Second Edition

With the iMedia Summit only a few weeks away it’s been all heads down work work work. Well, kinda…

Movies

(Half) Ironchick

Sarah’s social life

What’s happening at work

Current office food trends

Movies

Maybe it’s because the last winter months are upon us but we seem to have made a good effort at the movies recently.

Lucy & Sarah (independently, they don’t do everything together) saw Inception. Conclusions: phew, those Nolans know what they’re doing eh, nevermind the technicalities, that was pretty clever, must see twice. Unless this is a dream, in which case what you’re gonna do is pre destined.

Lucy saw Salt and is perhaps now seeking an alternative career… Conclusions: great action, excellent Russian accents, can’t wait for the sequel.

Tim also saw Salt. Conclusions from the boy’s side: good, there were some huge bits of the story line missing but it didn’t matter.

Keeping up the intellectual side of the office, Annick went to see The Waiting City. Conclusions: interesting subject matter but not tackled in enough detail. Man, she’s good.

And, Tim saw (at home or at the movies we’re not sure) Fantastic Mr Fox. Well done mate.

(Half) Ironchick

Lucy surprised the team with a Sunday text: ‘just completed half ironman.’ 70.3 miles swimming, bike riding and running, in 6 hours 14 minutes and 30 seconds up in Yeppoon, Queensland. There had been some raised eyebrows about the serious increase in training over the last month, and more importantly, the lack of nights out but now it all makes sense. Unfortunately, being ‘iron’ means there is apparently one less reason to argue with her…!

Regulars
Sarah’s social life

Sarah’s been ‘representing’ around town. The last couple of weeks she’s been to Digital Citizens #digicitz and Twitter breakfasts @coffeemornings. Digital Citizens was focused on “Startups, small shops and bootstrappers: the real value in social media and digital PR for small business” and the debate was pretty fulsome after some honest and very brave contributions from @laroo @transcribe @chefmumu @wearehandsome. You can read a post event review here.

As usual @CoffeeMornings was great conversation, on and off the digital media topic. And #nscm – the quite recently launched younger cousin of @CoffeeMornings in North Sydney – was also good. The coffee, we’re afraid, doesn’t compare, but the chat does.

What’s happening at work

The iMedia Brand Summit is in just a few weeks (13-15 Sept) and we’re looking forward to a few days in the Hunter, followed by a few days in bed! This year’s event is looking really strong, lots of excellent delegates signed up, sponsorship sold out really early and the speakers, well, they’re just outstanding.

Not keen to rest too soon, we’re also hosting the club ad:tech breakfast briefing the day after the Summit, 16 September at Hilton Sydney. Last year everyone loved the briefings so we’re sorry we’ve only been able to bring you this one so far in 2010. But, it promises to be excellent. Scott Dinsdale is the speaker – legendary digital dude from Cali, heaps of experience in digital marketing, most recently at Sony Music and also a bike riding enthusiast – wonder why he’s popular in our office….

Current office food trends

• Lucy and Sarah have remembered how much they love avocado on toast. Lucy with basil, olive oil & lemon juice. Sarah with cheese & vegemite.
• Tim has given up on food altogether and is powering through what looks like 7 litres of luminous-protein-gun-enhancer per day. Apparently “summer’s coming”…
• Colby discovered Pods. By the packet load. We’ll have that boy soft by the time he goes back to Portland…
• Gifts from overseas should be a food trend. We’re currently munching good ole airport Toblerone. If you want to bring us food gifts from overseas we will probably accept and try anything.
• And our current favourite coffee shop is Bacino, North Sydney. This has topped our list a few times before, and Lucy & Sarah made a return trip this week. Some say it’s the casual ‘bar’ feel, some say it’s the complimentary sugary goods, some say it’s the swarthy barista… oh, and they serve coffee too.
• Australia is full of people who are mental about food, and coffee, and booze. Tell us your latest food obsession here, we might talk about it, we might try it, we might share it with everyone.

Cheers,

The ad:tech Team

p.s.

Want us to include your news on the next newsletter? Or, got a theme you want us to write around – challenge us, we’ll try it. Let us know here.

Scott Dinsdale, EVP, Global Digital Operations & New Technology, Sony Music

Stories From The Front Line: Digital Transformation In Real Time

16 September 2010
Hilton Sydney
08.00-09.00
Free of charge – blue note charity donation
Light breakfast & hot beverages
Twitter hashtag: #adtechbb

We’re sorry but this breakfast briefing is now fully booked. If you would like to be added to the waiting list you can email our lovely Marketing Manager, Sarah, here. We hope to see you next time.

