As ClickZ reports, Carat USA and Carat Fusion have merged to form Carat. In other words, Carat is making digital part of an integrated offering of the media agency (not a siloed subdivision) and is letting digital take a lead — or rather, its clients are letting them let digital take a leading role.

This is part of the future of media services; medium-neutral media practices where the decisions on what media to use are actually made based upon what is best for the client — not the media agency’s bottom line.

The rest of the future is a truly integrated offering that results in strategies that not only materialize in paid media, but in messaging tailored for each medium, and a communications strategy that includes having a conversation with the consumer through paid, editorial, and community-based channels.

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Check out ARGNet’s review of the Deep Focus-created online experience to support HBO’s John From Cincinnati.

From the post:

Via Game Tip, ARGNet received word that HBO was doing something interesting with a promo site, johnmonad.com. Clicking repeatedly on the “Help” button generates an increasing number of search terms and objects floating around your screen until you’re told, “That’s all the help you’re going to get. There’s more out there. Start Searching.” However, the interface seems pretty intelligent — entering your own search terms nets results that usually seem on-target.

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This gallery is amazing…filled with images of Polish interpretations of movie posters, many of them American.

It would be nice to see some of these in the U.S.

This is one of my favorites:

Thanks Drawn.

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On one dollar bills circulated at Comic-Con in San Diego, appeared a phrase, “Why So Serious”.

A visit to http://www.whysoserious.com reveals some information, and a small (but obvious) link to the teaser trailer for Batman: The Dark Knight.

Various aspects of the reveal of footage from the film are playing out like an alternate reality game, but not quite. More just like mini-activities. But I’ll be keeping an eye on its progression.

Go see it for yourself…

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So Google’s Gmail is come up with a great little promotion that encourages audiences to print out a Gmail-brazened envelope and pass it along, so it all can be strung together in one video.

Actually, that explanation may not do this justice. Here’s the video that sets up the premise:

And here’s an excerpt from the Gmail Official Blog:

What does this have to do with email, you may ask? Well, you can see this as a symbol of how email connects people from all over, making the world feel a bit smaller. Or you could think of it as a metaphor for mail exchange servers, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and all of the technical steps involved in getting a Gmail message around the world from one inbox to another. But, really, we just wanted to have a little fun. So give it a shot, and enjoy! Remember, clips are due before August 13th.

Awesome. Just lose the smileyface.

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So I was watching a TV spot for the upcoming Lindsay Lohan car accident movie, I Know Who Killed Me. In it was an obvious Ask.com logo, which is also prominently featured in the film’s trailer. This is certainly a product of paid (or otherwise bartered) brand integration/product placement.

In an effort to re-create the experience that Lindsay Lohan has in the trailer, I went to Ask.com, and typed in what she did. Instead of getting the same search result as she did, or better yet, something related to the film, I just got a generic search result.

This was a missed opportunity to bring audiences closer to your film. This would have been a great place to plant some intriguing content to add to the mystery. Instead, not even a paid search ad.

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Yeah. I can’t even make a wisecrack about this.

It’s…it’s…it’s just amazing. They even wore Deep Focus colors. I’d provide commentary, but I don’t even know where to begin.

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If you want to get a first-hand look at what’s really going on technologically in this rapidly changing digital landscape, take a chance to visit the NY Tech Meetup. Details by clicking below.

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More acquisition news…

Popular site UGO, also according to TechCrunch, will be acquired by Hearst for around $100 million.

UGO has been around for a long time. They’ve built their property through small site acquisitions, then by growing them editorially. They hopped on the widget bandwagon early, but it’s still young men and gaming that has fueled and sustained their growth.

CondeNast got their Wired & Reddit, Hearst got its UGO.

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News travels fast. Even to courthouses with free public wi-fi (yay)!

According to TechCrunch (grain of salt added), AOL will be buying Tacoda, one of the leading behavioral targeting networks.

This is a great move for AOL, who already owns Advertising.com. Adding Tacoda to its portfolio makes AOL a powerhouse in targeting consumers based upon their browsing/content consumption habits.

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