Original Digital is dedicated to those who either were part of the original introduction of digital to the masses or who are constantly pushing it as a way of life. It becomes a lifestyle. Something to hold onto and be proud of. Our point of view is unique because we know what life was like before the internet, and we know how things can run better with digital-first as a mindset. We know how to navigate the waters of the modern world because we see it through a digital lens and that always interests us.

Original Digital is the brainchild of me, Cory Treffiletti. I have been part of the digital landscape since 1992 when I saw my first browser and I started doing online promotion for a local record label. It quickly became part of my professional career with my first (and only) record label, and in my day job in the advertising agency business. I helped launch one of the first digital ad agencies in the world, and continued an entrepreneurial streak including working with more than 80 start-ups, incubating 5 of my own, and acting as CMO for 3 more. All in all, I have had a successful run, but most important to me is a career that is focused on transformation and thinking differently about topics.

I love to connect disparate dots, and I know others do too. I’ve been doing it in my weekly column for Mediapost every Wednesday since 2000, and in my book called Internat Ad Pioneers. Now I want to create a place for more ideas, and for others to share their ideas too.

This community is about fostering people to be comfortable in finding new ways of doing things because that is all we’ve been doing for the last 25+ years.  Nobody ever showed us how to do what we do because we created most of it.  We generate new ideas weekly. We approach every piece of insight from a new angle. We want to be different because being the same as others is boring. When new formats emerge, we gravitate towards them because that is all we know how to do.

It’s not because we think we’re smart.  We gravitate to the new because we are afraid.  We are afraid of being yesterday’s news.  We are afraid of being disinter-mediated and passed by.  We are afraid that something will come along that we don’t know how to manage, and we will be replaced.  When I first entered the workforce, there weren’t a lot of great jobs and we were told to fight for everything, and always be learning something new.  Fortunately for me, the landscape changed almost immediately and something I took for granted the previous three or four years turned into a wave I am still successfully riding to this day.  

Join the community and get our free newsletter. I write it myself, unless you see someone else’s name in there. I will invite others from time to time who have an idea and give them a platform to share it. Sign up (it’s free to you), and feel free to send me a note if you have ideas you think we should cover, or if you have something to share as well. If you know me, you know how to get a hold of me :-)