While marketing has risen to the C-level at the majority of asset management and insurance firms--which compete in an environment of consolidation and commoditization--its leaders still struggle to demonstrate a calculable impact on profitability.

The powerful combination of digital advertising for a digital product in a digital environment has meant that game marketers have a greater ability to measure the effectiveness of their advertising, tracking at least some portion of sales and customer lifetime values in ways that are still elusive to other marketers. Video game marketers can measure the ROI of their online advertising with the detail and precision of direct marketers.

Last year, worldwide licensing revenue from synchronization--a fancy term for pop music in ads--hit an all-time high at $2.5 billion. Indeed, the tangled relationship between music and TV advertising has evolved over the past decade.

Another hot streak by the New York football Giants proves that a mediocre season doesn’t matter in the NFL–the end result of Super Bowl victory is the only thing that matters. Well, that and money–lots of it. I have been digesting all of the post-game analysis, both in the sports world and on the marketing side. Here are some points of interest.