All the recent backlash against spam has caused a serious downturn in my recommendation of email as a useful marketing tool for our clients, and I'm sure that many other agencies are feeling the same way. "Opt-in email" has become almost a dirty word.

David Cohen's guest Spin on Friday made some valid points, but I think a merger of the online and traditional media editions of Media Magazine doesn't make sense. At least it doesn't right now.

Anti-US Foreign Policy and anti-American sentiments have grown since 9/11. What have brands done about it? Some have been as bold as ever. Others have scaled back, and several are just plain confused. I am happy to say that branding isn't politics... necessarily. There have been several recent studies on the most successful global brands. According to Business Week magazine, consumers in other countries tend to separate political beliefs from brand favorability.

Today's Online Spin features special guest writer David Cohen, senior-VP and interactive media director at Universal McCann Interactive. In today's Spin, Cohen argues for a single edition of Media Magazine. MediaPost currently publishes separate editions for online and traditional media practioners. Let him know what you think.

How does one measure buzz? There are many traditional methodologies for measuring buzz, most of which involve pre and post studies that measure such traditional metrics as brand awareness and intent. The problem with this type of analysis is it takes time and cannot be acted upon quickly. I propose that there is a better way of measuring and reacting to the buzz that is generated by utilizing search.

Last week, Nielsen announced that it had plans to start looking at measuring households with digital video recorders (DVRs). To many in the media and ad business this seemed like a logical thing to do. The growth of the TiVo subscriber base--currently estimated to be at just over one million--and cable companies' inclusion of DVR capabilities with standard digital cable boxes necessitated that Nielsen, as a television ratings company, take action.

According to ClickZ News, a lawsuit has been filed against BobVila.com and its marketing agency by a California ISP, charging that CAN-SPAM has been violated. I'm not going to try to defend BobVila.com. If they did use fraudulent headers and did omit a physical mailing address in their mailings, they deserve to have a suit filed against them. I'm glad that there's a law on the books that will help fight spam, but applying it against BobVila.com is like hitting up a kid's lemonade stand for state sales tax.

Last year, when I was on the agency side of the fence, I participated and saw several new business pitches. Now that I am a consult, I get asked about the process and the experience. I guess I didn't realize a lot of people probably haven't seen such a thing. Because there is no easy way to describe it, I've put together a list of steps:

You've all read the news by now - announced Tuesday. Yahoo! added paid inclusion to its Search results. The announcement was an interesting one, leading with about 500 words dedicated to new relationships with National Public Radio (NPR), The New York Public Library, The National Science Digital Library, and the Library of Congress - each of which should enhance the content that users find in their research-oriented searches, and none of which is paid, of course.

I have to admit something to y'all. It's been a while since I've handled insertion orders and contracts and the other logistical elements of buying and executing a campaign. But lately, I've been working to get a big campaign for a client up and running and for the most part, have had a good time. But something I wasn't prepared for was the need to go to law school to deal with all the stipulations and exceptions that are carried on nearly every contract going under signature.