A wit once remarked on how silly it was for marketers to use pumped-up terms like 'innovation' and 'breakthrough' to describe set product changes, while peacockish fashionistas do just fine with the phrase 'next season.' In that spirit, let's leave the hyperbole to toothbrush commercials -- how many breakthroughs in brushing 'technology' can one stand, anyway? -- and take a sober look at the fall rich media season. They'll be no shortage of venues, for one. CBS, CNN, and ABC, among others, have all got loads of room for video ads. I mentioned America Online last week, which is …

Oh, did I have a goooood one for you this week: My own disquieting RM-themed version of "The Aristocrats" joke that would have sent Gilbert Gottfried to the window for air. Sadly, management got wind at the last second and reduced my masterpiece to one predictable, sanitized word, which might in fact describe the point of the joke better than any four letter word: Timing. I know, I know, not exactly a side-splitter, but I think it's as fundamental a principal for the comic as it is for the marketer, the manager, and the deployment of creative.

Those of you just getting home from summer camp might put aside the calamine lotion and consider that Gannett Co. is already exploiting its recent $100 million acquisition of PointRoll, and simultaneously debasing the future of rich media as we know it. In short, Gannett's USAToday.com said last week that its online advertisers now have access to PointRoll's rich media formats at no additional charge, provided they pay a minimum cost-per-thousand impression rate. Their expressed hope is to give marketers an added incentive to advertise on USA Today's site, and a reason to use PointRoll's ad-serving tools when …

Alright folks, time to get smart. Big money's being reallocated online so it's all the more important to be aware of the forces affecting rich media. Let's consider a few. Firstly, there's the "one-stop-shop" phenomenon. Not only are digital marketers like aQuantive's Atlas getting 'rich,' but shops once devoted exclusively to rich media have taken on non-rich ad serving.

BEGIN TRANSMISSION: .....attention all readers.....your normally scheduled geeked-out chatter concerning rich media will not be aired today...please stay tuned for the following special program...sponsored by (insert brand here). Anyone picture an old-school TV or a radio while reading the above? Yes? Well how's that for a rich media execution!? I tapped into the unlimited k of your mind and created the ultimate branded experience...(please refrain all comments on how cheesy that just was).