It wasn’t meant to end this way. I was going to finish the year off with a really meaningful post on the next big thing for 2010 or what I learnt in 2009 or some sort of top 10 list which would be easy Twitter fodder. But I’m not going to. I’m done. Spent. Signed off. 2009 is almost over and I’m happy not to poke the beast anymore.

Today marks my last day at DP Dialogue. This brings me to the end of my three and a half year stay in the De Pasquale family. For the past eight months, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Gino De Pasquale and Matt Granfield in an agency that is well ahead of its time (as well as being profitable). It’s been exciting, experimental and educational. I’ll be reaping the rewards of surrounding myself with such forward and broad thinkers for a long time to come.

You know that Hyundai i30 ad with the cop out of the first season Underbelly? He introduces us to the barista who drives a Hyundai because it suits her lifestyle? In the the 30 seconds it goes to air we’re introduced to her, learn a bit about her and meant to trust her.

“Ooh she looks friendly. I like friendly people. Oooh she’s a barista. I know lots of nice baristas. Ooooh she drives a Hyundai. I want to drive a Hyundai.”

Sadly, it doesn’t work like that. She’s an actress…

Was 2009 the year that press media got digital? Nope.

But did we see some cool things? Sure we did….

Is it just me or did advertisers used to support programs? When did programming start attaching themselves to the advertisers?

“I’m in the area, I’ll call into your place in five minutes.”

These simple words can cause mass hysteria and panic. Whether spoken by the in-laws, a close friend or the creepy IT guy, they are cause for concern. All of a sudden we are in a mad rush to wash the dishes at the kitchen sink, change the channel from Dr Phil to Discovery Channel and scramble to put some pants on. We can’t let any visitors in the house looking like this!

It’s natural to hide how we really live and who we really are. This can be done by portraying a perfect domestic life, borrowing more money than we should or suppressing an online personality. It’s not that we’re doing anything wrong. We just have an ideal image we like to portray.

Last week the Rudd Government upheld the law which states that Australian book stores can not import any book which has been published within Australia within 30 days of its international launch. This law is in place to protect Australian publishers. The challenge to the law came from Australian book retailers who claim that it keeps their prices inflated and does not allow them to compete with the online book industry.

But what does this protection mean for consumers? Are we getting ripped off if we go into a physical book shop? Do these restrictions combined with increased online competition mean physical book retailers no longer offer us value?