Funny. Thanks to Heather.

• Are U.K. Shops Losing Their Touch in the Digital World?
  The London ad scene, which has long produced groundbreaking TV commercials that are the envy of New York creatives, is suffering through an identity crisis. Slowness in adapting to the digital reality is causing some intense navel-gazing, with many concluding that U.K. agencies and marketers have to get up to speed — and fast. David Droga grew up in Australia admiring British advertising as the best in the world, and at age 29 was made executive creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi London. Mr. Droga has since moved on — he left London for New York in 2003 — but he claims that U.K. creativity is still pretty much back where he left it nearly seven years ago. "There is no question that TV, press and outdoor are still the primary focus in the U.K.," Mr. Droga said. "There is less integration there, and a tendency to default to the safety of TV and posters." I might point out to Dave that this is probably true of the big shops in the US …
  (tags: uk socialmedia)
• Jameson defies recession
  Jameson has posted double-digit growth for 10 consecutive years, but the Irish whiskey brand's most recent success has come with a greater degree of difficulty. For one thing, traffic in bars and restaurants is significantly down this year, which would normally pose a huge problem for a brand that draws 40% of its sales "on-premise." But Jameson's sales in bars and restaurants have risen an astonishing 20% — a payoff from the brand's inroads with the affluent young professionals least affected by the recession.
  (tags: jameson)
• Channel 4 kicks off 3D Week tonight with Paul O'Grady and the Queen
  Channel 4 is hosting a week of 3D programming and advertising starting from 5pm today with 'The Paul O'Grady Show' followed by 'The Queen in 3D' at 9pm. O'Grady's show will appear in three dimensions at points during the programme, while the Queen documentary features a 3D colour newsreel of Elizabeth II, created over 50 years ago during her Coronation year and shot by cameramen Bob Angell and Arthur Wooster.
  (tags: 3d)

Twinity – The Berlin Wall
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Twinity has reconstructed a true-to-scale section of the wall in virtual Berlin.

Linden Lab unveils Sadville: Enterprise Edition (theregister.co.uk)

Second Life Virtual Meetings (ecombizcenter.blogspot.com)

Second Life Goes Behind The Firewall (readwriteweb.com)

Fall of the Berlin Wall: 20th anniversary celebrations (guardian.co.uk)

Top Digital Marketing Trends for 2010: Flash, Crowdsourcing, Info-Art
As 2010 fast approaches, digital marketers are gearing up for yet another year of changes that will incorporate both the transformational and the incremental. From the economy’s influence on the burgeoning “do-it-yourself” culture to an increasing reliance on collective wisdom, information-based art, and remote computing, digital experts at Last Exit (via MarketingCharts) have put together the following list of top digital marketing trends they believe will play out in the year ahead.

2010: The Year of the Good Idea

Judy Franks believes that if the industry can begin to look at the media landscape as a whole and less at its parts, and understand the ways in which it is changing, 2010 can still be the “year of the good idea.”

Agency bosses too old and change resistant, claims Sorrell
WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell (aged 64) claims that brands are not spending enough online because the people who run their agencies are too old and resistant to change. Delivering the opening keynote session at ad:tech New York, Sorrell criticised brands for investing an average of just 13 per cent of their marketing budget online despite the rapid increase in digital media consumption.

Why Digital Agencies Aren’t Ready to Lead
Ana Andjelic opines: “Any conversation about digital marketing these days includes at least one mention that traditional agencies just “don’t get it.” While this may be correct, it’s equally true that digital agencies are not ready to take the lead. Look at the typical digital agency. It excels in exploring new horizons. It supports a flat and loose organizational structure in which a developer has access to the CEO. And it makes sure everyone’s opinion is heard. It’s one big crazy family. Digital agencies are having fun experimenting with ideas, technologies and strategies to find new alternatives superior to obsolete ways of doing marketing. That’s what they do best. The problem is, this is the only thing they are doing. When they are asked to actually follow through on their ideas, they often come up short. It is because they don’t know the business of marketing (or want to know it, for that matter), and they rarely have the organizational structure or past practices to guide them.”

Possibly related

“Sir Martin Sorrell: Rupert Murdoch’s pay wall plan is right (telegraph.co.uk)

Profits halved at advertising firm WPP (guardian.co.uk)

Does Sir Martin have another motive for peddling his alphabet soup? (telegraph.co.uk)

WPP profits down by nearly 50% (guardian.co.uk)

WPP sees little evidence of ’stouter hearts’ needed to spend during downturn (telegraph.co.uk)