Fourth, Yes, Fourth Monday NIght ad:tech Party Announced

Needless to say Monday night during ad:tech New York this year is going to be a busy one. Because the election occurs Tuesday night, companies are avoiding hosting parties that night as if it were illegal to drink and have fun while watching the results role in. Consequently, everyone is scheduling parties Monday night and ignoring Tuesday night completely, not to mention Wednesday night (ad:tech doesn’t end until Thursday). With at least four known parties occurring Monday night, making it to all of them is going to make for an interesting challenge.

The most recently announced party is the Headlines & Heroes Money Makers II Party at Pacha from 9PM until 2AM. Pacha, which rocked during last year’s New York ad:tech, is located at 618 West 46th Street.

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Great Mind Mickey Alam Khan Talks Mobile During ad:tech New York

In this week’s Great Minds in Marketing mailing, Mobile Marketer Editor in Chief Mickey Alam Khan talks about the trends occuring in mobile marketing. According to Kahn, there are about 2.4 billion mobile phones being used worldwide compared to about 1 billion PCs. “That proves that the mobile phone is the most ubiquitous personal communications tool worldwide,” he says.

In the article, the notion of mobile camping integration, the strangle hold carriers have over mobile users, mobile’s supposed opt-in status, fees carriers place on marketers and the challenge marketers face when dealing with non-standard platforms. Khan will moderate the panel Leveraging Mobile Social Networking to Reach the Always-On Consumer Thursday, November 6 at 3PM.

Presidential Election ‘Ruins’ ad:tech Party Scene

The presidential election is really screwing up the ad:tech New York party schedule. No one wants to have a party on election night perhaps in fear of minimizing its importance. And really, do we all want to be drunk when the winner is announced? Well, depending upon the outcome, maybe we do. Because of this, all the companies are hosting parties Monday night with one hosting a party Sunday night. The rest of the week? Crickets so far. People, ad:tech runs through Thursday! Anyone up for hosting a party Wednesday night? Come on.

So for now, here’s the party schedule so far:

Sunday: XY7.com No Bull Party at Johnny Utah’s beginning at 9PM. At 10:30PM, there will be a mechanical bull riding bikini contest. Yes, you read that right. This party is invite only but you can check out the RSVP form here.

Monday: Oldtimers at Thom bar beginning at 7PM. Closed private party.

Monday: Copeac/Intermark at Touch New York. The time and details are not yet known.

Monday: Epic at Marquee from 9PM to 2AM. Open bar until midnight. RSVP to .

Tuesday: Election Night. Nothing but there’s got to be a place where everyone can gather and have a few drinks while watching the results.

Wednesday: Wide open. Someone. Anyone. Please step in. 

Marquee Will be Epic Monday Night During ad:tech

On Monday night, November 3, Epic will host a party at Marqee located at 289 10th Avenue. It’s the second party announced of the evening following the Copeac/Intermark party at Touch. The Epic party begins at 9PM with an open bar until midnight. Since Copeac/Intermark has not announced the time their party will take place, hopefully it will have an early start so it doesn’t conflict too much with the Epic party. It’s never a good thing wanting to be in two places at once.

Lost is a Great TV Show But Not A Good State of Mind

Ted McConnell, Paul Woolmington, Sean Finnegan, Rob Masters, Max Ruxin. These are just a few of the people you will hear from during ad:tech New York taking place the first week in November. Featuring a gathering of industry leaders representing billions of dollars in digital ad spending, ad:tech New York offers chance to find answers in a world full of questions brought on by a media landscape seachange that has caused many people to throw their arms up and scream, “WTF?!?”

So if you’re feeling a little bit lost these days, you are not alone. If you want to feel a little less lost, come to ad:tech and learn from the experts. Just don’t go into the exhibit hall. You might never come out of that labyrinth. Kidding. By all means v visit the vendors in the exhibit hall. They are a wonderful source of knowledge as well.

ad:tech New York Monday Night Party Announced

A little birdie informs us there will be a Copeac/Intermark-sponsored party at Touch New York Monday, November 3 beginning probably at 9PM but it’s unconfirmed so far. Touch is located 240 West 52nd Street.

On Sunday night before the conference begins, XYZ.com will sponsor a party at Johnny Utah’s where mechanical bull riding in bikinis will be the highlight of the night.

