With DoubleClick Inc. having launched its Motif rich-media offering in 2004, upward of a dozen people were likely surprised when Atlas Solutions ? DoubleClick's primary rival ? recently launched its own, Atlas Rich Media. It is not an understatement to say both companies were late to the dance. That Gannett Company Inc. recently paid $100 million to acquire PointRoll, the dominant U.S. rich-media vendor (RMV), suggests not so subtly that rich media is a valuable business.

I usually like to concentrate on rich media (RM) in my articles, but in this one I will focus on something completely new that, next to RM, looks passé. There are a lot of Web advertising formats, a lot of different and diverse media, and most of all, a lot of different ways to achieve the same goal. A marketer can chose from a wide spectrum of advertising possibilities, especially on the Web where creativity is, in essence, unlimited.

Over the last several months people from all corners of our agency have been pinging me about podcasting. Alas, my attempts to ignore them have failed. What follows is an overdue response to their queries, plus some observations about how strategic marketers might put podcasts to work.