Entertainment marketing is the only business where every product is an event and every product is its own brand. Take a look at the top 10 movies right now. You'll see 10 different brands with their own budgets, imaging and value propositions. The only thing wrong with that picture is that entertainment marketers are relying too much on TV and display advertising and not enough on innovative approaches to reach their audiences.

How to have a winning awards season

To thrive in the digital age, marketers at media and entertainment brands are tasked with building profitable relationships directly with their customers, finding new ways to generate revenue from their rich content assets. Every day, they must delight fans by providing free and engaging content, while funneling them to the most valuable properties, personalities or other revenue-generating sections of their site. It's a challenge that many marketers face, but in my opinion entertainment companies have the toughest challenge.

Cut Copy's song "Need You Now" reminded me of what iPhone fans were probably thinking as they drooled over their monitors watching the official introduction of iPhone 5. And, if you're like a lot of iPhone fans, you woke up Sept. 12 and thought it felt like Christmas or Hanukah and couldn't wait to see what the elves in Cupertino had cooked up for the iPhone 5.

Surprised that viewership was down by almost 50% for the VMAs this year? I'm not. And that dip isn't necessarily a bad thing.