Let’s not reinvent the banner ad.

Reading the New York Times recently, two tech articles caught my eye. Farhad Manjoo wrote about "The Fall of the Banner Ad," and Microsoft announced that it would make Office free for mobile devices.

Marketing programs often have short shelf lives. They spring up around a product, an initiative, a new corporate slogan (“We’re all about value!”), and a year later (or less), there’s a new product, with a new slogan (“We’re all about innovation!”). In our increasingly connected and interactive world, shutting down a campaign and its related social channels is harder and less desirable. It's much easier—and wiser—to refresh that existing effort.