It’s All About Bull Riding and Bikinis at XY7.com’s No Bull Party

How was this missed last year? XY7.com is hosting its second annual No Bull Party Sunday November 2 at Johnny Utah’s in New York to kick off ad:tech 2008. There will be drink tickets. There will be mechanical bull riding. There will (yes!) be a bikini bull riding contest. It all begins at 9PM with the bikini bull riding contest at 10:30 after everyone’s properly liquored up and cares about potential embarrassment and unintentionally flashed body parts are cast aside.

The party is invitation only but you can RSVP at this site here. Bull riding. Drinking. Bikinis? What’s not to love?

Millenials, Shawn Gold Join ad:tech New York Panels

On the eve of the election, the New York ad:tech panel Keynote Rondtable:Obama, Apple and Ice Cream - Building Brand Passion Among Millenials will reprise the approach it took in San Francisco and dig inside the minds of Millenials. Samantha Skey of Alloy Media + Marketing will moderate.

Other panels will examine “urban wallpaper” or digital signage, projections and kiosks commonly referred to as the fourth screen, mobile and its growing place in the advertising space and, yes, video. What would a conference be without a panel or two on video. And, Social Approach CEO Shawn Gold, former MySpace guy, will be on the panel.

Ad Spend Might Be Down…But Not So Much In the Online Space

The latest promotional email from ad:tech concerning the upcoming New York conferences reads, “The first quarterly Epsilon CMO Survey reveals that nearly two-thirds of CMOs said their interactive/digital marketing budgets have increased in the past year. This spells good news for media, marketing and technology companies trafficking in the measurable medium of the web; where even Internet ‘television’ is beginning to enjoy the binary benefits of metrics and accountability. Ensure you’re up to date on how digital is affecting all media.”

While there may be a sense of impending doom regarding overall marketing budget spend levels, multiple studies have indicated online ad spend remains a bright spot. This is, of course, good news for anyone in the space. At the New York conference, that bright spot and the increasingly multi-platform nature of he medium will b discussed during Power Panel: Media and Entertainment - Programming, Distribution and Advertising in a Multi-Platform World. Moderating the panels will be Advanced Media Ventures Managing Director Shelly Palmer. Panelists will include P&G Interactive Innovations Director Ted McConnell, Sony Pictures EVP Michael Arrieta, Time.com GM John Canfarella and Hulu Advertising SVP Jean-Paul Colaco.

Other planned power panels will cover the role of advertising exchanges and whether or not they are bottom feeders or super efficient methods of buying media, how digital is transforming the media economy and online video advertising which is predicted to become a $7.5 billion market by 2012.

As they say, Register Now!

ad:tech New York Registration is Open. Make Your Plans Now

Yes, it’s that time again. It seems the Chicago ad:tech conference just ended but the New York Conference is already upon us. Several keynote speakers have been announced including CNN President Jonathan Klein and Ogilvy & Mather Chairman & CEO Shelly Lazarus.

Early Bird registration is open and that means discounted rates for those who act before October 3. Use the code BRNYZ9 to get the discount. For those planning of getting an Exhibit Hall pass, which includes access to the keynotes, it’s free until October 3. If you’re planning on going, now’s the time to make your plans. 

Sneak Peek into the ad:tech Press Room

Here’s a wee throwaway video I took in the ad:tech press room, which is where we hole up from morning ‘til the first party of the night.

Featuring Brent Terrazas, Steve Hall and Really Loud Guy Who Asks for Business Cards and Puts You On Annoying Mailing Lists.

Seriously. He doesn’t even ask for your name. It’s just “Miss, got a business card? I HAVE A NEWSLETTER.”

Email 3.0: Smiling Into HAL’s Eye

While ”The Role of Email in a Web 3.0 World” was mostly theory, I liked its feel-good flow. Moderator Christopher Marriott of Acxiom Digital got panelists comfortable without making viewers feel like they were sitting on the outside of an inside joke. It’s a rare and beautiful skill.

Marriott acknowledged it was late in the day and told us up-front that the panelists were debriefed on his questions beforehand. As a result, he said, they came laden with slides to answer three major questions:

1. How might the nature of email change as it goes more completely cross-platform?

2. Can email coexist with the semantic web (web 3.0) ... or co-opt it?

3. What role will The Consumer play in creating web 3.0 email?

Before we get too deep down the rabbit hole, let’s define web 3.0.

