Madison Avenue's obsession with social media may be causing some big brands to refocus their efforts from tried-and-true digital marketing that has been proven to work, especially email.

Email marketers can learn a thing or two about real-time marketing from Oreo's quick turnaround when the lights went out during the Super Bowl. Oreo's "you can still dunk in the dark" was re-tweeted 16,000 times, and email marketers may not be able to react quite as dynamically, being ready to react to news or topical events will at least enable them to be positioned to seize on relevant brand stories.

One in five emails sent from an Australian brand is blocked by users' spam filters, according to a study released by Return Path. The "Australia and New Zealand Email Intelligence Report" estimates 17% of emails from more than 500 brands Down Under never make it into consumers inboxes.