Mark Blackford

The digital advertising landscape is undergoing its most significant transformation since the early days of the internet. Just as the internet revolutionized how we live, work and communicate in the early 2000s, AI is emerging as the next transformative technology affecting virtually every industry. And if you're running digital ads, this shift isn't just incremental — it's fundamental, and it's happening right now.

I recently had the opportunity to pay it forward as an adult advisor on a high adventure trek to the backcountry at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. I joined the Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster as one of the required three adults on our troop’s trek, along with five youth scouts, ages 14-17. I am grateful to Marketing Essentials for allowing all team members a chance each year to take some time off to pay it forward by volunteering for a nonprofit organization of their choice.

I recently had the opportunity to once again serve as an adult leader at Scout camp (thanks in part to a benefit, Pay-It-Forward, that allows Marketing Essentials team members to take a day off to volunteer for any community service event or outreach of their choice).

At Marketing Essentials, one of our benefits includes a Pay It Forward day that allows employees to get paid for volunteer work. This year, I used my Pay It Forward time to volunteer as a troop guide for a Wood Badge course.

One of the great benefits all Marketing Essentials team members are offered is a chance each year to take some time off to pay it forward by volunteering for a non-profit organization of their choice. As the Committee Chair for a local BSA Troop (Troop 95 out of Sidney, Ohio), I had the opportunity to serve as an adult leader at summer camp (for the first time in 3 years) when the troop spent a week at Camp Hugh Taylor Birch in Yellow Springs, Ohio.