Strategic Digital Insights and Networking for the Agency Executive & Partner

In 2009 we all faced a recession crisis, but in 2010 we face an innovation crisis, with clients reassessing the new industry landscape and realizing the need for increased momentum towards new ideas, models and partnerships. To address this innovation crisis and move full speed ahead to thrive amidst "the new normal," we need a generation of "New Entrepreneurs" to seize every opportunity to bring new and customized solutions to old, tired problems. Lisa Donohue will highlight and define the behaviors of the New Entrepreneur; illustrate how the new demands of clients will change the face of our industry's talent; project an agency model where New Entrepreneurs can gather and flourish; and outline the balancing act between business objective focus and entrepreneurial risk-taking. Importantly, Donohue will also address the recognition and rewards needed to inspire this new wave of talent, and the new models for how marketers can compensate these newly fortified agencies.

Is the arrival of tablets, smartphones and other wireless innovation part of a revolution or evolution? Will there be a "one device for all things" race to be won or will there always be a place for a printed newspaper at the breakfast table, traditional radio to hear a ballgame, and conventional television to bridge the generations and maintain the traditions?

Join Jeff Hasen, CMO, HipCricket and Tamara Bousquet, SVP, media director, MEA Digital to look beyond the iPad and Google phone mania to what the trends in wireless are telling us about consumer behavior and interests.

This Master Class will examine whether the mobile device is the friend marketers have sought given the large number of subscribers who say they want to join mobile loyalty clubs from brands they trust. Understand how a collision between the interests of the mobile carriers and mega powers like Google and Apple might come down and impact a brand's efforts.

Learn whether augmented reality will be a useful tool, mobile coupons will be big enough to bring financial and environmental benefits to a brand and whether location-based services will ever deliver the promise of a coupon as you walk by a Starbucks.

Online video is one of the hottest sectors within the media landscape, with projections for double digit growth over the new few years. According to eMarketer, online video will account for 12.4% of total U.S. online ad spending by the year 2013, up from 4.6% in 2009. While pre-roll is still the dominant format, creative innovation is on the rise, resulting in a proliferation of ad formats that allow advertisers to experiment creatively and move beyond the common practice of repurposing TV spots.

As advertisers invest more in online video, are they also investing in new forms of video creative to take advantage of the powerful combination of sight, sound, and motion paired with the interactivity of the web? In this session, you will hear real world examples of some of the most innovative and interactive creative executions in online video advertising today from a variety of agencies and their vendor partners who are taking advantage of the benefits of interactive video.

Something Different. Something Fiction. Something Fun. Dan Wald, the author of the recently released novel "Ad Asylum," will read from his book, lead a discussion and share some insights on getting started on the book that could be inside you. Part 1 – Welcome to the "Ad Asylum"

"Ad Asylum" may be a work of fiction, but it addresses some real truths about our industry… warts and all!

Listen to Wald read from his new novel and then join the discussion to follow. We'll share your agency stories and favorite pitches and discuss how to survive office politics, big egos, and crazy clients!

Part 2 – So You Want to Write a Book?

There is a book in many of us. This session covers how to move through the process one step at a time, using "Ad Asylum" as an example. Learn how to stop talking about writing and start actually writing.

• Learn to tap into your daydreams.

• Decide whether to pursue fiction or non-fiction.

• Decide whether to find a publisher or self-publish.

• Learn how to market your book.

If the interactive marketing business started today – in this age of streaming broadband, constant connection, empowered consumers, and social connectivity – it would look far different than the legacy business we continue to incrementally tweak and adjust. Truth is, we're carrying around a lot of dead ideas. In an irreverent, provocative, and interactive keynote, Upstream Group CEO, iMedia Senior Analyst Doug Weaver borrows the theme from author Matt Miller's "The Tyranny of Dead Ideas: Revolutionary Thinking for a New Age of Prosperity" and outlines a series of "Dead Internet Ideas" that are not aging well and are preventing digital agencies, media companies and marketers from realizing true potential of the coming age. Concepts long held as gospel, respected as tradition, or simply put up with because they're just so darned old must be unceremoniously given the heave-ho. Moving consumers from place to place? Passé. Campaign-based planning and buying? Anachronistic. RFPs? Seriously now. These are just a start. Weaver brings more than 16 years of deep involvement in the industry. His message to both agencies and sales organizations is simple: Incrementalism is the Enemy. We must accept that cherished tactical experience and accepted wisdom may actually sow the seeds of our obsolescence.

Social media is hot, but unfortunately most of the conversation continues to revolve around tactics, such as creating a Twitter account or producing a viral video. Fascinated by a dizzying array of tools and tactics, businesses and agencies tend to miss the right way of adopting social media that will capture the attention of the C-suite. Paraphrasing a famous Zen saying, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him,” this session will examine the deeper meaning of social media by looking beyond typical associations and into how it is transforming organizations. The value of social media is extending across the enterprise – from R&D to customer care, marketing/PR and beyond – to drive sustainable business advantage. As brands are increasingly discovering, this requires not just intelligent “listening” but also redesigning a more agile social business that extends across multiple use cases. This redesign poses both opportunities and challenges for agencies. In this session, Rob Key will discuss examples of how social media is transforming businesses, and best practices on how some leading organizations are taking an enterprise approach to social media for competitive advantage. Key will also discuss why it may well be time to kill the term "social media" to gain better traction and success within the C-suite, and share what a post "social media" world may look like to brands and agencies.

