PEOPLE  Welcome to Digital People where we regularly profile the amazing talent in our industry. As part of his appearance at Ad:Tech2010 next week, we introduce Neil Hudspeth, Head of Digital Strategy in Asia Pacific & Japan with Hewlett Packard. He offers his thoughts on a range of issues including the evolving relationship between client and agency, some hints to Aussie business operating in the Asian market and also names brands who are managing their digital and social media strategt well. Neil will be discussing this and a whole lot more, next week at Ad:Tech. These are the last days to pre-register for tickets for next weeks Sydney event which also includes seminars, exhibits and free breakfast briefings. As an Australian first for any event you can now also download the Ad:Tech iphone app. You will find links and further information (including when you can see Neil speak) at base of his profile. I hope to see followers of Digital People at Ad:Tech....... Read on

PEOPLE  Welcome to Digital People. This time we welcome the founder of another home grown independent - Zoe Warne of digital creative agency - August. Last week, I attended the reunion of an ad agency where I worked nearly 20 years ago - Connaghan & May. We were the largest independent full service agency in Australia - eventually swallowed up by Leo Burnett. Thinking back to those wonderful, fun times where the issues of the day were things like Govt regulation of tobacco & alcohol advertising, colour press, regional market aggregation and changes to the media accreditation system. Read on

PEOPLE  Welcome to Digital People where we continue our regular profile series of people in the our industry. This time we welcome Jason Davey one of the founders of Bullseye. Jason confesses his early geekdom back in the late 80's, armed with his Amiga computer eventually leading to the start of Bullseye in 2000 - another great Aussie success story where he shares their journey so far and forward plans. He raises an interesting point (and one of my 2010 forecasts) - the increasing ability and challenges, for brands to develop content, capture an audience and the possible business opportunities derived from this. Will the lines become fainter between non and traditional publishers? Mobile, measurability and personalised location based web services all get a mention. He also gives some tips for those who are new to our industry - lots of opportunities for those with curiosity and initiative. Thanks Jason for sharing your insights - well worth a read...... Read on

PEOPLE  Welcome to Digital People where we present regular profiles of people in our industry. This time a double act, Luke Janssen and Oliver Palmer, founders and main guys of highly successful mobile media business - TigerSpike. They outline an impressive journey, starting in 2003 from Oliver's sunroom in Pyrmont, their current market position with offices in Sydney, London, Auckland, and New York (not in Pyrmont anymore, Toto) and their forward plans. They offer us an insight into how they maintain their market leading position through a firm focus on innovation and applying platforms to fit with the cultural and technical fit of each market - it is not a case of one size fits all. They also discuss some fascinating innovations we can expect in our not too distant future as the mobile generation enters the workforce. Read on

PEOPLE  If you've ever watched the TV show CSI in one of its many incarnations, you would have seen that one of their favourite crime-solving tools is the computer. Whether it's searching databases, hacking into computers found at crime scenes or dissecting photographic evidence, they're constantly pushing their equipment to the limit to solve gruesome crimes. Read on

PEOPLE  Fourth in an occasional series. Hiring a virtual assistant - someone who helps organise your life remotely by paying your bills, dealing with correspondence, shopping, etc. via the Internet - has come into vogue in the past couple of years, fuelled by people like Tim Ferriss, who sings their praises in his bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek. Read on

PEOPLE  Welcome to the first Digital People for 2010 where we will continue to profile amazing talent in the digital industry. One of the main themes raised in 09 in these profiles was 'measurement' - so I thought this year we would start by going straight to the 'guru' - John Grono, who runs his own independent research consultancy - GAP Research - and seems to sit on every measurement committee possible. Firstly, some perspective - he highlights that we are not the only media channel debating this hugely consequential issue and offers insights into the plans of other media throughout the year. He tells us the major challenge media faces in addressing our evolving measurement needs and what we could be doing better as an industry. He also brings up an area I think we will hear more of as the year progresses - privacy. Right now, one of the key issues being debated is web page auto-refresh and the benefits this gives publishers in generating 'false' revenue by overinflating and gaming key audience metrics such as page impressions and session duration. John enters into this issue through Ben Shepherd's blog and I link to this and all other articles in what John refers to as 'The Great Auto-Refresh War of 2009/2010' at the base of his profile. Thanks again to everyone for their ongoing support of Digital People - looking forward to a huge 2010! Read on

PEOPLE  Welcome to the last Digital People of 2009. What a year it has been with the GFC, social media, the rise of Twitter and publisher revenue models some of the standout themes. Thank you to the 29 wonderful, inspiring people we highlighted - all are listed with an overview of the key issues they raised and links to their profiles. The big topic featured this year, and I expect in 2010, was measurement (and all this encompasses) - others include mobile, ad sizes/formats and the NBN. Thank you also to Brad, John and Chris from Digital Ministry who continue to provide a great resource for our industry - and to everyone who took the time to read these profiles. We will return in February and already have some great people lined up well into the year. I am going to have some downtime with my family, work on my slightly late start-up - MediaScope - and prepare for a vastly different year to 12 months ago as confidence, and hopefully budgets to match, return to the market. My holiday reading - Chris Anderson's The Longer Long Tail - very relevant to MediaScope. Thanks to all - best wishes for the festive season - bring on 2010! Read on

PEOPLE  Welcome to Digital People - a regular profile of people in our industry. This time we present Nick Spooner, Chief Digital Media Officer at Network Ten. As a long term advocate of media integration and applying a cross platform commercial strategy, I have been involved in some initiatives which have made it across the line and others which were 'ahead of their time' - I can understand why some have called integration the 'holy grail'. At last, the tide seems to be turning as relevant brands recognise they are central to a variety of audience delivery methods - how they present content and monetise with a seamless, complimentary execution across these multi media platforms is a prime consideration. Traditional media is obviously well placed in this area and some are doing it better than others. Network Ten's Masterchef perhaps gave us the strongest example of integration this year and Nick shares insights - and some big numbers - with us. He positions Network Ten as 'agnostic about platform' with a sales team enabled to sell accordingly - surely the key to successful integration? He discusses forward market plans, the 'crystal ball' future of tv - and you will not be surprised to see his issue the industry needs to address. A really interesting read - thank you Nick...... Read on

PEOPLE  Welcome to Digital People where we regularly profile the exciting talent in our industry. This time is one of our true personalities and thought leaders - highly experienced and sought after (as you will read), opinionated, passionate, irreverent, prolific, sometimes controversial and always witty - Laurel Papworth. Though some may also know her as silkcharm. Not surprisingly, she gives us one of the treats of the year by sharing how she came to this industry, outlines her current role and then offers her insights and forecasts. Included are her views on the next big digital things - one of which I have heard a lot about in the last week - could this follow the meteoric rise of Twitter? (see Q3) She also discusses the evolution of digital in the next 5 years and who is doing social media well. Worth the read - I guarantee you will take something away..... Read on