If the audience at the keynote is any representation, the internet advertising "state of our economy" is strong. At rough estimate, half of the audience stood up as first time attendees. As Brad Berens, the arbiter of AdTech informed us, "Everything analog is going digital. Anything that can be digitized will be digitized." And for the first time I actually see that as a reality. The is the crux. This is the shift year. In four years a double increase in internet advertising is predicted. Attention is being sliced and diced, and the little screen has evolved from just being another channel, to reinforcing the big screen.
According to Nielsen, by 2020 the vast majority of households in the US with children 18 or under will be multicultural. How do we deal with that? How will our marketing have to evolve? This is what digital has been built for. This is what we are all here for, and why the mood is the most positive I have seen in years. For those of us who have been in the industry for years, and for those just entering digital, this is the crux, the paradigm shift, the tipping point, or whatever term you want to pull out of thin air for "change."
Enjoy the conference. Enjoy that you are in this industry at the right time, and realize, that you are definitely in the right place. Enjoy the show.