2010 has been called "The Year of Data" but extracting the true value of audience based targeting is complicated. Our industry has the advantage of being truly accountable but data, traditionally a campaign side dish, is now being served up as the main course. Paul Bremer from Inflection Point Media and LJ Kobe from GSD&M will delve into the data debate and present a number of emerging options.

We have all heard the old expression, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." Is it possible that audiences built with fresh data from great sources can greatly improve that equation? A lot of people seem to think so. Data exchanges now allow buyers to append data to media. Agencies have created their own buy side platforms to do the same. Publishers are willing to play along by exporting data in hopes of new revenue streams.

In addition to search engine marketing and contextual placements, data driven targeting is becoming a legitimate part of the digital media landscape. The proliferation of data has also brought confusion due to lack of uniformity. Now it is time to break through the noise and figure out what all this data talk is about.

Digital marketers are opening a new chapter. No longer simply overwhelmed by data and the abundance of tools and processes spewing out, we’ve recognized the confusion and innovated. We thrive on the proliferation of digital channels and help our clients understand their consumer's fragmented media consumption. Right?

We are entering a new marketing era where microtargeting, and not reach, is the primary driver of a campaign’s success. We need to continue to accelerate the value of the digital marketing industry. We need to recognize where innovation is taking place, and how we can all develop and access ways to get more value for our clients. The ability to use intelligence-gathering tools and platforms towards more actionable insights is exciting for everyone. How can we make access and adoption easier and more universal?

There's no question that digital sales is changing dramatically. So why are so many of us still interviewing the same job candidates and asking them the same questions we asked in 2003? In this highly interactive working breakfast session, Upstream Group CEO Doug Weaver will review new potential sources of online sales talent and offer provocative interview questions and techniques to see if your 2010 hopefuls can really do the job you need them to do.

Seller attendees only please. Seating will be limited so arrive early and come armed with your own questions, thoughts and ideas.

Let the media buyers speak! In this interactive session Catalyst:SF CEO John Durham has hand-selected "Agent Provocateurs" from the Agency-Only Aspen Group to lead discussions on the big trends, obstacles and opportunities facing advertising agencies in 2010 and beyond. Learn the unique points of views of the agency professionals, and weigh in with your ideas too!

Is it time to finally stop asking if the year of mobile has arrived and acknowledge it's here now? Are Foursquare and Gowalla new media realities or passing fads? How do interactive agencies move forward in the social media landscape and who are the best partners to tackle it with? Each "Agent Provocateur" will present their position on a key topic. Not only will they stir debate, they’ll shed light on the complexities of digital media strategy agencies grapple with every day.

Leveraging the collective intelligence of the audience, Durham and his "Provactueurs" will answer the questions to move interactive agencies forward, and show how the entire interactive advertising eco-system can partner with interactive agencies for a strong 2011.

AdMarketplace's Adam Epstein will discuss alternatives to search engine advertising, as well as successful strategies that online marketers (and their agencies) are employing to drive performance in the content space.

Do you still need to deliver more leads and sales even though yoursearch campaigns are fully optimized? Content/display inventory accounts for 95% of user time online. How can you discover users’ intention when searching so you can make your ROI goals? This presentation will discuss strategies for getting the best performance of search from the most relevant content space.

As targeted advertising has evolved and its value has been consistently demonstrated, the market is becoming increasingly fragmented with various platforms and players claiming to have the secret sauce for finding ideal audiences. As an industry we are interested in accuracy and efficiency – when it comes to targeting, you truly get what you pay for. Discovering accurate audiences requires information from multiple data points, including online, offline, third party and site-side data. If it sounds complex, that’s because it is. Not just anyone can parse that amount of data to drive successful digital marketing. New audience targeting technologies arrive daily: audience targeting platforms, ad networks, exchanges, demand-side platforms, and more, are now available. With all this fragmentation, it is important that you develop an audience strategy. Learn how a major retail company uses an integrated audience platform to provide the intelligence necessary to reduce waste and reaches the ideal audience to maximize returns. This session will demonstrate how to drive relevant advertising that engages your target audience.

While numerous studies have been conducted on behavioral metrics, there is still limited understanding of the interplay of ad units, engagement and different online environments. That is, until now.

Partnering with comScore and working with six major brand owners including Doritos, Toshiba and GE, VideoEgg has conducted the first large scale research study designed to explain the relative brand value of rich media ad units and how ad performance is impacted by environment. The study provides unique insight into how online engagement can be optimized, and answers questions such as:

• How do standard IAB banners, interstitials and AdFrames units impact brand lift? How does brand lift change with ad engagement?

• Can a great ad unit perform well regardless of environment?

• How do these ad units perform on well-known sites, smaller contextually relevant and non-contextual sites?

• Is there any interaction between ad units and type of site?

As industry regulations tighten and an increasing percentage of online advertising is sold through blind networks and exchanges, brands and networks alike continue to struggle with safety and compliance in their online campaigns. How can we work as an industry to increase transparency, safety, accountability and trust of the online advertising ecosystem in order to bring more dollars online?

Join us as we review online advertising verification: how it works and what problems it solves. Stay ahead of your client campaigns and learn the how verification benefits advertisers, agencies, publishers, networks, exchanges – as well as the industry at large. Hear directly from verification customers about increased campaign performance and the actionable insights they gained as a result of ad verification. This session provides you with the first step to ensure you and your customers are getting the most value from every impression delivered.