Today was interesting. I only really saw 2 sessions aside the one I was involved in but I did a bit of watching and tried to capture the overall sentiment from the event.

One thing I have taken out is there is still a monster divide between the ‘technologists’ and the wider ‘advertising’ industry. It’s almost a land grab and I think it’s getting worse. There is so little consideration paid by the digerati to the wider world of communications both advertising wise and non advertising wise that it creates a silo mentality and a feeling that ‘digital is number 1′. IRL (in real life for the non awesome) guys this won’t work … integration is required and I, for one, question how many of you will go with this when the words ‘crowdsource’, ‘the conversation’, ‘dialogue’, ’social graph’ etc are often muttered but never defined nor tied back to business objectives (which are, you know, the reason why clients (ie those who pay us) use communications channels)

Another thing is the digital industry aren’t particularly good generally at answering questions thrown up from the audience. It’s all very prepared. I asked 4 questions over 2 days and none were actually answered. Maybe some should consider politics!

Twitter and Social Media was definitely the main theme but I question how much said around both wasn’t hot air. Yes, social media is important but I feel so much of the conversation around it is so ambigous and macro that it’s almost like people are making it up on the spot.

I think in hindsight Liam and I were a little wrong around the structure of the conference and the mix was about right - so congrats to Jenny and Beth around this. I spoke to a lot of people today and they were happy with how the event flowed. The crowd was incredibly diverse so the agenda needed to be diverse too.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed the panel I was on had to start late due to the previous one going overtime by 10 minutes. I love hearing Laurel Papworth’s voice just as much as she clearly does (don’t worry Laurel, I enjoy the sound of my own voice too) … but it was a bit rude considering it was the end of the day. Once we got cracking I felt we covered some interesting terrain around the importance of professional content and media brands.

The last click attribution session was interesting in parts. Jenny Bewes from Vodafone was exceptional on stage and it was good to get candid conversation from a marketer around the wider mix and how digital fits into all the broad touchpoints from POS to CRM to TV, newspapers, call centre … just great. Michael Buckley from Amnesia was going very well until he started talking about media consumption as a % and media spend % and then he lost me - I hate that comparison as the only media that is disproportionate in terms of more spends is newspapers … but I think perhaps I misunderstood him. I wanted to ask him who he thinks should be tasked with making the wider world aware of click attribution or misattribution but the session was over by then. Michael - that said I thought you were good and it was great to have a smart, clever media guy involved on a panel!

Monetising Social Networks … hrm … I’m not a believer in these slides and have seen them so many times. Also, Arrington isn’t still in Hawaii … he’s back at Techcrunch. I think saying Michael Arrington could create a Murdoch style empire is so off the mark it’s amusing … he runs a blog around start ups with around 1m users globally and an audience that isn’t really the most valuable around … do you realise the magnitude of Newscorp? The guy from Minti was interesting but I think most people were like ‘Dude what is Minti?’

Twitter stream - valuable but maybe too many back seat drivers. Struggled to take much out of it personally but I guess the irony is it’s easier to observe than really participate.

My key takeout - get clients to come next year. Adtech is GOLD for clients but I think sadly not enough were there. Lets find a way to get this content in front of them. I know for 2010 I’ll be recommending we bring along some of our clients at MAXUS as they will get a heap out of it. Beth - send me the dates when you can!

And thanks to everyone who came along to our panel - and thanks to Vivek, Duff and Julian

http://talkingdigital.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/adtech-day-2/#comment-386

My Dream Client Stream
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Keynote - Who Ate Who?
A speaker who can inform us as to whether traditional media is changing the values of digital media as it encroaches and monetises online, or vice versa. Who’s paradigm is really shifting? Backed up by fact, not PowerPoint (PowerPoint + fact = misdirection)

Session 1 - Digital Disasters
This would be a good session to unravel a lot of the hype that we still see about online, and great opportunity to learn some “don’ts.”

Session 2 - Where Art Thou, Consumer?
It seems we are all talking to the same people. How do we extend digital reach - do we need more fingers, or do we need larger arms? What I am saying is that despite what we say, we still aren’t talking-to 95% of our audience in a meaningful way. If our arms are agendas/ideas, and our fingers are conversations, do we need to make the ideas (arms) larger, or do we need to focus first on the fingers (conversations)? Are we trying to do too much and be too smart? Do consumers actually want to be more deeply engaged, or do they simply want a one night stand with our brands? Not only would this topic be thought provoking, but it could also vie for the most metaphors in one talk.

Session 3 - Measuring success
A lot of brands measure their online success by comparing their digital metrics to their offline counterparts. But if we rephrase the conversation with the presumption that the results from above the line campaigns are for the most part poor, then why would we compare online metrics with a below par baseline. What should be the measures of success online, and at what level? And how do brands do this?

Session 4: Embracing the herd.
Can brands really utilise the wisdom of crowds without undermining their core ethos? If so, what value does the marketer actually play - is there even a need for strategy when chaos and market demand usually win out
anyway? Should you fire yourself as a marketer and simply become executionally focussed?

Session 5 Panel: Let’s Get Ready to Rumble
The debate over who understands digital marketing best, digital agencies or traditional agencies, continues unabated. My belief is that it completely depends on the culture of the client, however this is no time for reason. Have the discussion occur with a panel of 3 people on each side, but they can only discuss via text message which is displayed on a screen in the middle of the two teams so everyone can see. The audience can also participate via SMS. Not only does this keep a potential mobile sponsor happy and position adtech as forward thinking, but it will soon become obvious which side embraces the technology. The use of “runners” for this by the panel i.e. 12 year old SMS wizards, would be discouraged. This may seem
like a joke, but it’s not!

Session 6: What Brands Work, and Why
Some brands are more adept at optimising their message for the web, others are to prepondorous and have too much of a legacy to be agile. This would be a session on the key traits that a brand requires to be able to take advantage of digital, and transformation strategies for those who are struggling. This session would be gold for a lot of brand managers.

Session 7: Online Advertising 201
Let’s face it, most campaigns are still utilising interruptive mechanisms such as banners, interstitials etc. No wonder many brand managers are questioning their online media buying strategies. This session compares the various forms of online advertising available, and what cutting edge solutions are commercially available. This session takes for granted that people know what online advertising is, but how can brand managers take advantage of it in better ways?

Session 8: Let Me Hear you Say NBN
This session examines what technologies can be utilised if and when the national broadband network is rolled out. From streaming holograms through to personalised cinematic experiences, this session is designed to leave the attendees feeling inspired about what can be achieved through digital. I
think often at conferences we get so caught up in the minutiae that we forget how wonderful our industry really is, and that our end goal is to give all people a better quality of life. Whether it be more free time (I can hear you all chuckle), create or more authentic buying experience, provide greater access to information or allow for more personal choice, brand managers do far more than be mouthpieces for their companies. We have a chance to reshape how we interact with consumers, and this session does just that.