This month’s Fast Company cover story spotlights the evolution of Ashton Kutcher into the “Next New-Media Mogul.”

It’s no secret that Kutcher has utilized social media to raise his personal brand and profile. What’s more revealing in the story is how he’s taken that experience and leveraged it into a business.  He’s now passing this know-how to the benefit an of impressive and growing clientele. (Not much different than what @garyvee’s done at Vayner Media).

The Katalyst HQ series illuminates what Kutcher’s production company wants to become: not just a home for his television and movie projects but also a go-to source for brands looking to deploy what’s called “influencer marketing,” a squishy hybrid of entertainment content, advertising, and online conversation that finds its audience via video, animation, Twitter, blogs, texts, and mobile.

This multi-platform approach is one that sports bloggers, and sports media in general, is playing catch-up on. Putting aside the MSM outlets, many bloggers have established themselves a name and a brand, but are limiting themselves to one-dimensional content. If bloggers hope to not only be more relevant and legitimate, but also profitable, the key in the immediate future is leveraging the equity they’ve already established for themselves, and building on any and all successes, regardless of size.

To do so requires vision and, frankly, the courage to just do it.

(Mr. Social: Ashton Kutcher Plans to Be the Next New-Media Mogul, Fast Company, December 2009)