Of course the big boys are here... Bing and Yahoo (Right Media,) ComScore, and Amazon (Web Services,) but a surprise was more traditional big brands like American Express OPEN. And there are a slew of agencies, but what is different is these agencies are specialists, and concentrate on doing a couple things very very well. They speak digital in a way that previous agencies only dream about, from companies like Grafton who specialize in content creation and making sure it is picked up by search engines to extend your message, to a slew of creative, media, and ethic targeting agencies, the options for brands allow them to choose the right agency for the right job at the right time.

Most of the activity that is exciting to me is booth to booth to booth of new vibrant companies, and startups. From companies like Beintoo who is bringing gamification and rewards to mobile, and Fiksu which is helping marketers get their apps discovered on iOS and Android, to SeeMail who allows you to attach your voice to pictures you send to provide more context, and Stipple who enables shopping, search and discovery through images. From companies that are helping in Search, to those facilitating email and CRM; from companies that manage, accelerate and report on social media to those who enable gamification, app discovery and mobile advertising, the entire ecosystem and markets have diversified.

This is no longer the year of any one specific thing, be it "social media" or "mobile" or "email" or "Search" where the majority of new companies are focused on one vertical; this is the year of everything. There does not seem to be one predominant trend or theme, instead the trend is not a "vertical" but "innovation," and that is a good sign for our business.

The convergence of advertising and technology is what AdTech is all about, and the conference this year is delivering on that.

#5) Not turning off the shutter noise on your camera.

If you're using a point-and-shoot camera to take photos of a presenter or a presentation, there is a high probability that the shutter noise on your camera is fake. Yep. It's fake. Sorry, Mr. Photographer. There is a menu item in your camera's settings that will allow you to turn it off. Believe me, you'll look just as cool without the noise.

#4) Not turning cell phones to the "silent" position.

It's a bummer that we can get this right at the movies but not at the premiere digital marketing conference that is attended by thousands. It's pretty simple: move the switch on the side of your phone from the position that it's in right now to the position that it's not in. Done (dust off hands).

#3) Unsolicited business cards.

We are all here to network. Trading cards is expected. But before shoving a card into my eye, provide a little bit of relevance or background information first. Who are you? What's your sign? What did your sign used to be before they messed all of the signs up? Just tell me what you're all about, and let's chat for a minute. Who knows? We might become best friends (probably not).

#2) iPads in the Men's room.

Gross. Seriously. And you're holding up the line.

#1) Speakerphone.

Speakerphone is for private-time and not really appropriate at a conference. One of the most amazing features of phones has been around since the invention of the phone -- when you hold it up to your ear, only you can hear what's on the other end. Technology! So unless your voicemail contains a message from Bon Jovi, and his full band is performing a live, never-before-heard version of "Livin' On A Prayer," it's probably best to keep it to yourself.

And because I'm feeling generous, here are two more helpful tips for ad:tech conference attendees:

#1) Fellas, the ladies aren't checking you out.

They're looking at your conference badge. Sorry, slugger.

#2) If you want the most trade show floor swag, don't make eye contact.

You also might get kicked out for being creepy.

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.

Get Presentation Tips from the Best in the Business: Sign up today!

Even experienced speakers can learn something new, and if you're nervous standing in front of your colleagues or strangers then you need strategies to help you knock the presentation out of the park without having your knees knock together. At this year's ad:tech San Francisco we're proud to present two of the world's foremost authorities on presentations – Nancy Duarte and Guy Kawasaki – as they help YOU make the most out of your presentation.

Want to have them go over your deck and give you pointers in their Wednesday morning session? Just fill out our form, upload your deck and you'll be in the running for a real-time lesson on powerful, engaging presentations!

Be there Wednesday, April 13, at 10:30am for "Great Presentations: Learn How to Engage Your Audience."

Presenters:
Nancy Duarte, CEO, Duarte Design
Guy Kawasaki, Co-Founder, Alltop, and Founding Partner, Garage Technology Ventures

Free Consultation! Is Your Site Talking to the Right People?

