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This week, Crain’s Chicago Business published an article titled, “Line between traditional ad agencies, digital upstarts blurs. It highlights the increasing need and demand for digital media. Today, marketers are no longer having one-way conversations with consumers via traditional channels. Instead, marketers and consumers are engaging in two-way conversations, where consumers are becoming active participants and secondary marketers via multiple digital screens. This is the future.

During American Idol’s widely popular Phillip Phillips’ season, Media Post published an article surrounding the success of a social Twitter campaign Flock to Unlock. This prime example of a healthy media mix leveraged traditional television to blow up the Twittersphere and create an earned trending topic around advertiser products. The combination of media channels created a well-rounded experience for engaged viewers, allowing them to easily connect with advertisers.

Read the Entire Story on Crain's Chicago Business 

Marketers are finding more value in local, digital environments. According to BIA/Kelsey, advertising revenues from all local interactive and digital will grow 13% in 2012. For this year, top performers will include mobile search (up 77.2%), online video (up 51.6%), and social media (up 26.3%). Additionally, for some media, like newspapers, digital ad revenues will be the only source of growth. The growth in different local media segments will drive an overall increase making digital over 25% of the local ad market.

Read the Entire Story on Digiday

Consumers are everywhere in media nowadays. It’s time advertisers catch up. The numbers make it clear that the modern media consumer, aka the digital native, is skipping across media platforms all the time. A recent study conducted by Time Inc. and Innerscope Research showed that digital natives change their media platforms 27 times per hour, while “digital immigrants” (those weaned on traditional media) switch media platforms 17 times per hour.

“It’s a boom-time business,” as stated in a recent LA Times article, which highlights how select agencies are pushing big brands beyond traditional advertising to take brand storytelling online. One agency President, Eric Johnson of Ignited, said it best, “There has been a fundamental shift in behavior that is shaking the underpinnings of the whole media and marketing industry. Everything needs to be digitally connected.” The opportunities are endless and the key is to find the best ways to accelerate this exciting transformation.

A recent Digiday article titled, Why Agencies Will Double Down on Strategy, highlights how agencies are increasing their focus on strategy to help clients gain deeper insights into digital opportunities. According to a study conducted by agency-client relationship experts, RSW/US, 76% of agencies now provide strategic services, up from 59 percent in 2009; however, only 16 percent of marketer clients surveyed, say they make use of them. This indicates that there are still hurdles that need to be overcome.

Mashable released a pretty interesting article last week discussing the work the FBI is conducting to build a database of iris scans throughout the U.S. By 2014, tests will take place that leverage cameras throughout the U.S. to track criminals, fugitives, and suspects through eye scans and report their whereabouts in real time. For everyone who gets skittish about ‘Big Brother,’ I’ll pause for your shudders.