Direct Marketing News spoke with Nick Moore, chief creative officer and EVP of Wunderman, about the trends he sees on the horizon for agencies as they move into the new year.

For a peek at the future of holding company Publicis Groupe's VivaKi unit, one need only look to its launch of CRM agency CRM365. Not only did it launch without a single client, but managing director Alec Bokman pointed out that CRM365 isn't even really an agency, but rather a software-as-a-service company.

This year's Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend proved a big one for e-commerce — and mobile commerce in particular. Thanks to a combination of generous deals and increasingly savvy and mobile-focused consumers, the biggest shopping weekend of the year was bigger than ever for online retailers.

Media services companies ZenithOptimedia and GroupM softened their independent global ad spending predictions for 2012 in forecasts released in early December. MagnaGlobal, a unit of advertising giant Interpublic, also cut its global advertising forecasts for 2011 and 2012, citing a "worsening economic outlook." But with positive effect of quadrennial events, such as the Summer Olympics, European soccer championship and U.S. presidential elections, will there still be some winning channels?

South Carolina-based business law firm Collins & Lacy went from a boutique firm to having a statewide presence. The key to this expansion was management's decision to invest in a marketing department, which had previously left communications to its attorneys.

Talk about your "static" emails. On Jan. 2, Dish Network contacted a Direct Marketing News staffer who willingly agreed to accept emails from the satellite TV services provider. Poor staffer.

The embattled U.S. Postal Service (USPS) faces a host of new challenges, several of which threaten to directly impact marketers. However, many who rely on direct mail say that in spite of the tumult, they'll wait and see how things pan out before altering marketing strategy.