Keynote presenter
Our charity
club ad:tech
ad:tech Sydney
The venue

Agenda

07.45 Registration, coffee & light breakfast, networking

08.00 Stories From The Front Line: Digital Transformation In Real Time

In 2004 digital music sales accounted for less than 2% of Sony Music revenue. By the end of 2010 that figure is likely to be more than 50% in the US and one third worldwide. Digital media is the driving force across the entertainment, consumer electronics and telecommunications industries among others.

In the fast-paced world of digital media Sony Music has developed an e-marketplace and e-commerce model that works. How did they achieve this transformation in such a challenging consumer environment? In short they, and others around them, put consumers at the heart of the strategy. Scott will talk about the journey that Sony has taken and how today they are leveraging digital capabilities and consumer insights as they continue to grow in an increasingly digital world.

08.45 Q&A

09.00 Closing and head to the office

club ad:tech breakfast briefings are free to attend but we prefer if you’re a club member :)

For more information and any questions contact us here.

For sponsorship opportunities contact us here.

And remember to tell your contacts and colleagues about club ad:tech and the breakfast briefing series. You can tweet about this post at the top right of the page :)

Keynote presenter

Scott Dinsdale, EVP, Global Digital Operations & New Technology, Sony Music

Scott is responsible for connecting Sony Music’s roster of artists to its global array of digital partners and channels. Scott’s executive experience includes the Motion Picture Association of America where he was SVP, Digital Strategy leading the development of the film industry’s entre into the digital age as well as BMG Entertainment, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Data Broadcasting Corporation which he co-founded. Scott, an accomplished entrepreneur, also teaches at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications where he is also a Sr. Fellow at The Annenberg School’s Center for the Digital Future, home of the World Internet Project.

http://www.digitalcenter.org

Our charity

HeartKids are a young and very special charity solely focussed on Childhood Heart Disease (CHD) – which is the greatest killer of young Australian children (under 5 years) – a fact most people are totally unaware of. CHD takes more lives than all other childhood diseases – twice that of childhood cancers.

HeartKids NSW:

• Support families who have a child with heart disease
• Reduce the incidence of Childhood Heart Disease
• Decrease the mortality rates for Childhood Heart Disease

We do this by:

• Employing Family Support Coordinators in each of the major children’s hospitals throughout Australia
• Running Family and Teen activities
• Funding Research into CHD
• Providing equipment and facilities
• Assisting families with travel and accommodation needs
• Commissioning a White Paper into the needs of CHD from a clinical and community perspective

• Advocating the needs of CHD to Government

We need your help to build capacity to enable us to meet the needs of Childhood Heart Disease. Together we can make a difference.

club ad:tech

club ad:tech was launched to reward those who love ad:tech events and are passionate about the digital media market here in Australia. Membership is open to anyone who is truly interested in digital marketing and those who want to be kept thoroughly informed about what’s happening with local and international ad:tech content and activity.

Membership for the club is free and includes these member privileges:

• Special extended discount periods and advance notice of ad:tech Sydney dates
• Unique discounts for global ad:tech events
• Members’ only channels to give your valued feedback and input on ad:tech Sydney content & speaker faculty
• Members’ only competitions to win places at ad:tech Sydney
• Priority registration onsite at the annual the annual ad:tech conference
• VIP seating at the annual the annual ad:tech conference
• VIP badges to identify other club ad:tech members at the annual the annual ad:tech conference

Join club ad:tech here.

ad:tech Sydney

ad:tech is the most thoroughly researched and targeted digital media event in Australia and New Zealand. The event includes a full conference program featuring 150+ leading minds from the local market; the most targeted exhibition floor showcasing only industry leaders; globally respected international keynote presentations; free seminars, breakfast briefings and discussions providing key updates, education & insights: and the annual must attend after party.

The venue

Hilton Sydney

488 George Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia

T: + 612 9266 2000

E: sydney@hilton.com

View Larger Map

First Edition

Welcome to the first ad:tech / iMedia HQ newsletter. We thought you might like to know a bit more about what we’re doing here in the office, work and not work related…

New team members
City2Surf
Anniversary of ad:tech
Sarah’s social life
What’s happening at work
current office food trends

New team members

Annick joined our team recently assisting with Marketing and Content coordination. She’s from Montreal, Canada (yes, the Canadians are taking over the office…) and has been in Australia for seven months, loving it so much she’s keen to stay :) we like that. In addition to being an awesome Marketing and Content Assistant she’s also an incredible salsa dancer, a coffee lover (soy latte if you’re asking) and a tiny bit of a hippy (silent Blue Mountains retreat anyone..?) Welcome Annick.

