• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, March 18, 2008

Consumers' lives are filed with niche interests. To catch their attention, you need to build media plans that include widgets, mobile campaigns and USB flash drives inserted into magazines.Â

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Research firm eMarketer estimates that U.S. companies will spend $40 million in 2008 to create, promote and distribute widgets and applications, up from $15 million in 2007.Â

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Widgets, built for a specific platform such as Facebook, are being implemented by many of the 69 million adults and 15 million teens eMarketer estimates will use social network sites in 2008. That represents 43.5% of adults, and 77% of the teen Internet population, according to the research firm.Â

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During the opening keynote at OMMA Hollywood Tuesday morning, Alan Cohen, president, West Coast Initiative North America, says hire fresh thinkers, inject creativity, start the conversation, leave the digital breadcrumbs behind, capitalize on what's next and finding out something that no one else knows, and making media market for you.Â