It's that time of year when the editors of MEDIA and OMMA magazines invite nominations and submissions for their annual "Agency of the Year" awards. There is no pro forma submission process and any individual or organization is encouraged to provide any information by Oct. 31 to help with the selection process. The magazines' main criteria are open-ended and focus on agencies, clients and media suppliers that demonstrated "strategic vision," "innovation" and "industry leadership." Please contact Assistant Managing Editor Carrie Cummings at carrie@mediapost.com.

Erstwhile trade magazine Adweek just reported its biggest scoop of the week, that controversial editor-in-chief Michael Wolff is leaving. The news follows weeks of rumors and speculation about the future of the venerable trade magazine, which was sold to Prometheus Global Media by Nielsen Co. last year, and re-launched this year as a media industry-personality driven weekly that eschewed its trade publishing roots. According to Adweek's own report, Executive Editor Jim Cooper will oversee day-to-day operations of both Adweek and Adweek.com. Adweek's coverage did not say why Wolff was leaving, or where he might go next, but quoted him as …

The Ad Council just unveiled a redesigned www.adcouncil .org site. Developed by Washington, DC-based Beaconfire, the new site design features all the creative work produced by volunteer agencies for 50 national PSA campaigns including, Foreclosure Prevention, The Shelter Pet Project and Energy Efficiency. The site also includes tools for sharing PSA content on Facebook and Twitter.

In stark contrast to Altimeter's Charlene Li's opening keynote characterization that Dell is a brand that is completely out of control, Dina Gowar, Global CSMB Advertising Lead, at Dell said the computer marketer actually has a powerful data center that is continuously monitoring all of its users, especially "influeners," continuously to figure out how to influence them.

That's the analogy Director of Global Creative Solutions Marc D'Arcy just struck during GroupM's "What's Next" conference in New York this morning. D'Arcy, who was a "copywriter from New Zealand" before joining Facebook, said he used to "use it like salt."

How many times can Marc D'Arcy use the word "narrative" in an industry keynote presentation? I don't actually know, because I stopped counting midway through his presentation this morning at GroupM's "What's Next" conference in New York. Based on D'Arcy's presentation, I'm going to guess that what's coming next, is more narrative.

Um, I love Charlene Li, and she's one of the smartest people operating in the new media and marketing marketplace, but did anyone review her opening keynote at GroupM's "What's Next" conference in New York this morning? The reason I ask, is that Li, who is founder and head of consultancy Altimeter Group, opened with a really powerful example of a "brand completely out of control," and it just so happens to be one of parent WPP's biggest accounts: Dell Computer.

Interpublic media market intelligence unit Magna Global just released an update to its U.S. advertising outlook, and is leaving its growth estimate unchanged at 1.6% for 2011. Magna said the estimate includes the impact of any incremental ad spending related to political campaigns and the Olympics, which actually shouldn't impact 2011 since they're primarily a factor in 2012. In terms of 2012, Magna cited "persistent weakness in the U.S. economy" as a reason for downgrading its ad growth projection to 2.9% from 4.8% next year, including the effects of incremental spending from political campaigns and the Olympics. "A slowdown in …

Matt Spiegel, CEO of Omnicom's OMG Digital unit, has joined in-game advertising platform Tap.Me as CEO. Founder Joshua Hernandez will continue to serve in the role of executive vice president and chairman. Spiegel joined Omnicom Media Group six years ago when it acquired Resolution Media, the search agency he founded in 2003. Among other things, he launched Accuen, Omnicom's trading desk. Tap.Me describes its in-game ad platform as an "unobtrusive ad experience," that enables marketers' brands to become "a part of the game experience end helping players win."

Jonathan Browning, president and CEO of Volkswagen of America, Inc. and president for the Volkswagen of America brand, will give away 21 Beetles to Chicago residents on Oct. 13. The cars go to people who were lucky audience members of the “Ultimate Favorite Things” giveaway episode on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in November last year. The giveaway will be in the Orland Park area of Chicago.