I was impressed at the depth of conversation at this half-day (perfect timing) seminar - EconAds: The Economics of Ad Deals produced by ContentNext, best known for the 6 year strong PaidContent.org. It is sobering to assess the beautiful mess we call Internet Advertising through the cold, heartless, ROI-eyes of investors. I don't mean that the Financial Guys are no fun... it's just that their passion is not the cool stuff that we love to dance around. Strictly bottom line.
This event was more than the evangelists preaching to the choir. Rafat Ali and David Kaplan not only know their stuff and how to ask the hard questions, but they also assume the audience is ready and willing. MEC's Adam Schlachter pulled in some real world (digital world) examples. Greg Smith from Ogilvy summed up the need for extra resources and hard work when he said, "unless you know the future, you have to make a lot of bets."
Here is a list of speakers who cut right to the chase:
- Douglas Anmuth, SVP & Senior Research Analyst, Lehman Brothers
- Samir Arora, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Glam Media
- Lynda Clarizio, President, Platform-A & EVP, AOL
- Paula Drum, VP of Marketing, Digital Solutions Group, H&R Block
- Russ Fradin, Co-founder & President, Adify
- Peter Horan, CEO, Goodmail Systems; Former CEO, IAC Media & Advertising
- Bruce Jaffe, Former Corporate VP, Corporate Development, Microsoft
- Lance Maerov, SVP, Corporate Development, WPP
- Dennis Miller, General Partner, Spark Capital
- Dave Morgan, Founder, TACODA
- Nancy Peretsman, Managing Director, Allen & Co
- Jo Ann Ross, President, Network Sales, CBS
- Penry Price, VP, Ad Sales, North America, Google
- Michael Rubenstein, Director, Ad Exchange, Google; Former VP & GM, DoubleClick
- Adam Shlachter, Group Director, MEC Interaction
- Greg Smith, COO, Neo@Ogilvy North America
- Mike Walrath, SVP, Yahoo Advertiser Marketplace Group; Former CEO, Right Media
- Cyril Zimmermann, Founder & CEO, Hi-Media
(more picks at flickr)
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