Definition of Cross-Media in the Marketing World

I just returned from the Graph Expo show at McCormick Place in Chicago. First of all, you wouldn't know that the economy is "suffering". The place was packed. Not sure if anyone was buying anything, but it was packed nonetheless.

Anyhow, the big buzz at the show was cross-media solutions. I visited many of the vendors and sat in on a seminar on the subject. What I found out was that cross-media is being defined as the integration of direct mail, email and PURLs (personalized URL's) into one application solution. You create the direct mail piece and the email header with the same look and feel. You then publish PURLs to the content of those two media and send the recipient to a personalized landing page (otherwise known as a micro-site). All of this is tracked and triggered based upon logical steps determined by the recipients action. The end-game report gives the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) some datapoints to sink his/her teeth into to determine next steps in the strategic marketing picture.

OK...sounds pretty cool and all that. However, these so-called cross-media application solutions are missing quite a few other media. I think the software developer that can integrate more than just the "big three" media will be onto something extremely big.

How would you define Cross-Media Solutions? I'd like to hear your comments...