traditionally, marketing companies - advertising and graphic design firms for instance have not been industries that look beyond their own pool of talent. In my experience, the idea of collaborating between creative teams is rare as though we say we are on the same team, when only one teams idea wins, the ideas become protected and hidden. I have to ask myself why this business model has existed for so long? If we truly are trying to communicate to a very wide variety of consumers needs spread out throughout the world, how is it that we continue to use very small creative groups? Doesn't this limit our ability to fulfill needs? How can only a few appeal or even consider the masses?

The more I learn about social collaboration, the more I am convinced that this idea could revolutionize the marketing industry. In terms of sustainability, this model would allow me to draw upon the skills and ideas of creative people throughout the world. It would allow my company to use the information highway in place of the asphalt highway thereby increasing the value of the work we produce and reducing our footprint on the planet.

I have a huge amount to learn. Just the fact that I am using "I" shows that I don't fully understand the power of this new concept. I am open minded though and I do reap large rewards from the learning process. I hope that in the future, the social community will help me learn how to best participate and how to add to our collective knowledge. This is my first step into an environment that sounds like heaven to me.