Conversational Marketing: Four Truths And One Lie

Moderated by Nielsen Online EVP of Digital Strategic Services Pete Blackshaw, the Keynote Panel Conversational Branding: Are You Listening? examined the notion of conversation as it applies to marketers engaging with consumers. On the panel were Dell Social Media/Blog Outreach Senior Manager Rhichard Binhammer, Nestle Head of Digital Marketing Michael Moore, Edelman Digital President Rick Murray, BlohGer Co-Founder Jory Des Jardins and COmcasts Corporate Communications VP Jennifer Khoury. Out of the panel came four truths and one not so true bit of information. Can you guess the not so truthful approach to conversational marketing?

1. You need to really focus on reaching your customers with authentic conversation through all touch points. Jennifer Khoury, VP, Corporate Communications at Comcast Corporation emphasizes this point—if you’ve come up with a great strategy for authentic conversation make sure that it’s not just a one-off strategy. Customers calling your 1-800 line should be getting the same honest chat as people using Twitter.

Mobile Marketing Jumps the Shark—In A Good Way

Mobile Marketing is about to jump the shark—sorry, nuke the fridge—in a very good way. Yes, a lot of new marketing strategies sit on the cusp of mainstream popularity, but mobile marketing seems to be different. Why? In today’s Making Mobile Work: Real World Examples ad:tech Chicago panel, not one audience member asked, “How can I get my company to agree to invest marketing dollars in mobile?” This is perhaps a happy indicator the medium is on its way to mass acceptance.

So what was there to learn about mobile marketing in the real world?

How Hasbro Lost the Fight for Scrabble’s Soul

Tuesday night at ad:tech Chicago wrapped up with a keynote by author Clay Shirky, ”Here Comes Every Customer: The Former Audience is Talking Around You.”

The Big Idea, if intro speaker Drew Ianni is any authority: “The internet is the most important thing to happen to the human species.”

That’s a pretty high and mighty manifesto. Upon taking the stage, Shirky tried conveying the same idea with more precision—and a much higher word count.

Search Marketing - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Talking about the current state of Search Marketing and what lies ahead in a panel called “The State of Search - A Maturing Marketplace or Poised for More Growth?” was Jon Diorio, Group Product Marketing Manager for Google, James Colborn - Director for Microsoft; John Anagnost, Global Director for Ogilvy; and Rob Murray, President of iProspect. This panel gave all in attendance the opportunity to learn more about how the industry is changing, in both tactics and marketplace perception. Above all, each panelist all agreed on one important observation - Search Marketing is changing.

The shift in SEM is not seen in just one or two categories, but across the board. We’re witnessing a transition from directory and keyword-based search to use of rich semantics and a focus on user experience.

For publishers, the shift has went from CPC and Paid Inclusion to the arrival of Paid Engagement and Consumer Rewards. Marketers are in somewhat of a “Cooperation Phase” with great transparency, increased collaboration and an overall greater understanding of “true search contributions.” Even consumers have changed. We’re now seeing a user who is no stranger to searching for information or products on the internet. Basic searches that might have been pretty prevalent in years past, like “hotel,” have been replaced by a slightly more detailed inquiry: “London hotels.” From there an even more specific search has been noticed, leading the way to inquiries into “Cheap London hotels.”

Still savvier users invent more obscure searches than what has been typically thought of in the past, going from niche search engines and toolbars to applications to further segment their desired search results. Application toolbars for search may add convenience for the user but also changes the game as consumers are not visiting the main search website.

The Current State of the Internet Economy

With Kevin Rowe, a Principal for Lake Capital, moderating a session on the current state of “The Internet Economy,” my ad:tech Chicago experience began (that is, after a five hour flight delay due to bad weather in Chicago). Participating in the discussion were Matt Moog - Founder and CEO of Viewpoints Network, Gian Fulgoni - Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of ComScore and Matt Spiegel - CEO of Omnicom Media Group Digital.