Your business website is one-size fits all…. and that's a bad thing! Different sorts of internet users approach sites differently: the colors that work for a stay-at-home mom aren't the same as those that work for a 30 year old male sports fan. If you don't know how your target customer uses the web, then this is a must-attend session. Join Joseph Carrabis -- acclaimed neuroscientist, researcher, founder of the NextStage companies and author of the book "Reading Virtual Minds" – in a fast-paced session where we tour your URLs and figure out where they're working and where they're failing to connect with customers.

To get actionable, real-time advice on your company site, simply fill out our form: we'll select several sites to review live in session.

Be there Tuesday, April 12, at 10:30am for "Reading Customers' Minds: Neuromarketing without the Wires."

Joseph Carrabis, NeuroMarketer-in-Residence, Critical Mass

The reason isn’t just that I think they’re cool and that they make my life a little easier. It’s because they embody to me two big trends that I see happening within our space that you should watch for while choosing sessions and taking in information at Ad:Tech:

1. Social going mobile
2. Social becoming (somewhat) private (again)

Social Going Mobile

As social media matures it becomes less of a destination and more of an all-encompassing digital layer of our lives. It’s not about logging onto my computer and going to Facebook.com, it’s about my Facebook information, connections and context becoming a part of everything I do online. The next logical step is for that to become a part of my offline life.

Of course I’m not talking about us becoming droids who are always plugged into the matrix (I’m not *that* big of a geek) but the proliferation of iPhones and smart phones makes it easier than ever for digital information and context to become a ever present part of our lives.

Is this new? No. But its adaption is continuing to grow and the ways we think about this digital information and how we access it is changing. Check-ins used to be fun, but now we demand more out of our social, mobile and GPS enabled apps. We need more context, more social information, more accessible and more consumable. GroupMe and Beluga are trying to find the best ways to provide that to us.

Social Becoming (somewhat) Private (again)

It may seem like the opposite of what I just said, but it’s not. As we demand more social context and we require it to be present in all aspects and on all the time, we’ll need more refined ways to express our social network.

Think about it. There’s much more to the intricacies of human relationships than our current social networks give us credit for. Sure I can put friends on Facebook, work contacts in LinkedIn and everyone on Twitter. And sure, I can refine my settings slightly; family gets restricted Facebook access, only my real friends can connect on FourSquare, etc. But that doesn’t allow for shades of grey and as humans, we color with grey liberally.

For example – common wisdom says don’t add your boss on Facebook, or work contacts at all for that matter. But haven’t you ever been to an office cocktail party? All of a sudden the lines stretch a little, you can make that slightly NSFW joke or comment once you’ve been in conversation long enough to feel like it would be well received…but how do you teach your social network to understand exceptions, situations, and just general social intuition?

Right now you can’t. So we come to an impasse. There are three choices:

1. We accept that we are mostly (or all) public and open and everything we do online needs to go through our own internal filter before we ever hit “send.
2. OR we take our real names and identities out of the situation.
3. OR we fine-tune our social network - create small subsets of connections to target our messages as appropriately as possible.

OR we do all three at once in different ways. To illustrate:

Twitter generally falls into the first bucket. To tweet it is to say it publically and fairly permanently. Prepare accordingly.

Color.com and ChatRoulette before it (and comment forums before that) are heading towards the second category. Though that has a tendency towards creating trolls and/or losing the power of social context in the first place.

But the last option, that’s the last one that I think will become most accepted and most popular. It’s an extension of what we already do, filtering certain contacts into separate networks (Facebook v. LinkedIn v. Twitter v. FourSquare) depending on how close we are to them, how much we trust them and the type of connection they are. I think we’ll see that become a finer sorting process. Not just Work or Friend contacts but refining that to Close Work Friends, Weekend Friends, All Coworkers, High School Buddies, Random High School Friends, Family, Close Family, and so on. It may even make more sense on a topical level, People Who Get My Sense of Humor, People Who Like To Read as Much as Me and Won’t Make Fun. Or maybe that’s too far?

