See how the crowd at the ANA ranked creative, media, CRM and analytics.

This is an audience that likes its TV commercials. The post-lunch session question addressed the demise of the :30 spot. Is it dead? Is it dying? Is the rumor of its demise over-exaggerated? Three-quarters of the people in the room said they think the demise of the :30 spot is overplayed. Mary Dillon, CMO of McDonald's, is now up showing a lot of their spots as she describes the local relevance/global brand approach. Six million more people are eating at McDonald's right now. But speaking of :30 second commercials, Dillon was quick to say that their commercials …

Dexter Filkins, who covered the Iraq invasion from Day One for The New York Times, is the post-luncheon speaker and he is telling us tales of life in Iraq. His stories are at times amusing and also very sad, which is what he says life is like in that country. Most of his listeners aren't journalists and I do wonder if they understand the depth of the calling that Filkins has assumed. One really crazy thing he told about, arriving in Baghdad in a rented Yukon, reminds me of the two weeks I spent in Beirut in 1983, one …

Roger Adams from The Home Depot is talking about how the chain is trying to come back through emotional connections and conversations with target audiences like women.

AT&T's SVP of advertising talks about rebranding the company after nine mergers over the past few years.

Anheuser-Busch's EVP/CCO Bob Lachky let us in on an ongoing product test of a new product, Chelada, a blend of Bud and Clamato. Clamato? Clam juice? He says it's big in the Latino culture and predicts it will be huge in '08.

Bob Lachky, the guy behind "I love you, man" used the "Wassup?" series to demonstrate one of Anheuser-Busch's guiding marketing principles: Don't leave an idea too early. Evolve!

Steve Ballmer remembers when he was an assistant brand manager at P&G and -- by and large -- word processors didn't even exist.

The first thing any marketer should do right now, says Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, is to look at your Web site. Make an investment in your existing Web site. Is it doing all that it can? Is it filling a brand mission?

Microsoft's Steve Ballmer expects one day soon to see his TV wake up when he says the word "Bill," recognize his voice, find where it he world Bill Gates is, to pass along to Bill his comment, "Hey, Bill, did you see Tiger make that putt?"