Search leader Google again topped the list of consumers' favorite online brands, with Yahoo and Amazon behind it, according to Forrester Research online brand analysis published November 16. Facebook, offered for the first time to participants as a choice, finished as the fourth choice.

The Direct Marketing Club of New York honored the giants of direct marketing this week at the DMCNY's Silver Apple Awards at New York's Hudson Theater. The cocktail reception burst at the seams in the art-deco theater lobby; current honorees rubbed shoulders alongside a number of past honorees, many of whom were in attendance. Gawkers like me simply took it all in. I've covered direct marketing now for a dozen years, so I enjoyed seeing the mix of past and present movers and shakers and speaking with some of them.

More than half (53%) of retailers' 2009 holiday advertising budgets are staying at the same level as last year, while 41% of retailers are seeing their ad spending allowances increase, according to analysis by Google and OTX, a consumer research and consulting firm.

Digital out-of-home media spending in the US will increase 2% year-over-year to $2.47 billion for 2009, according to a study by PQ Media released this week. However, that growth is muted compared to recent years: In 2008, the segment grew 9.2%; and in 2007, it expanded by 24.3%.

Google has agreed to acquire AdMob, a mobile display ad network, in an all-stock deal valued at $750 million. Susan Wojcicki, VP for product management, and Vic Gundotra, VP of engineering, said on Google's company blog on November 9 that "this acquisition will enhance Google's existing expertise and technology in mobile advertising, while also giving advertisers and publishers more choice."

In an interview, DM legend Stan Rapp discusses how direct and digital marketing are evolving to meet marketers' needs — and how this may lead to a different term for the industry.

Hewlett-Packard, a marketer that has moved 40% of its ad budget to the digital space, is beta-testing i-catcher, a behavioral tool that it plans to launch in March 2010. I-catcher charts consumers' attention to each piece of content on a Web page. Some HP customers are using the product in beta, but the company would not reveal the identity of those clients.

Email Data Source last week debuted a Twitter monitoring tool at the Ad:tech trade show in New York. The platform will be available to clients, with plans to market it to prospects as well.

With Thanksgiving falling late in November, consumers will start shopping prior to so-called Black Friday and Cyber Monday, according to Experian's data analysis. Those days mark the start of the Holiday shopping season.

Google doodles are Google's versions of the home page logo that celebrate events and anniversaries. Google today began featuring Sesame Street's beloved characters as a special doodle series in the run up to Sesame Street's 40th anniversary on November 10th. Big Bird was featured today on the Google homepage. Conveying his height, we only see Big Bird from the waist down; his legs form the L in Google.