Facebook groups and GroupMe/Beluga group texting embodies that idea. Create small groups of people from your larger network and communicate to them in a private way. That way you can more finely control what types of messages and information are public to what connections. This alleviates privacy concerns as well as relevancy concerns in one swoop.

From the Ad:Tech prespective I would take from this that you need to look for sessions that talk about how to de-silo digital strategy to bridge social, mobile, email, digital, etc, all together. And sessions that talk about the evolution of social networking  - as social becomes more specialized, brands will have to focus on staying relevant and tapping into influencers who can carry their message from the social world at large into smaller, possibly private, groups.

If you've watched (any) news lately you know that Facebook, Twitter and mobile technology are getting a lot of credit for enabling the communication that revolutionary citizens across the world need in order to overthrow oppressive government leaders. Politics aside, I think it's amazing that the same platforms some people had disregarded as silly and wasteful now act as the main support for those who are currently turning the tide of history. Culturally speaking, this is a big deal. History is being made and we are witnessing it and participating in it. The "democratization of the web" is not just a catch-phrase, it's the literal embodiment of "power to the people." It's incredible what people can do when they are able to connect with each other and communicate freely. Twitter, Facebook and mobile aren't driving the revolution, they're enabling it, making it possible.

I'm sure that the information, stories and insights that Huffington shares during this session will be fascinating.

I hope you'll join me for it!

If you'd like to see where else I'll be during Ad:Tech here my initial notes on what I'd like to see and do:

Exhibitors
•    SmarterAgent, LTU Technologies, eBuddy, Sponsormob, Mobile Messenger etc – I’m really interested in mobile so I want to see what kind of apps these guys are developing
•    Snackable – “advergaming” is an intriguing market category, I'd like to learn more
•    CitrusLeaf, Neustar, StatusStalker – “emerging technology” always catches my eye so looking forward to checking these guys out
•    comScore – I love good data!
•    ExactTarget! Had to add this one

Sessions
•    Inspire Hour 1 – The idea of everything being connected is really interesting, I can’t wait to hear what Erikson has to say about it.
•    Inspire Hour 3 – I don’t know why but education has always been a side passion of mine, particular improving it so we can in turn improve our society, can’t wait to hear Deierlein’s story about advertising professionals making a difference in that area.
•    Tuesday’s Keynote – “Audience first” is really close to ExactTarget’s “subscribers rule” philosophy so I’m totally onboard with this topic.
•    Mobile Marketing – Like I said, I think mobile’s the future so I want to learn more about marketing in that medium
•    Keynote Art of Enchantment – Love Guy Kawasaki – I’ve seen him speak a couple times and it’s always interesting
•    Marketing to Men – can’t resist trying to learn more about what makes guys tick…
•    Marketing to Tweets and Teens – I love marketing because I love learning what makes people tick, so I like sessions about how to market to specific segments
•    Keynote Changing Face of the Internet – Got to keep up with the future before you’re in the past
•    Social Media (both)  – I’ve seen all kinds of social media presentations but “new laws of creativity” sounds interesting and I can never pass up a good case study

1. For those that don’t know you, can you tell us a little bit about your background and what you do?

I am the Media Director at Signal to Noise. We are an integrated agency with deep roots in digital. I’m responsible for leading the media team as we invest our client’s media budgets to hit their objectives. Right now, we're working very closely with eBay and NikeStore on their digital initiatives.

2. Sellers consider you, to quote one, “a tough cookie.” What does a company have to do to impress you?

My kids may read this someday, so thank you for paraphrasing what was probably a saltier comment. I’m only “tough” on two occasions. First, when a company cannot clearly define what it is that makes them different? If it is a technology play, then they need to be able to articulate how the technology will work and why it’s a benefit to our clients. If it’s a similar product to what is out there already, that’s fine. Is there a pricing advantage? Is there an inventory advantage? Is it the service? There has to be at least one thing you stand for. What is it that makes your company different?

