Tom Phillips, former director of search analytics at Google, has recently stepped into a new role as President and CEO of Media6Degrees, a venture-backed start up. Two weeks into his new position, Phillips shared his thoughts on how next generation advertising will leverage the best of search, display and the social graph.

Even though mobile commerce is still in its infancy, consumers are already getting a taste of buying in an anytime, anywhere scenario and using handsets to buy cinema tickets and make travel reservations, among other things. Online merchants who want to stay ahead of the game should be looking to test the market early or risk being left behind as their competitors take these principles to the next level.

The amended Telemarketer Sales Rule (TSR) from the Federal Trade Commission says that automated sales communications can be delivered only to recipients who have provided their "express written consent" to receive them. Having an existing business relationship will no longer be sufficient approval for organizations to attempt to sell goods or services via an automated phone call.

Welcome to "Patient Critical: Madison Avenue," where new and legacy media vehicles struggle to capture declining advertising dollars, deliver ROI and answer the question: What marketing media are worth saving? Digital media may have set the bar for sales-attribution reporting, but today, that's not enough. Delivering ROI requires an understanding of how all media work together and how spends should shift holistically to achieve the greatest net impact for a client.

I'm back from the Direct Marketing Association's annual conference with a stack of business cards as big as my head. I always return from DMA Annual exhausted, but with a renewed sense of vigor and great story ideas.

Most consumers can name Google, Yahoo and Bing. But are vertical-specific search engines of the same value to marketers as the "big three?" Two experts take sides in the debate.

Omniture is a data company that works with hundreds of technology vendors, including ExactTarget and Silverpop to help combine data with digital channels. It recently partnered with ComScore to help media planners have better audience measurement tools. DMNews chats with Matt Langie, senior director of product marketing at Omniture, about data integration, behavioral targeting legislation and the new partnership

By targeting your e-mail campaign, you can boost loyalty and improve your overall retention rates.

Using e-mail to cross-promote multiple brands can be tricky, but when done right, it can noticeably increase ROI. The idea behind any co-branded effort should be for both brands to partner in a clever way that makes the joint experience better than either brand on its own.

The most opened, read, and acted upon e-mails are automated e-mail campaigns. Marketing Sherpa reports an impressive open rate of over 50% on automated messages, compared to a typical open rate of 20% in 2008.