In May, Decipher's Nigel Walley told Media Week's Media 360 conference the word had become redundant in a media context. He believes it has become a catch-all term for too many things or is used just to mean the web and a bit of mobile, ignoring big-ticket environments such as TV, radio and outdoor.
It's certainly true that everyone is bored with the oft-chanted mantra that this agency or that media owner is "putting digital at the heart of their business".
But if digital is redundant, where does that leave "digital" agencies? In this issue, Media Week profiles Andrew Walmsley, co-founder of UK's best-known and most well-established independent digital media agency - I-Level - as it celebrates its 10th birthday (see page 12).
Over the decade, I-Level has fiercely guarded its independence, despite conversations and approaches from established agency networks. Walmsley's view has been that I-Level would be used as a sticking plaster for a network catching up on "digital", and would lose its very essence by merging with a full-service organisation.
I-Level has done some excellent and award-winning work for the Government, but the COI's decision to consolidate its media into one agency has sharpened the focus of Walmsley's planning for the next decade. The COI accounts for £39m of I-Level's £100m turnover and it can only re-pitch for the business in an alliance with another agency providing "traditional" media services.
Is this the right time for I-Level to bite the bullet and do a deal with one of the agency networks pitching for the COI business? Or is it an opportunity to create something genuinely new - similar to what I-Level did on launch 10 years ago - with an agency model for a permission-based advertising age where the consumer is king?
The strategy Walmsley and new chief executive Stephen Rust adopt will say a lot about the future of "digital" within the marketing services mix.
Steve Barrett is editor of Media Week, steve.barrett@haymarket.com
www.mediaweek.co.uk/stevebarrettblog