Randall Rothenberg, CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), was recently quoted in an article saying that venture capitalists were the biggest obstacle to our industry. "Venture capital has supported and financed a bunch of chaos," Rothenberg said. Unsurprisingly, the response from the VC industry was swift and harsh. The venture capitalists argue that they have helped bring tremendous innovation to the media industry, funding startups like Yahoo, Google, Facebook and Twitter. The problem is that these are not the only startups that VC money has funded. If you have worked at a media agency at any time over the …

As most of us in the industry know, mobile Web usage hasn't monetized for advertising nearly as well as "on PC" usage has. Earlier this week at the All Things D Conference, Kliener Perkins' Mary Meeker told us that rates for mobile Web advertising are only 20% of the rates for Web ads presented on personal computers.

One of my favorite talks at CeBIT Australia last week was from Russian billionaire Eugene Kaspersky. While the other keynoters offered rosy visions of growth and opportunity, Kaspersky -- whose company, Kaspersky Lab, makes security software -- discussed only risk. "Risk for you, opportunity for me," he shrugged, in a Russian accent straight from central casting. His entire talk was supported by a single slide, outlining the five biggest risks he sees in the Digital Age in ascending order of severity: privacy, cybercrime, Internet IDs, social media manipulation, and cyberwarfare/terrorism

Let's get creative for a minute. I think it's safe to say the banner is not the end product of display-based Web advertising -- but what will be? What will Web advertising evolve to become?

I was passing through the baggage claim at LaGuardia Airport when I stumbled on a terribly odd contraption mounted to a wall. From a distance, I had no idea what it was. At first, it resembled those tired-looking ATM machines you often see in New York City delis, with a screen, keyboard and credit card reader. But its black handset also resembled a retro payphone. Yet it also had a black industrial-grade box with a peephole, bolted to the top. WTF was this?

I'm filing this column from Sydney, Australia, where I spoke at CeBIT earlier this week on how social media is completely transforming the way we engage with each other and get motivated to participate in causes. It's an interesting topic. The "slacktivism" of privileged Westerners has been amply mocked by meme-generators Webwide: "Oh, so you posted about Kony on Facebook? You must be quite the activist!" So let's be clear. Liking a page supporting democracy in Syria doesn't make me an activist, and won't result in the overthrow of a government. But it's still worthwhile. I've moved one step further …

Tom Hagen once said, "This is business. It's not personal." That memorable line was uttered in "The Godfather," arguably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, cinematic masterpieces of all time. My passion for that film and the characters it created put aside, that line is a lie.

A few days ago, we landed safely in New York Harbor after sailing over 1,000 miles, nonstop, from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. on my family's 46-foot sloop. I was with my dad, my five-year-old son, and two additional experienced sailing friends. It was a great trip.

Last week MEC, the global media agency where I worked from 2002-2008, marked its 10th year in business. The agency was the result of a merger between The Media Edge and CIA (Chris Ingram and Associates). To mark MEC's decade of success, I would like to share 10 things that I learned about media and business in general during my time at the agency:

Merriam-Webster defines it as "the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service." The Chartered Institute of Marketing says it's "the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably." But I, of course, have an alternate definition, which is this: Marketing is a process of recognition. It is the process by which you recognize your customers and the process by which they recognize you.