With increasing gas prices driving—no pun intended—consumers away from in-store shopping, it’s safe to say inflation is currently the biggest threat to traditional retail sales. That said, though there still has been a noticeable decrease in growth for online advertising, something that hasn’t really been seen since the mid 90’s. While online sales have continued to grow, multiple research studies show that for every one product purchased online, four to five were purchased in-store after using the web for product research. The only real exception to this rule seems to be multi-channel retail outlets like Amazon.com (which recently released its second quarter sales, more than doubling what analysts projected for 2008).

Many companies lump any dollars spent on maintaining or “upgrading” their corporate site in with the online advertising budget. The panelists agreed that this was a poor practice. Corporate websites should fall under a branding budget, rather than take away from the online media buy. Also, most brands do not leverage their corporate website as a vehicle for third party revenue. An example given was Expedia.com, which makes over $200 million per year in advertising revenue in addition to any actual sales made via the popular travel portal. If a brand isn’t using their own website as means to drive people to their retail stores or as a new source of revenue, then they are missing out on a large piece of the online pie.

The Not Really Viral Panel About Branding Viral Paid More Heed to Word of Mouth

First things first: this panel had little to do with viral marketing or branding. The case studies discussed were well thought-out developed plans, put into the hands of carefully chosen influencers. All very controlled, it seemed. True viral campaigns, on the other hand, have a lot less structure and a lot more audience involvement. They’re co-created and only work when the customer has control or influence over the content and its distribution.

Rather than a razor sharp focus on viral marketing, a misnomer in itself, the “Viral Branding—Creating Brand Ambassadors” panel was about word of mouth and how to get products into the hands of targeted consumers. All but one of the speakers came from companies with member groups that have signed up to participate in product pitches. Essentially, these companies enable brands to target known populations and this strategy is almost always fail-proof. Aliza Freud, Founder and CEO of SheSpeaks, explained that you’re speaking to people that want to be targeted—they sign up for the site, give their personal information away at the outset, and have opted-in to be advertised to.

Strategic Media Planning 3.0 - Investing Still Pays Off

The Strategic Media Planning 3.0 Panel (what is 3.0 anyway?) at ad:tech focused on the value of testing and treating marketing as an investment.

One of the key themes of this session was looking at marketing as an investment where returns come over time and not necessarily all from an immediate bump in sales.  There is inherent value in learning how to optimize strategies over time, and investing in the learning is important for an organization to continue to build and grow over time.  Like any investment a balance must be struck between short term and long term gains.  I think that marketers, agencies and vendors can all learn from this balanced approach to marketing.

Testing and learning, especially in the age of digital, is important in helping brands to build an edge by leveraging new technologies.  The panel suggested that organizations have to “move from an idea of learn and do to do and learn” and change the framework of the organization.  Conversational marketing really facilitates this and digital makes the test and learn process more fluid and rapid.

The Long Tail – Quality vs. Quantity

One of the hottest revolutionary buzzwords leveraged in this contextual social media participatory web 3.0 panel was “Long Tail.” The panel “The Long Tail of Social Media: Analyzing the Value Proposition for Publishers and Advertisers kicked off with each of the panelists defining what the long tail actually is.

VP Jeffrey Graham of Marketing, Customer Insights, the New York Times defines “the long tail” from a content perspective and specifically as the breadth of content – not the top 10 stories, but the other, lesser viewed pages.

Jennifer McLean, VP of Marketing, Director, Distribution at Technorati, said the sheer amount of content that Technorati indexes, and the growth of blogs, were primary growth stimulators for the long tail of blogging.  What makes a blog interesting is that the content tends to be very niche vs. what is seen on larger sites.

Widgets: The New, New Thing!

Widgets are the rage! Widgets are the new, new thing! The new, new must-have! Widgets are web 7.0! Widgets! Widgets! Widgets!

The Chicago ad:tech panel, “Widgets and Applications - The New Media Network,” covered what’s going on in the world of widgets. Panelists included Omniture Senior Director of Product marketing Chris Duskin, Slide GM Advertising Sonya Chawla, Gigya VP of Sales Ben Pashman, Avenue A Director of Emerging Media and Video Innovation Jeremy Lockhorn and Sprout Co-Founder and CEO Carnet Williams.

Lockhorn described the “old” ad world as Ad 1.0 or a world in which advertising was all about interruption and intrusion. He described the “new” ad world as Ad 2.0, a world in which people are not interrupted and that exists where the people are in an unobtrusive way. This, according to Lockhorn, is the world in which widgets live. So what are widgets?