Are you passionate about the positions you take on digital marketing issues? Do you question the biases of the research you use, or the methodologies of the testing and optimization approaches employed by your agency? What about the validity and value of the targeting data used by your media and ad tech partners? How often do you engage in debates with your colleagues?

It has become entirely automatic for me to turn to technology solutions for logistical challenges. Hosting a movie screening? Ticketbud. Memorial invitations? Paperless Post. Wedding planning? EWedding. Since you're reading this column, I'm guessing you're a kindred spirit. Any tool that automates the process, crowd-sources the labor, and facilitates the outcome is a welcome additional to our arsenal, am I right? We forget that not everyone is like us.

This is the time of year when marketing pundits launch into the inevitable debate of whether it makes sense to advertise on the Super Bowl or not. It's easily the single largest advertising event of the year, and there's a football game, too! Coming a close second to that debate is whether the Internet or TV will become the dominant form of advertising. Both these debates are ridiculous. Why? It's simple. The answer to every question is "yes."

Most brands seem to understand that mobile apps must provide clear utility or entertainment value to the consumer. Some have actually achieved this in execution. However, few are truly transformative, more than a box checked off a list of digital tactics.

According to John Durham at CatalystSF, there were only eight business days in 2011 without an industry event. A quick look at the conference calendar confirms this year appears to be no different. Given this onslaught of events, it's important to prioritize the conferences that are crucial to attend. Otherwise it might be difficult to get any work done at all! Here are some of the events that I'm looking forward to this year:

Let me tell you what it's like to go skiing in New Zealand. First of all, it's awesome. I mean, you can surf and ski on the same day. You can see the ocean from the slopes. You can ski glaciers. But it's not easy to get to. If you want to visit the largest commercial ski area in the South Island, you have to drive a 10-mile dirt road; as often as not you're required to put chains on your tires.

In the spirit of all the editorial writers, columnists and pundits who offer up predictions for 2012, here are thoughts on why 2012 will be the year of television (once again):

Welcome to 2012. It's a whole new year, and potentially a new beginning, assuming that the Mayans are incorrect and the world won't end this year. As it is (most likely) a new beginning, I thought it might be time to share a New Year's resolution, and one that you might find useful for yourself. My 2012 is all about time management.

Despite a tumultuous year for stocks, thanks to the European debt crisis and an American debt freakout of its own, the major stock indexes ended 2011 virtually unchanged. The same cannot be said for the media advertising industry. Whether it was agencies or media companies, many publicly traded media businesses had a year they would rather forget.