As a fledgling media planner in the mid-1990s, one of the business concepts I had the toughest time understanding was how to determine the appropriate number of media vehicles to use for a given media plan. I never understood why many of my colleagues thought it more efficient to use, say, one or two large magazines in place of 10-12 more niche-oriented ones.

Last week I wrote about the lack of tier-1 domain names. Several readers gave their advice and input. Many readers had some questions and sought advice, so I thought we should discuss the topic more.

It's been a while since I've written about the communications, branding, and PR practices of the Bush Administration. In fact, I doubt I've touched on anything they've been doing in this second term.

Much has been written the last two weeks about why television ratings for NBC's Winter Olympic coverage have been so awful. One of the most obvious answers, if not the most obvious, is lack of honesty in NBC's coverage. For a true freestyle skiing fan, NBC's video was all but unwatchable.

Search, search, search. I find I never tire of reading about search, but I also find the media never gets tired of writing about it, which I am now guilty of as well.

Many ad agency training programs teach their fledgling media planners to engage in a particular exercise known as "A Day in the Life," which is designed to immerse the planner in a typical day in the typical life of a typical member of the media plan's target audience. But in an era of hyperpersonalization, how relevant is A Day in the Life?

Have you tried to research domain names lately? It seems near to impossible these days to create a top level domain name that is true and consistent to your brand.

Have you ever wondered how demographic- or behavioral-specific sites grow into the behemoths some have become? That was the first thing I thought of this week upon reading the reports of Bob Pittman selling his stake in Daily Candy--a stake said to be worth as much as $100 million.

Just before the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Brian Williams spent a moment touting a remarkable technological achievement: NBC would broadcast its coverage of the games in HDTV. I was very excited.

There's one question that I get every time I do an educational presentation for clients, partners and peers: "What keeps you up at night?"