This week’s blog is contributed by Stacy Smith, Media Supervisor at Web Ad.vantage, and agency representative at Ad:Tech New York, 2009.

Ad:Tech: Over 250 speakers, over 10,000 attendees, and over 60+ panel sessions ranging over a broad spectrum of integrated online marketing topics. But Ad:Tech is more than just a place to meet and greet. It’s a place to absorb great amounts of knowledge and insight, a place for like thinkers in our technology-driven field to come together and confirm or debate their theories. It’s a common ground for agencies and publishers to air issues.

One thing you can always count on is that the next wave of digital advertising, along with the current riptide will always be represented: Gaming, Mobile, Video, Email, Metrix Solutions… If you work in any way with online marketing there is something at Ad:Tech for you to take away. It really doesn’t matter if you specialize in online media buying, SEO, PPC, brand marketing, or even direct marketing—whatever your connection to the wide world of advertising, there is bound to be an Ad:Tech vendor promoting something that you should be aware of.

The Exhibit Hall

Ahhh, the Exhibit Hall is always a fun place, whether you’re walking it or working a booth. I’m a walker. I walk the room, quickly skimming each booth for elements of interest, gathering cards (and of course, schwag), avoiding eye contact because I know that I only have a limited amount of time before and after sessions. This year there was one major difference—besides the booth attendees bidding for time, there seemed to be many non-exhibiting publishers working the room as well. Regardless, I was determined to get more contacts and current information for both video and mobile vendors, although I must admit that the personalized gaming companies did spark my interest; they are just way cool and I’d love the opportunity to take that campaign to market! But, that’s another story for another day…

Back to video… While we have a strong grasp on video marketing, it’s always good to have more publishers at your disposal and to be able to inquire about new opportunities on the horizon. Now mobile marketing is another story. Mobile, while not a new tool, is just coming into a position of mass usability for the budget minded clients of this world. More people have smart phones, meaning greater reach, and more people are becoming comfortable with their “digital right-hand” and it’s capabilities. And with yesterday’s big news that Google acquired AdMob for $750M, we can expect to see many more game-changing mobile marketing innovations in the near future.

The Sessions

So many sessions, so little time! Seriously, there are 5 session tracks to consider for each session hour. Personally, I was concentrating on metrics, or rather marrying metrics of traditional to new media, ad operations, and how to best measure the newer media, location awareness, and privacy issues regarding mobile, driving brand awareness online, and the best way to carry the conversation across mediums—phew!

Which brings me back to mobile marketing…fun for many! Mobile users are updating their social networks, grabbing directions on the fly, searching for information, as well as texting or calling their friends. Instead of the saying “Can I get fries with that?” I’m hearing a lot more of “There’s an app for that!” The world of mobile advertising is changing. It’s being accepted, and that is a good thing. Well, good for the most part—I don’t believe for one moment that with this evolution there won’t be major bumps. Oh, there will be MAJOR bumps, namely privacy issues.

According to one session speaker, 37% of people they polled were “not at all interested” in receiving advertisements on their phone. However, 43% were either “somewhat interested” or “very interested”. The common agreement seemed to be that relevant and timely information will be much better received than random, invasive text ads. Perhaps an opt-in option will prevail, but it’s still too early to tell. This was the topic of just one of several sessions and I have to say that each one that I sat in on was very thought-provoking and captivating. My only issue with Ad:Tech? It’s so hard to choose the best sessions to attend!

So, thank you once again, Ad:Tech, for not wasting our time and for putting together multiple excellent panelists and moderators. I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us next year!

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