Colby and Sarah are working in our office for the next couple of months. They normally reside in the Portland, Oregon office – one of dmg::events many ‘arms’ – but they’re here in glorious Sydney for a bit. Colby is a tough-as-nails sports guy who thinks the Sydney winter is child’s play. Sarah seems to be very much enjoying the adjustment to Australian work culture (:)) and is getting in to hot yoga. Result. (Pic of Colby below)

City2Surf
Almost the whole team entered (and completed) the City2Surf.

Tim was the office champion and clocked a personal pb at 1hour 7 minutes 25 seconds – congratulations. Some say it’s the new Skins, some say it’s the hours in the gym, take your pick…

This was Sarah’s first ever race and first time running this distance – so a whole bunch of pbs being smashed there – and she did it non stop, awesome work. Lucy was Sarah’s personal assistant / wing man, in charge of refreshment, entertainment / distraction, crowd management, press relations, oh, and carrying stuff.

Colby also ran – good on him for joining in the Australian ‘way’. We’re pretty sure he enjoyed it but he flew back to Oregon the next day so who knows…

Anniversary of ad:tech
It was the fourth anniversary of ad:tech arriving in Australia last week. We celebrated with sparkling mineral water and a big strategy meeting. Yeah right. The Wine Library in Woolhara hosted our celebration a lunch and we had an awesome time. I think we’d agree on recommending the haloumi, the scallop skewers and the paprika almonds.

Sarah’s social life
Sarah found more food for her twitter feed when she attended SMCSYD (#SMCSYD) at the Ivy. The discussion was on “Social Personas: How different is the social media you from the real you?” There was lots of great discussion, Sarah left feeling very inspired, wanting a Samsung Camera and to know if men really are more vain online as this article suggests.

Taking her sporting persona out again, Sarah also went to the inaugural Agency vs. Agency ping pong tournament at Dr Pong. Although she won all her matches her honorary team – Daemon Group – might not have been best choice given that they lost the ‘cup’ to Melon Media. Rematch and follow up is 7 September…check out the FB group here.

What’s happening at work
And we’re really pleased with the progress on the iMedia Brand Summit. All the speakers are confirmed and the final program is live. Plus we’ve confirmed 70+ amazing brand attendees and sold out of all sponsorship opportunities. The Summit is in just a few weeks so we’re finishing off the extra bits and pieces but it’s going to be an excellent event.

It doesn’t stop there… we’re already starting to think about ad:tech Sydney 2011. Speaker submissions will open next month – stay tuned for more on that.

And – last thing I promise – keep your eyes and ears open for more exciting ad:tech announcements in the next couple of weeks… I’m not saying anything right now but soon we’ll be shouting… :)

Cheers,
The ad:tech Team

p.s. current office food trends

• Tim’s sanger of choice at the moment: ham, cheese, tomato, carrot, pickle on grainy bread, served on a wooden board – don’t ask
• Annick is blending her own soy milk…?!?
• Lucy has added almonds and cornflakes to her usual muesli mix.
• Colby c/o Mark has a growing addiction to Boost bars.
• And we’re all loving the cookie options from Three Beans coffee shop. Awesomeness.

We know that Australia was resilient in the GFC/ credit crunch, but it’s good to see the stats reported again today as part of the PWC Media & Entertainment Outlook. The forecasts for growth seem palatable & realistic when you know again how the market held up.

PWC say that the big drivers of media & entertainment are interactive games, pay TV, internet access fees and advertising. I think the most active and therefore interesting one to watch will be interactive games because the momentum int aht sector is already huge, out of control. Megan Brownlow says that product innovation is one of the major drivers of consumer spending and that will most significantly affect advertising but also internet access fees as more people demand / desire internet connectivity. So, despite wanting to move away from the discussion of shiny new toys, it seems platforms and devices will continue to take centre stage.

Save the date and block out 9-10 March 2011 for Australia’s largest gathering of online marketers!

Add the ad:tech 2011 dates to Outlook here – adtech Sydney 2011.vcs

For more information about Australia’s most thoroughly researched and targeted digital media event, go here or email sydneyinfo@ad-tech.com

As economies continue to recover from the GFC, the latest indicators and analysis are showing spikes in online consumer spending, online advertising and increased profitability for digital businesses. The full effect of the credit crunch is still unravelling but we know it accelerated the shift to an increasingly digital and technology enabled world.

