Yesterday, Google announced the formal launch of Google Instant, a new feature in its core search product that automatically provides real-time recommendations as you type the letters and words in your search query. Is this a big deal?

The next time you're walking down the street, take a moment to realize how much of your day is spent looking down. I realized this the other day when I was in a cab in San Francisco. It was a beautiful, hot (which is rare) day in SF and I didn't notice it for a few minutes because I was too busy looking down. I was engaged with the screen of my iPhone, checking email, checking Facebook, checking the digital status of my life -- and all the while, I was missing the moment. That's when I realized that the …

Marketers often struggle with the "elusive consumer" -- a term used to describe the increasing difficulty of targeting potential customers and capturing their diffusing attention. Now it's time to meet the "elusive worker."

I believe that we are at the beginning of a monumental battle for control of home entertainment by dozens of big companies across the tech, teleco, hardware, content and distribution landscape. Where will the battles be fought? Who will be the key combatants? Here are my thoughts:

The last few weeks have seen a lot of press surrounding the issues of privacy and consumer safety. It's a relatively cyclical discussion that seems to be raised every two to three years, but its gaining steam now that the government is getting more involved. I'm not one to talk politics, nor am I one to sit and here and tell you that everything is acceptable in regards to Internet standards for consumer privacy, but I do want to put some of this discussion in perspective.

If it seems that in what is an increasingly fragmented digital landscape, social games have broken some secret code to building and engaging massive audiences, it's because they have. Look at social gaming giant and far away leader, Zynga and the millions upon millions of engaged consumers spending time with their highly addictive, and ever-evolving games (full disclosure: my company, SVnetwork works extensively with Zynga). Marketers should be asking themselves; what can I learn from social games and apply to my digital marketing efforts?

One of the weird truths in today's marketing environment is that, no matter how sound you are on the supposedly tougher stuff of strategy and operating intelligence, you could still be off track in some very important areas. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say there are at least four areas that may drive you completely nuts if you don't commit to getting them right. The infrastructure, mechanics and data utilization imperative of a cross-channel, digitally oriented world are very demanding.

I've paid attention to the mission, vision and values statements posted on the walls of several corporate offices I've visited recently. Nearly all of them use a lot of big, aspirational words that are combined to create long-winded phrases that are boring and generic -- and too often cliched. With all due respect to the success of the Fortune 500, its listing of mission and values statements quickly becomes obscure after the first dozen or so.

Trend-spotting is the science of identifying where things are headed in popular culture before they get there. It's actually unfair of me to call it a science when it's just as much art as anything else. Trend-spotters are the ultimate professors of popular culture -- but the Web is a powerful tool in that arsenal and just about anyone can be an amateur trend-spotter. If you get good at it, it can have a significant impact from a strategic perspective, and positively inform your clients' business for years to come.

I would argue that more marketers need to measure media success not as the total number of consumers "reached" because a pixel loads on a page, but rather the total time consumers actually spend with their marketing message.