Dear Tim: I don't envy you. You are following in the footsteps of a man revered by millions, hailed as a genius, a visionary, a modern-day Edison. You are building on a string of product launches that revolutionized music, laptops, mobile, and telephony.. To say that Steve Jobs is a tough act to follow is like saying Everest is a tough mountain to climb. It is the toughest. But the toughest scenarios house our greatest opportunities to shine -- and such an opportunity lies before you.

Ad stewardships companies Donovan Data Systems and MediaBank recently announced plans to merge into a combined company to be called MediaOcean. How should we think about it? I will start with this premise: the advertising and media industry needs better and truly open and neutral multiplatform advertising management, stewardship and billing.

Where do you think the future of social media lies? Is it in the world of branding, or is it the world of direct response, lead-gen, cost-per-acquisition-type marketing?

Data is not the Holy Grail. Data does not trump solid strategic thinking and planning. Data is not the magic cure for all your marketing woes. Data is, however, a tool that, when used properly, can help provide insights to drive marketing performance, reduce guesswork and assumptions, and provide an advantage over your competitors. So when does data fail you?

There are not many CEOs whose deaths can evoke a grief similar to that of a rock star or a royal, but Steve Jobs was so much more than a CEO. Directly or indirectly, he changed the everyday lives of millions. If you listen to an mp3 player; if you use a smartphone; if you access a computer via a graphical user interface, Jobs has been a part of your life. It doesn't even matter if your devices come from Apple. The impact of the company's products on the landscape has created its own gravity field, warping the space/time of …

Yesterday, Microsoft announced that its Xbox 360 would now carry free and subscription services in most major markets around the globe. Beyond gaming and Netflix and Hulu, which have been part of Xbox for some time, the connected gaming console will now carry channels like ESPN, HBO, Bravo, Syfy, BBC and services like Comcast Xfinity, Verizon FIOS and TT&T and previously Web-based content like Google's YouTube. For all the talk of potentially disruptive Over-the-Top TV services, this is probably the most significant move we've seen since Netflix and Amazon launched their streaming services. Am I being a bit extreme? …

The Internet advertising business is approximately 17 years old, depending on who you talk to. You've heard that with age comes wisdom, but I also think that in an industry sense, with maturity should come simplicity. But when is that going to happen for us?

Has your company augmented its brand strategy or brand positioning within the last three years? If not, you may want to drop everything and add this as a priority on your marketing calendar for early 2012. Now is the time to take a long hard look at how the dramatic evolution in digital consumer experiences and expectations has expanded the scope of the very fundamental concept of what your brand means to consumers.

My evening commute from Manhattan back to Connecticut often takes me by Y&R, the storied New York ad agency that has been located at 285 Madison Avenue for nearly a century. It was at this same agency where Draper Daniels, the real life inspiration for television's "Mad Men" Don Draper character, got his first job in advertising as a copywriter in the 1940s. My trip up Madison Avenue and down memory lane recently got me to thinking: Would the character that Draper Daniels inspired be relevant in today's advertising industry? Could Don Draper's ability to move people with words …