Recently, at ad:tech Singapore, where the audience numbers were up, and the vibe was buzzing, you got a real sense of the energy that is in this market, and the opportunities (by which I mean dollars) that are available to those who play wisely.

We know that the credit crunch / GFC created a stronger interest in businesses that did ‘more with less’ (the e-boom again, but this time substantiated). And there is a massive demand for mobile, agile, goods & services. And the consumer expectations on media are for ever more timely, relevant, accessible, and can I say free, ad-free, information.

From what I can see this has led to a focus on data, analysis and application; a renewed interest in e-commerce; exploring mobile opportunities with real commitment; and striving to achieve real brand centricity online. These are themes and topics that we’ll be looking at throughout the ad:tech Breakfast Briefings, the ad:tech 2011 program and the iMedia Brand Summit.

You can now download the presentations from ad:tech Sydney 2010 here.

Thanks and look forward to seeing you next year!

The key learnings from the ad:tech CONFERENCE this year were all around the bigger picture: moving away from the individual campaign, the silo-ed platform or channel, the single data source & measurement tool, the isolated digital marketer. It was clear that digital marketing is now gaining more of the recognition, reaction & respect that it deserves and has earned. And, crucially there was little talk of ‘where the industry is heading’, and more on what a strong, opportunistic position it’s in right now.

With non-stop case studies from leading agencies and major brands, delegates were left with no doubt that the advertising industry is benefiting from the commercial opportunities created by new and existing technology. And the cases studies and presentations also showed that technology is also being leveraged successfully for brand growth, customer engagement and valuable consumer dialogue.

So, once again the ad:tech CONFERENCE was the showcase for the industry latest and greatest. We look forward to seeing where the next 12 months takes us and continuing to bring you relevant, timely, critical information through the ad:tech breakfast briefings and next year’s program.

You can see full details of the 2010 program here.
You can see the full list of 2010 speakers here.

ad:tech 2010 was a record breaking year with over 2,200 visitors across both days making the event the number one place to meet anyone in the Australian and New Zealand digital marketing industry. Attendees benefited from a busy & engaging Expo floor, highly informative & motivating content at the FREE Keynotes, Expo Seminar Theatre & Breakfast Briefings, and insights & experiences from the leading minds in digital media on the ad:tech CONFERENCE.

Day One Keynotes

Attendees were inspired by the global vision of Unilever’s VP, Global Communications Planning, Babs Rangaiah. In the same week Babs was also nominated in the ‘Media Professional of the Year’ category for the Festival of Media Awards further cementing his position as one of the world’s preeminent marketers.

Later that day the CEO Panel Debate delivered some of the most quoted one-liners from the event as three financial services executives bared all about their belief and investment in digital marketing:

Twitter

Grobler: “it’s wonderful instantaneous free research”

“@gerdschenkel | It’s engagement ahead of the issue that makes social media effective “

“It’s much better to be 10 seconds of someone’s life on their platform of choice than force them onto your website” – Schenkel

Wendt talking about “oh so over it” tweet from @westpac

Day Two Keynotes

Presenting a broad view of where the industry is heading Sean Finnegan, Chief Digital Officer, Starcom MediaVest Group kicked off day 2 leaving delegates keen to know how to capitalise on the new digital landscape.

Neil Hudspeth, Head of Digital Strategy APAC & Japan thoroughly engaged the afternoon audience as he shared the real details and mechanisations of HP’s current and future digital strategy. On, and off line, the discussion was about how to return to the office and manage to implement everything that had been learnt from the presentation:

Twitter:

“HP Case is the most complex and integrated beautifully executed case I’ve seen so far on ad:tech”

This year we trialled using paper feedback forms at the ad:tech CONFERENCE. This was because (ironically) the electronic feedback voting system was not popular!
We got some pretty good feedback but we wanted to give you more chance to let us know what you thought of the ad:tech CONFERENCE so you can share your opinion here on the ad:tech brain. That’s what we built it for after all!

So, click here to go to the ad:tech CONFERENCE schedule and you can then choose the sessions you attended, click on the title and rate the session. Use the comments box for any specific feedback, comments etc, you know how it works.

We’re always trying to make ad:tech Sydney even better and I think you know by now that we DO listen to your feedback so please, get involved.

Any questions etc just email me.

Cheers,
Lucy