Take a look at the results of studies focusing on the factors that influence purchase decisions. Turns out, the most influential influencers of all are those nearest and dearest: family and friends. True, the influence of social media - blogs, forums, product ratings - is gaining ground, but it still carries less weight than our social circles.

It's been a little more than two years since Publicis said it would buy Digitas for $1.3 billion, and it seems fair, even now, to wonder whether the vibrant independent digital organ that was Digitas could have been rejected by patient Publicis, the big holding company that at the time had arguably the smallest digital footprint of its competitors.

In 2005, before the feds cracked down on it, the online gambling market in the United States alone was estimated at $6 billion, nearly half of global revenues. And there's little overlap between those who game online and those who travel to casinos to play, according to analyst firm River City Group.

"PUBCON attendees with badge can get free admin to LAX at Luxor. Ask for Roq at door." Then, "@VegasConcierge: Cool!" Insider info about hot clubs and freebies comes in a steady stream of tweets from VegasConcierge. This Twitter channel is at the very edge of the interactive juggernaut that is the interactive marketing program of MGM Mirage. The owner of 10 top Vegas resorts also offers a YouTube channel and a desktop widget, the Vegas Valet, which feeds news, photos, info about special events and deals from its resorts.

Encouraging people to associate your brand with user-generated video mashups of nearly naked women is a risky move that would make most brands very nervous, but Procter & Gamble's Gillette was feeling frisky, and it had a new razor to launch. The brand let consumers draw their own connections between copious amounts of smooth bare skin and the Gillette Fusion Power Phenom.

If only this magazine had speakers, reader, we'd welcome you with the warm tones of a disc jockey. Think back to those old am radio days. Remember Murray the K introducing the hits of the day - those infectious grooves that had us all rushing to the record shop to slide our dimes across the counter in exchange for vinyl 45s?

Transforming the way agencies plan, buy and manage online ad inventory, Havas Digital is making the practice far more dynamic, and analogous to the way Wall Street trades equities, commodities and options. (But don't worry, they know what they're doing.)

What sort of a year has it been for Firstborn? "Well, shooting a guy in an animatronic bear costume was definitely a first," senior vice president and executive director Dan LaCivita says with a laugh.

We bestowed the bronze award in search to GroupM Search - which isn't a search agency at all, in the traditional sense. And that's part of the reason they won. As the line between digital and traditional blurs, and clients consolidate their media buys, GroupM has responded by breaking the walls between search, interactive and traditional.

Schematic spent a decade helping clients like Coca-Cola, Walt Disney and Target make their marks on the Web. Still, it remained "this plucky little boutique shop that nobody had heard of," says chief technology officer Matthew Rechs, who has been with the company almost since its inception.