One of the unfortunate turnoffs of big entertainment acts is the accompanying rules that forbid audience recording or broadcasting. Such policies cast a negative tone even months before the event. Consider the ubiquitous "NO CAMERAS/VIDEO/RECORDER" warnings that boldly talk down to fans on Ticketmaster-issued tickets. Which is why I was delighted by my family's recent experience with The Wiggles, the hugely successful rock band for preschoolers, from Australia.

Today is sponsored by the number "nine," just like back when I was a kid and glued to "Sesame Street" in the morning! It's Sept.9, 2009; 9.9.09. If you're feeling lucky or your favorite number is nine, then this is definitely your day! If you're a digital marketer, this could also be your lucky day because in celebration of the number nine, I wanted to bring up the nine most overlooked elements of digital marketing.

According to a recent Nielsen report, U.S advertising media budgets fell by more than $10 billion in just the first six months of 2009. There are a number of forces combining to cause such a massive decline. Of course, there is the overall economy, which is down, and many in the advertising space are very quick to point out that advertising "is the first thing to go in a bad economy." But what is amplifying the retreat from advertising media spending, is that in addition to the poor economy, there is a marked decrease in effectiveness and reach of the …

I frequently preach to my peers at my company that the marketing team is NOT the "marketing business unit." Rather, the marketing team IS the entire company and our external stakeholders. We all contribute to the product, experience and culture that forges our reputation and business success. Departmental structures help drive accountability. But if marketing is not fully embraced as part of everyone's job, then the firm is strategically disadvantaged.

The East versus West Coast debate revisited; I love it. Earlier this week, New York City venture capitalist Fred Wilson wrote a blog post defending the past and future of the city as a home for technology-based start-up companies. He was responding to another blogger's post proclaiming that New York might see "revival" as a home for start-up companies, but also claiming the city had been "irrelevant" in the 2002-2008 Internet boom. Fred took issue with that judgment -- and so do I.

There is no standard for how you define engagement because engagement depends on the objectives of the marketer. But I do think there are three unifying themes necessary to define engagement -- and they are recency, resonance and relevance.

I am willing to issue a challenge to any marketer willing to, over a given period (minimum three months), spend an equal amount through social media and any "traditional" media outlet at scale (minimum of $1 million on each): If the ROI from social media is not equal to that from traditional media, my company will deliver free media until the difference is made up. This means, if you were planning on spending at least $2 million in media next quarter, this would be a potential no-lose situation and a great social media experiment. In addition, I would even be …

Like many of us, I've been steadily watching our path to global content distribution. In this mindset, I have been thinking a lot lately about how we got to this increasingly complicated relationship we have with content. For me, the sequence goes something like this....

One of the biggest overnight sensations in mainstream media and marketing circles has been mommy bloggers. They've stirred up a hurricane of excitement and controversy, but now it's time for daddies to enjoy the spotlight.

Can Anyone Tap the $100 Billion Potential of Hyperlocal News?" That question was posed in the headline of an article in Fast Company chronicling the recent high-profile moves in online community news led by AOL, The New York Times Company and hundreds of others. As I read the headline, two things struck me. One, that the $100 billion number bandied about as the potential size of the "local" online ad market spend has always seemed high to me. And two, why do folks assume that doing local news well online will necessarily bring local online ad dollars with it?