In a year which harsh economic realities brought many unpleasant surprises, one of the biggest came at the end of summer when .
The followed, but not before Alexander Lebedev's in what management said was partly a reaction to the challenge of new technologies distracting readers.
If you were on Twitter on your iPhone when you heard that news, double irony points for you.
Unlike microblogging and London freesheets (so far), you can at least make a profit out of death, as in the hands of paramedics.
MJ never made it to the comeback gigs , but in media and marketing there's always a chance an old brand can be dug up.
Take Bauer's plans (nice to see a new launch after ) or the much quicker .
Public affection for Woolies was so powerful that soundalike names were employed by those seeking to recreate it on the high street - including Wellworths and .
Another well-loved retailer celebrated reaching its , selling two million items for one pence each.
Tesco's less sentimental take on promotion saw it , which was revealed .
with a competition that resulted in the public creating six new crisp flavours, while in two years, Bright Leaf.
Tobacco and crisps sustained media agencies through the year's many pitches, among them the and .
Two stories gripped London's ad community - , another sad demonstration of the depth of the recession, and after seven years this month.
Sir Martin Sorrell may have concentrated a few minds from adapting to consumers' shift to digital media as quickly as they should.
While Sorrell was in pursuit of digital consumers, Rupert Murdoch was chasing them off his land.
More accurately, he wants them to pay to visit News Corporation websites from next year, and he and his top brass have spent much of 2009 making .
In the wider digital world, Facebook's previous status as the bleeding edge passed to Twitter, mobile apps and augmented reality.
Although interest was piqued by , this year everyone was trying to work out if their brand was , and .
Two stories among many illustrated the microblogging site's influence on brands and the media: and the that resulted in Mail Online pulling ads from it.
But as a creative vehicle, Twitter wasn't a patch on the iPhone. Last year there was Carling's iPint app - this year gave us , and the ability for .
Creatives also got their teeth into augmented reality, turning things like a .
Finally we come to fights and stunts.
Jedward became sticks with which the and Labour shamelessly beat each other.
Carlos Teves got his mug on two posters; one from new club Manchester City announcing 'Welcome to Manchester', the second from fans of Manchester United telling him .
The humble bus ad found a higher calling when over the atheists' earlier use of the medium.
It seemed the only brand capable of turning the other cheek was telling consumers to use posh department stores to get shown TVs and then buy them online.
John Lewis refrained from an advertising counter-attack, limiting itself to a PR defence of loftily commenting it found it a bit odd that a rival would make a virtue of the fact that it doesn't have anything like a comparable service.
Other brands showed they didn't need to resort to knocking ads or even any ads to get fantastic exposure.
, , and when the channel accidentally cut to a Tic Tacs ad.
There was also , but for sheer amusement our favourite moment was when .
We leave you with the immortal words of Daily Mail letter-writer Simon Simpkins:
"The lemon and lime are locked in what appears to be a carnal encounter. The lime, who I assume to be the gentleman in this coupling, has a particularly lurid expression on his face."
We hope your imminent coupling with 2010 brings you as much pleasure and wish you a Merry Christmas.