The second reason I get “tough” is when a company fabricates a detail. I have no tolerance for that. If you don’t know, be honest about it. We can wait for you to get back to us. But if you put something in front of me that does not sound right, and I can check it, I will call you on it. The problem is agencies are under immense pressure and we do not get as much time as we would like to review all the new opportunities out there. So I feel that if I’ve allocated some of that scarce time to a company, they should be respectful. They should come prepared and they should be honest. You kind of get one shot, and if you are not honest, I cannot work with you.

Because so many of the pitches we hear now are technology based; I think it is incumbent on vendors to train their sales people to speak from both a strategic and a technology perspective. I recognize that is a challenge, but we need to understand the product on both of those levels.

3. You started in offline. How do you think that has helped shape your perspective on the industry?

This is my 20th year in media. I was fortunate that I got to spend ten of those years at Y&R & OMD working mostly on Consumer Packaged Goods. Those are great clients to begin a media career because you learn the nuts and bolts of media planning. It was there that it dawned on me that I was not just creating a media plan, but I was selling a media plan. That allowed me to put myself in the client’s shoes and think through what proof points are going to be needed to get this approved. How well does it cover on the objectives of the plan: target; geography; schedule; reach versus frequency? I thought about every plan as if it was my money and was trained to put a critical eye on that plan.

That experience has carried over into my perspective on this industry. The emergence of new formats has been amazing. But at the end of the day I look at them all and try to boil them down to see if they hit the client’s objectives. We are open to new ideas, but being new is not enough. They have to make strategic sense.

4. Do you think consumers have different expectations about ad intrusiveness now than they did before digital? Has the advertising “social compact” between advertisers and consumers changed?

Before digital, consumer annoyance was about too much advertising. There were too many ads crammed into television and radio ad pods. Magazines were “all ads” and cities looked awful from all the bad out-of-home advertising. We learned, though, that as consumers, we were willing to trade advertising for content – just take it easy on us.

In the early days of digital – only eight-to-ten years ago – we ran a lot more intrusive digital ads than we do now. We ran pop-overs. We ran pop-unders. We had monkeys. We had an overlay of a car driving across your favorite homepage every other day. Those tactics clearly did not help this industry and we all carry a lot of baggage around for that period. But consumers were vocal and publishers responded by setting limits on that intrusiveness.

I think consumers are still willing to make that tradeoff. However now, with digital, and specifically retargeting, consumers are reminded that they have given up some level of privacy when they visit a site and then see banners for that same site on every page refresh for the next few days. The technology has become so efficient that we really need to police ourselves with frequency controls or we will wear out our welcome again.

Personally, it feels much creepier to me when I receive 20 solicitations with my exact mortgage amount in my mailbox at home.

5. As you look out on the world of emerging platforms, what is most intriguing to you?

I bought my wife an iPad for her birthday last September. When I watched her and the kids use it, I knew it was a real game changer. Since that time, it has really become an amazing resource around our house. The combination of a tablet with an application like Flipboard is really a window into where consumers could live in the near future. Media planners have to pay attention to where consumers are spending their time. We’re living in a time where there is tremendous convergence between creativity, technology and media. I think it’s a fantastic challenge to get our brands’ messages integrated into these platforms and technologies, not annoy consumers and continue to meet our clients’ objectives.

6. How are you responding to the challenge of consumer privacy that is facing the industry?

Consumer Privacy is an area of great concern for all of us. We are fortunate that our clients have embraced this as well and are taking the right steps to be as compliant with best practices. So in addition to encouraging our clients to make sure their privacy policies are up to date, we are actively getting them on board with one of the certified Ad Choice programs. We can’t wait around on this one.

