When search and interactive agency iCrossing launched destination Web sites for Vail Resorts' properties including Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado and Heavenly in California and Nevada, the goal was to integrate all of Vail's resorts under one umbrella.

Google came out of its Internet shell to do a TV ad during the Super Bowl for the very first time.

Brand advocacy is a term that is thrown around a lot within the social media spectrum. Conversations usually center on finding brand advocates who will serve as a social media lightning rod and generate an avalanche of user-generated content from a community based on their actions. Marketers are just as likely to find these mythical advocates as they are to track down Big Foot riding a unicorn.

2009 was not kind to most retailers and there were very few positive stories when it came to sales results. A rising unemployment rate and a drop in consumer confidence both weighed heavily on consumer spending the entire year, and with the unemployment rate still at 10% for December, we'll see this trend continue for at least the next few months. But the news is not all bad.