Where are your customers is a provocative question and one many marketers no doubt are asking of themselves. It's more complicated to answer this question when customers have such a wide array of choice and the megaphone of social media through which to communicate with peers and the wider world, yet marketers have to find ways to meet customer demand for highly relevant communications.

As we turn the page on the calendar, put away the garland and box up the pre-lit tree, the dust has just begun to settle on 2011 holiday commerce numbers. Early returns, particularly from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, signaled a major win for mobile commerce.

Automotive manufacturer Ford Motor Co. unveiled the 2013 Ford Escape on Nov. 15 using social game developer Zynga's popular "Words With Friends" game and a competition against actress Jenny McCarthy, who played the Scrabble-like game live in Los Angeles.

Wikipedia defines "information design" as "the skill and practice of preparing information so people can use it with efficiency and effectiveness. Where data is complex or unstructured, a visual representation can express its meaning."

It's Black Friday. A crowd gathers outside your brand's flagship retail location. Despite the expected shopper crush, the doors remain locked long after opening hours because the store manager has overslept.

How's this for an attention-grabbing headline, courtesy of the Associated Press: "Here we go again: Another big down day for Dow." As I write this column, the Dow is going berserk again in a major stock sell-off on the heels of poor economic reports and European debt woes.

Industry self regulation of online behavioral tracking is falling far short of expectations, according to a Stanford University Security Lab study published in July. Online ad companies, including 24/7 Real Media and AudienceScience, violated their own policies on tracking opted-out consumers, according to the research (page 3).

The daily deals sector has garnered plenty of headlines in the marketing press recently, including in this publication. That's no surprise given its size (pegged at $1.25 billion by BIA/Kelsey) and judging by the players who've launched daily deals services — Google, Facebook, Amazon.com and AT&T — to compete with the likes of Groupon and LivingSocial.

Direct marketing agencies got their mojo back this year as revenues improved and clients began spending across marketing disciplines again. Where the watch words last year were "belt-tightening" and "shrinking budgets," this year recovery and steady growth are what top executives are talking about.

The news grabbing headlines this month was eBay's $2.4 billion acquisition of e-commerce services giant GSI Commerce, its bid to take on industry leader Amazon.com.