@d:Tech, Los Angeles 2002

By Joyce A. Schwarz, www.joycecom.com, joycecom@aol.com

What do you get when you cross a recession with the Dot Com-

fall-out? Answer: @d:Tech, Los Angeles 2002. Billed as “the

premier event for interactive advertising and marketing”, Ad

Tech, Los Angeles 2002(www.ad-tech.com), June 19-21,

attracted 1600 attendees according to the official @d:TECH

newsletter recap.

METRICS #1 TOPIC

Conference chair, the personable, Susan S. Bratton,

formerly SVP. at Excite@Home and now founder of her own firm

Cendara, Inc. says in her welcoming statement “we’ve worked

hard to create avenue chock full of pan-industry

information”. In the sessions and on the floor, there was

some cross-platform chatter, but in reality, the conclave

tilted toward such topics as search engine marketing and

online traffic conversion. The recurring theme in the

exhibit hall with 40 something vendors was ‘metrics, metrics

and metrics’ as such majors as ASK JEEVES, GOOGLE, and

OVERTURE made way for heavy competition from upstarts like

Search 123 and Quigo Technologies Inc in the thriving PPC

(pay per click) arena.

Sure, you could still hear speakers repeating that ‘old

chestnut’ that “Content is king” but the unifier for most of

the panels and the audience was the French word for royalty

“ROI”which whose initials stand not so coincidentally for

Return On Investment. One exhibitor whose amiable crew

attracted a nice crowd, James Beriker, President & CEO,

Westlake, California based Search123 (search123.com) says,

“This audience was more sophisticated than in past years and

clearly more intent on measuring the performance of every

dollar spent. ROI is no longer an online marketing buzzword,

it’s an imperative”.

With far more attendees from the brand side, experts

are left wondering what the major media buyers are really

demanding to create that ROI for their clients. Marketing

guru Stan Rapp, Chairman, MRM Partners Worldwide urges the

audience to look beyond the traditional ROI to Return on

Relationship (ROR) for greater profit. He’s quoted in the

show recap as saying,” whoever owns the database owns

interactive access to the customer”.

MOBILE MOGULS PLAN 24/7/365 MEDIA

Upstairs one of the event’s best attended sectors

turned out to be Mobile Marketing sessions. At a peek into

the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) General meeting being

held in conjunction with @d-Tech I found such leaders as

Lucy Hood, Senior Vice President of Content at Newscorp

Corp. joining discussions with wireless carrier execs Kris

Cone, Director of Business Development, ATT Wireless and

Eric Burger, Director of Data Content and Partnerships

Cingular and top leaders from AOL and Unilever. The MMA’s

(www.waaglobal.org) challenge is to establish a mobile

marketing industry in the U.S. and promote business models

that can work sooner rather than later. MMA Co-chair, Perry

Allison, VP Strategic Alliances, Sky-Go,, a proponent of

cross-media campaigns, led discussions and moderated a panel

featuring Griffith David, Co-Founder and VP Business

Development, Adversoft, Jason Kuperman, Director Interactive

Marketing, TBWA\Chiat\Day and Jesse Zellmer, Director,

Ticket Sales, San Diego Gulls. If you see Kuperman, ask him

about his tale of the Teddy Bear and LBS (location based

services)—it’s a classic. An early interactive proponent,

Kuperman understands the value of adding mobile into the

media mix to deliver consumers anything, anytime instantly.

Up and coming agency Adversoft’s David is one to watch since

his firm’s case studies ring true in this crowded

marketplace where access is crucial. His advice includes

“the longer you keep the dialogue going, the deeper the

relationship”.

MOBILE’TAINMENT –A NEW GAME TO PLAY

Top honors for best panel of the day go to the case

study “Sony Pictures Entertains Wireless”. Two of

Hollywood’s brightest and charismatic marketers Rio Caraeff,

VP Wireless Services, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment

and Audrey Marco, VP, Partnership Marketing, Sony Pictures

Digital Entertainment are just WOW! These two powerhouses

understand that wireless is all about unleashing the screen

to billions around the globe, not just communicating to 160

million world-wide cell phone owners.

Caraeff is ‘right on’ when he holds up a mobile phone

and tells the audience, “this is not a game boy;

fundamentally we’re talking about a 2-way radio system”. He

says it’s all about having an experience and integrating

marketing, retailer and operator. The priority is to give

the consumer a good experience first and foremost whether it

be with polyphonic ring tones or letterbox mode image

delivery. Of course with such properties as “Men In Black”,

“Ali” and “Spiderman” Sony is fast learning that the message

and the medium vary he explains.

Marcos sums up the challenge for all 21st Century

marketers when she explains that “Always on means always

engaged”.

PRIVACY VERSUS ACCESS

As marketers our greatest opportunity is a duality for

creatives. Getting access ,doesn’t equal getting attention

in a message massaged-environment.

The challenge of protecting privacy and security in

times of uncertainty is a hurdle every marketer at @d-Tech

and beyond is facing as we head into the 24/7/365 arena.

That’s why I’m disappointed that so few of the gurus hung

out to hear Fran Meier, executive director, TRUSTe

(www.truste.org)talk about this non-profit trade group’s new

mobile labeling and privacy industry initiative.

The day was ending back East but the dawn of LBS

(location based services) mobile is ushering us into will

mean curtains to marketers who don’t abide by consumer’s

opt-in preferences. Sound complex? It is!

“FUTURE SCHLOCK”

Head to your local movie theatre to get a peek at

Hollywood’s version of Ad-Tech--a product-placement retina-

scanning dystopian-driven world depicted in the new film

MINORITY REPORT. As my colleague Jack Feuer,“Adweek”

national news editor says in this week’s column in that

trade journal,” Minority Report is awash in ads. The reality

will be worse”. Feuer labels it ‘Future Schlock”.

Maybe by fall, when @d:Tech heads for New York, more

advertising and marketing executives will be ready to face

head-on such time-critical issues as privacy and

personalization.

########

Joyce A. Schwarz, heads JCOM,(www.joycecom.com) a

Marina Del Rey, CA based emerging media and new marketing

consulting firm. In her spare time she writes books on the

industry such as the recently released “Cutting the Cord:

Guide to Going Wireless” now on Amazon.com and BN.com and at

your nearest Barnes & Noble bookstore. Chapter 7 of this

tome covers personalization and privacy in advertising and

content delivery across platforms. You can reach her in

somewhat real time at joycecom@aol.com