7. In the years since you started in the business, what have we gained, and what have we lost as an industry?

I think that as the industry has become more fragmented we have lost a lot of the personal relationships that helped get business done. It’s really hard to get to know everybody that you have to at a level that really develops trust. This business was built on relationships between vendors and agencies and that is much harder now.
We have gained an amazing level of accountability since I started. That includes traditional as well as digital. Classic traditional media brand advertisers are evaluating their broadcast and print investments for some level of return against an objective and making more informed decisions. For digital media we always had that approach and it actually ended up hurting us to some extent. We are just now rebounding from the big hole the industry dug by focusing on click through rates. I’m glad that calmer heads can now see the amazing value beyond the click.

8. Which are better, Dunkin’ Donuts or Krispy Kremes? Why?

I am a friend to all baked goods. But forced to make a decision, I have to go Dunkin’. I guess I’m kind of old school and besides, Krispy Kremes are just a little too sweet to eat that second one.

9. How about a sentence of sage wisdom to close this out?

I have no particular sage wisdom, but I’m a big fan of borrowing. One client gave us these directions; “Make better mistakes.” It embraces a mentality of always trying to improve. Yet at the same time it gives license to explore possibilities. Of course that comes with a price. We need to vet the opportunities thoroughly as well as be prepared to make quick decisions on success. I guess that helps rationalize the perception of being a “tough cookie.”

Or sage is an herb that should be used sparingly.

But first, a reminder to register for the ad:tech Conference immediately and use the offer code 15TWEETSF11 to get 15% off the Conference price. We are extending this offer especially to the people who are part of our social communities.

Additionally, Expo-only-goers should make sure you sign up for an Expo pass immediately to save $50 over on-site pricing.

Zynga and Pepsico and LivingSocial, -- oh my!

ad:tech SF announced that three digital leaders will be delivering mini-keynotes on Wednesday, April 13.

• B. Bonin Bough, Global Director of Digital and Social Media, PepsiCo, Inc: Bonin will be delivering a presentation entitled “Digital Fitness.” Digital technologies have transformed how we work, learn, communicate and share, but individuals are way ahead of organizations. For businesses to survive, they must get digitally fit—embracing the attitudes, adopting the tools, and allocating the resources necessary to thrive in our dynamic new digital world. Join Bonin Bough as he explains the elements of Digital Fitness and how to drive its principles throughout an organization using PepsiCo's "Performance with Purpose" ethos as a key example. The stakes could not be higher.
• Manny Anekal,  Director of Brand Advertising, Zynga: Manny will be delivering a presentation entitled “Helping Brands Play Social Games.” In the past year, the explosion of social games has created an exciting new audience that is unique, engaged and with behaviors different than those of gamers on console platforms like Xbox or Wii. With more than 250 million people playing social games each month, the opportunity for advertising is apparent, yet the question remains: How do big brands integrate effectively in these new environments? Zynga's Global Director of Brand Advertising shares best practices for this exciting new world.
• John Bax, CFO, LivingSocial: John will be delivering a presentation entitled “The Transformative Power of Local Commerce.” With digital media, when it comes to small businesses or local campaigns it's hard to limit reach to the neighborhoods that count. That's where companies like LivingSocial come in, bringing great deals to contained geographies and adding social media as an accelerant. And it's not just SMEs: Big brands can use these platforms to launch new products neighborhood by neighborhood but at a national scale. Join LivingSocial's CFO and see the future of retail come to the corner store.

This promises to be a fast-paced session filled with terrific ideas and insights.

Guy Kawasaki to speak at ad:tech SF

Guy Kawasaki needs little introduction. He is the Co-Founder of Alltop.com, an “online magazine rack” of popular topics on the Web, and a founding partner at Garage Technology Ventures. Previously, he was the Chief Evangelist of Apple. Kawasaki is the author of ten books including "Enchantment", "Reality Check", "The Art of the Start", "Rules for Revolutionaries", "How to Drive Your Competition Crazy", "Selling the Dream" and "The Macintosh Way". Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

He will be delivering a presentation entitled “The Art of Enchantment.” Join us for an empowering keynote, as Guy Kawasaki explains how to change people's hearts, minds and actions from his bestselling book, “Enchantment.” Attendees will discover why the goal is not to get your own way but to bring about voluntary, enduring and delightful change. Guy will share the power of enchantment that enables you to maneuver through difficult decisions, break entrenched habits, defy the wisdom of crowds and get colleagues to work for long-term, mutually beneficial goals.

