ad:tech San Francisco Captured Flickr-Style

Catch the second day (OK, mostly night) of ad:tech San Francisco in our Flickr albums. Here’s day one. Here’s day two. Oh, yes, we do love to have fun. Rubicon rocked. The Oldtimers party was exquisite. Datran did dinner and…what would an ad:tech photo album be without booth babes? Enjoy.

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The Empowered Consumer: Are We Losing Control of our Brands? No! Yes!

Moderator Marc Ruxin, Senior VP/ Director of Digital Strategy and Innovation for McCann Worldgroup opened up the session declaring this would be the “best conversastion about conversations.”  My first thought was why the hell control-freaks Microsoft and Citi were on a panel ostensibly discussing the “empowered consumer” and the conversation we all must join (in transparent, authentic ways, of course). Seriously? Microsoft? On the whole, this was an interesting panel with some of the best funny/strange comments of the conference (minus of course the best quote of all from opening keynoter Jeffrey Hayzlett of Kodak who proclaimed resolutely “I believe in print!”). Below is a summary of topics the panel covered with only the choicest quotes from the panelists…

...and God Created Kodak

Did you ever see that spot where Vinny Pastore beats the crap out of a printer, then gets a Kodak EasyPrint? This is part of Kodak TWO-OH, a bid to cash in on modernity by a brand that’s been around since the beginning of time.

CMO Jeff Hayzlett of Kodak, who led the ad:tech opening keynote, has an inferiority complex. He thinks he’s too big. His suits are undoubtedly XXXL, his expressions cup-runneth-over, and his swaggers could alter the course of human minnows in a crowded hallway.

But in the hallowed sanctum, Jeff’s big views and irrepressible personality are forcing an old brand to learn new tricks.

ad:tech Awards Party is Sold Out

For those interested in going to the ad:tech Awards Ceremony, we’re sad to report the event has sold out. We’ve reached maximum capacity, We’re sorry but these things happen. We’ll be sure to tell you who wins right here though. And, if you’re feeling like you’re going to miss the party scene, don’t worry. There are many other events occurring both Tuesday and Wednesday during the show and they are all listed on the calendar in the right hand column of this site or here.

Organize Your Time at ad:tech San Francisco With Schedulers

Sometimes it can be daunting to keep track of all the things you want to see and do while at a trade show. At this year’s ad:tech San Francisco, you have two options to plan and schedule the panels, sessions, and parties you want to attend. The first option is available directly on the ad:tech website here. Simply check off which events you plan to attend and then print out the itinerary pr have it emailed to you.

The second option comes independently from SCHED. THe organization has put together a customized schedule for the San Francisco show. Similarly to the ad:tech onsite version, simply check off which events you can to attend. Added features let you see who else is attending a particular session or event, which events are the most popular, create groups calendars combining your schedule with others’ and view events by location (room, nightclub). And you can download an iCal file of your personalized schedule to your calendar of choice.

Check them both out and see which one works for you.

ad:tech is More Than Just Panels and Exhibit Hall

ad:tech has published its Special Events page for the upcoming San Francisco show. The page includes listing for sponsored forums, parties, giveaways/contests and meeting room events. Check it out as there’s much more to the conference that just the panels and the exhibit hall.

Some of the companies hosting the forums are Bridgetrack which will discuss campaign analytics, Kowabunga which will discuss pay-per-click, AdShuffle which will discuss lowering CPA with automated optimization and the Association for Downloadable Media which will discuss its guidelines and best practices.

AdShuffle is also hosting a giveaway which offers attendees the chance to win such prizes as a Segway, a MacBook Air and an iPhone.

The Marketing Maelstrom

Dear ad:tech Delegates and Friends,

In my last post, I ended by talking about the emergence of the “marketing maelstrom”.  I came across the definition of maelstrom the other day and it seemed to accurately describe the environment we all find ourselves in.

mael st rom (n): A powerful, often violent whirlpool, increasingly sucking in objects within a given radius..

As I travel across the country and around the world, I have found that an increasing number of our digital colleagues across the planet are feeling as though they are caught up in this maelstrom and I would argue that its force is growing stronger (insert Star Wars metaphor here) and its radius of effect continues to expand.  From my perspective, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in the business of media and marketing communications that is not feeling the impact of the digital revolution.

This, in my opinion, also makes it a great time to be in the business we are in.  And to have a bit of an impact on the conversation as we do here at ad:tech is also a thrill because things are changing so fast and no one truly knows the answers.  We all stand at the edge where one merger announcement, one press release, one product announcement can fundamentally alter the state of our business.