MIXXing it up at Advertising Week V

Advertising Week, this week in NYC is educational and good for business... All that conversation is the only way to be reminded about the immense range of acceptance and use of the Web as a marketing resource - never mind culture shifter! Here are a few thoughts from the streets and stages around NYC.

Nice detailed coverage of most of the panel presentations is done by Adweek. AdAge gives their one-column take here. And that still-nifty rag New York Times did an overview here

For us Digital Adverters, The Mixx-Expo is the center of the interactive choir. I will do a separate post about lessons learned and ideas hatched. Definitely check out the Mixx Award winners. To see the best of the Web, the OMMA Awards finalists are as important as the winners. (below is my quick take of OMMA)

IAB... now known as iab, journaled daily at their blog. Also read Kelly “Smart Aleck,” MediaPost’s coverage at Just an Online Minute.

The highlight from the collage image above is the Ogilvy art installation at the Paley Center on 52^nd and 5^th. It is worth a stop to experience the original of the Mad Men (you are watching it on AMC, right!?). So, here is the play on words heard at Mixx, the industry is actually being led by the MATH MEN - the services that can sell the managing of enormous amount of disparate data metrics for efficiency and accountability.

The key word of Advertising Week was "Random" and if you are OK with it, you won’t lose your mind or your business model expectations.

Basic business rules (like increasing sales) will occasionally be remembered; “success” has more definitions than you can even know about, rates for new media development will range from Big Agency stewardship to cheap startup-Web-app-shortcut (on MyFaceTubeLink), creative inspiration will come from the most unlikely places (like a travelling, dancing goof named Matt)…

My key word is "Participate." The only way to understand how New Media is changing the entire industry is to experience it – at your company and for yourself.


It is great to be aware that “fish where the fish are” means to reach out to your audience where they already are (like with a content-rich Widget or facebook app)… and NOT only per$uading them back to your site.

So, BE THE FISH. Understand what your audience can and will do – Experiment. Txt, Blog, Twit, Stumble, Digg… at least watch what happens when you click on one of those ridiculous banner ads and buy something.

I am happy to help with your basics. We can mess with the complicated stuff together. I promise not to try to impress you with TLAs that I don't even understand!

The thing I am talking about a lot is the deep technology programming needed to manage New Media and the new consumer. There is massive processing going on in the server rooms at smart companies. I posted about it last summer – see Duct Tape on Concrete.

Now we can discuss these two elements of your customer interactions:

Front End = All the bright, shiny, valuable, engaging stuff
Back End = The hard stuff that makes it all work