He will also be co-leading a Conference session entitled “Great Presentations – Learn How to Engage Your Audience.” His co-leader is Nancy Duarte, CEO of Duarte Design and author of the award-winning books “slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations” and “Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences”.

Don’t miss out on these presentation, or the other great conference sessions at ad:tech SF. Register today and use the offer code 15TWEETSF11 to get your 15% savings on a Conference pass!

Thanks and see you at ad:tech SF!

According to independent research, one of the leading reasons why people come to ad:tech SFis to find solutions and partners to meet the needs of their businesses. In fact, a key reason why we have the largest show in the industry isthat we help people do business in so many arenas.

On our floor this year you will find more than 56 types of potential partners – an incredible range. Here’s just a small sampling:

• Business Services: Law Firms, VCs, M&A, Productivity, Fraud Detection,
• Data and Research: Market Research Firms, Data Providers, Analytics Platforms, Database Management
• DR: Affiliate Service Providers, Affiliate Programs, Lead Gen Providers, eCommerce Tools, Payment Systems
• Distributed Buying: Networks, Exchanges, DSPs, Rep Firms
• Platforms: Gaming Platforms, Social Commerce, DOOH
• Media Services: Ad Servers, Ad Managers, Demo Targeting, OBA, Location Based
• Mobile: Developers, App Makers, Solutions Providers, Networks, Lead Gen
• Publishers: ContentSites, Communities, Promo Sites
• Search: SEM Managers, SEM Platforms, SEO Service Providers
• Social: Social Media Companies, Social Networks, Social Solutions Providers, Monitoring, Analytics
• Video: Technology Vendors, Networks, DSPs. iTV, IPTV
• Websites: CMS, Analytics Platforms, CRM, Email

Many attendees tell us that coming to ad:tech SF gives them the opportunity to meet all their “short list” companies at once, and an efficient way to discover partners they may never have considered before. It can be an invaluable time saver, as well as an extremely efficient discovery tool. In addition, ad:tech SF is a great way for companies that already do business with one another to meet in person, update one another, and talk about new opportunities. Many attendees use the event as a way to meet their most important vendors – folks with whom they do business but rarely meet up with in person!

Every business has needs to address. Come to ad:tech SF and find the partners that can address them! ad:tech SF is April 11-13 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center West. More than 10,000 attendees and 300 or so exhibitors are expected! Check out the conference schedule here. Register today to attend the ad:tech SF Conference and Expo. Or get an Expo pass!

Thanks for reading. See you soon at ad:tech SF!

We call it ad:tech inspire, and it takes place in the afternoon of Monday April 11, the day BEFORE the Expo formally opens. It’s designed to be a free form exploration of creativity, inspiration, and vision that can help us explore what CAN BE in the future of digital and our own careers.

Throughout day 1 of our 3-day conference, speakers and artists will share their unique perspectives and experiences in an open forum that includes live performances, engaging presentations, freewheeling discussions and dynamic networking.

One of the many highlights of this day of inspiration will be a performance from I See Hawks in L.A. This dynamic LA-based band has been at the forefront of using social media to cultivate and develop a loyal fan base across the US and Europe.

And after ad:tech Inspire, join your conference colleagues in a conference networking mixer!

ad:tech inspire is another great benefit when you purchase a conference pass for ad:tech SF, April 11-13. Hurry! Early bird pricing ends in less than a week. Click to register now and save $300 off the on-site pricing! Individuals interested in access to the Expo floor only should also click now and register for a free Expo pass, a savings of $100 over on-site pricing.

Thanks for reading! See you soon in SF!