• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 19, 2007

Hollywood, Calif. -- Media ownership can be like your vintage train set in your garage – a leisure pursuit, possibly with some high level crashes. With those diversions, you may not want talk about the current new media metrics -- not ‘return on investment,’ not ‘monetization,’ not “relevance.” But if you avoid those discussions don’t complain that your media business isn’t working -- either old, traditional media or new digital media. Shelly Palmer, managing partner of Advanced Media Venture Group, who moderated the early morning OMMA Hollywood panel today called, “Big Media – Disintermediated,” might have made OMMA organizers cringe a bit with this statement concerning those that refuse those new marketing conversations: “I ask those people to leave the room now. You don’t have a business -- you have a hobby.” Those marketing tools are more important now than ever, he says -- new locomotives.