Among other points, Rick Bruner argues that the web is starting to be recognized as a viable branding tool. I’m not keen on branding altogether (seems to me it amounts to selling commodities dressed up as dreams), but apparently "big names" are starting to move online (where, with the number of US households now wired, reach vs. TV is no longer an issue).
Update: Nick Denton also mentions the rise of keyword-targeted ads, and imagines if Google were to introduce an API to their Adwords system (right now they only syndicate ads to a couple major partners such as AOL or Earthlink).