Marketing is far more important now than it ever has been in the past. Marketing has always worked hand in hand with sales, and in olden days the model required marketers to push to retail, and the salespeople or the retail environment were responsible for the hard push to create action and close the deal. These days, more and more consumers take the process of decision-making and purchase consideration into their own hands. In some cases I've heard numbers that 80% of the purchase process is decided before someone even speaks to a salesperson.

The social media revolution ushered in two new, seemingly contradictory hallmarks: transparency and anonymity. Anonymity gave the Average Joe a voice and a vote. Through his (or her) concurrence or dissent, rating, rave, rant or review, the balance of power swung radically to anoint this "median voter" as the judge, jury and executioner.

Did you see the US Airways porn tweet? The #myNYPD disaster? The Air Canada breaks suitcases video? OMG! WTF? #someonesgettingfired! #epicbrandfail!!

I'm sure you've been following the New Zealand economy extremely closely lately. Who hasn't? Dairy is booming and billions of dollars are being spent on the rebuild of earthquake-shattered Christchurch. The financial outlook is so strong that, in March, it became the first developed nation to raise interest rates from record lows -- and it raised them again this week. It's hard to deny that things are looking good for the tiny nation.

It's that time of year again: when we celebrate TV media. Weeknights are dotted with presentations, parties and dinners, star-studded with on-air talent, enriched with goody bags, gift cards and giveaways. All too often, rhetoric outstrips reality. Many pundits tell us what will finally happen at this years' upfront. I'll go the other way. Here are my top 5 list of things that WON'T happen:

This is the year historians will look back upon and recall as the year television changed forever. Many people will say TV is in the throes of a creative peak, with shows like "Mad Men" and "Game of Thrones" at their best. Some will look at this period as when TV ratings were defined to include DVR +7, online viewing and more. Potentially, this is the year Apple will release a true TV experience integrated into its own large screen device, not just channeled through its own set-top box. With all of these going on at the same time, it …

Dear IBM: It may have taken 62 spots and a captive audience of golf fans, but by gosh you've actually done it. Congratulations! You're the first company to finally define, in human terms, with true emotion and real examples, why "big data" matters.

Over the last 18 months, I have been fortunate to work with quite a few CMOs and integrated marketing leaders from many well-known brands. All these senior marketers are very aware that their consumers and indeed their own world has changed and continues to change at breakneck speed. I believe there is no need to explain this fact to them anymore; they live it every day. What they do struggle with is this: how to evolve their organization and marketing process to create meaningful connections with consumers in today's confusing and hyped-up marketing economy. Their problems are not unlike those …

A survey released on Monday showed that most people are ignorant about the way the Internet works. That wasn't exactly what it said, of course. Conducted by marketing company Gfk and reported on by my MediaPost colleague Wendy Davis, what the survey actually said was that only 35% of people agree with the statement, "I use free services online and on smartphones/tablets and don't mind if my data is potentially also used for advertising purposes." Reports like these have been coming out since our Cro-Magnon ancestors sat in a cave, fired up a computer, and logged on to the first …

The subprime crisis of 2008 surprised a lot of people. But looking back, we are almost as mad at ourselves for not seeing it coming as we were at those who created the crisis. Media, specifically advertising, is about to go through a very similar period, and we are going to be just as angry looking back. In addition, unlike (perhaps) Wall Street, we are not too big to fail.