It is traditional print media owners who are most on the back foot right now as their business model looks creakier by the day and efforts to evolve and address changing consumer habits take place just when revenues and costs are under huge pressure. Even the growth of online display ad spend is forecast to slow down.

But there’s no turning the clock back, as Sly Bailey, chief executive of Trinity Mirror, said at the AOP conference, the role of digital media will be “critical” to the future of the traditional media. She did defend newspapers as “iconic media brands” and believes they will survive – although she would say that wouldn’t she? - but she stressed digital will be at the core of those brands and businesses that look to grow.

However, it’s all very well retraining print journalists to develop editorial content for multiplatform use but how do commercial teams  create opportunities that attract and excite advertising clients? How do media owners push their own brands to the fore and develop client-friendly environments?

Hyper targeting of ads served down to postcode and street level is something that is being pursued with some enthusiasm by those media owners developing regionally based websites but what of the liberating creative marketing solutions expected from the digital world? Panels at the conference discussed and debated trends now fairly familiar, from social networks and user generated content to the rise of the online video-viewing culture.

Examples of successful awareness-building initiatives involving marketing partnerships between advertisers and social networks do exist. But the consensus remains that brands cannot invade social networks with “buy buy buy” messages and that there is a huge wariness in regard to advertising around user generated content on the likes of YouTube.

According to eMarketer data, 80 per cent of social network users would not add a brand as a “friend”. The last rites also seem to be read over Second Life and other virtual worlds with apparently most corporate locations in Second Life attracting fewer than 500 weekly visitors.

Revenues from advertising linked to “official” video clips are predicted to grow so media owners will be exploring licensing content from suppliers like VideoJug for their own sites. They will also be developing their own content that proves attractive to ad clients or that can be exploited with online partners in revenue sharing ventures.

So, experimentation, innovation and research remains key for the media owners looking to unlock the potential treasures of online marketing for their ad sales teams.

The question is, have they the nerve and resources to do so while fire fighting to keep revenues stable during the downturn? The newspaper industry, in particular, is traditionally seen as being too embroiled in the bruising day to day battle for circulation and last minute ad deals to develop long term strategy.

Taking a step back from studying page yields and the latest ABC (or ABCe) figures and putting investment into online research and reinvention is a tough decision but one that cannot be ducked.