General OMMA Observations

Some topline observations after observing the conference's general mood and a good deal of the Day One content: 1) There are still plenty of people left over from Dot Com Boom Part One who would like nothing more than to hitch a startup to the latest Internet fad and sell for millions. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Unless you don't have the knowledge or substance to back up what you're saying and promising. If I hear about one more business that has something to do with blogging or "Consumer-Generated Content" without having any idea what the blogging movement is all about, I'm going to have a conniption.

2) Let's see. How can I say this without it seeming self-serving? Well maybe I'll just say it... I am once again amazed by the number of people at big ad agencies who get credit for ideas originally put forth by individuals or small ad agencies. I can't tell you how many times I saw a quote in a Powerpoint presentation from some high-profile agency exec and thought to myself, "Gee, I think I heard Dave Smith talking about that a year ago," or "I wrote a column about this six months ago." And there's the idea, attributed to someone at Carat or OMD or Publicis or whatever.

3) I can't believe how much the blogging movement, podcasting, and general interactivity is being dissed here. It would be really easy to walk out of here believing that people are still just consumers to marketers - numbers in buckets on a spreadsheet. And that's because people here are citing flawed stats to try to convince us that blogging isn't as big as people say it is, or that few people will ever listen to a podcast, or that it's only a tiny vocal minority that ever expresses their opinions online. They'd also like us to believe that it's okay to fake involvement and engagement with people, that emerging media are simply broadcast playgrounds within which advertisers can broadcast messages until they find a model that "works." This kind of thinking is going to kill us.

4) All that said, there's a lot of enthusiasm in the room.

5) I've been pronouncing the name of that new Publicis agency all wrong. It's "De-NOO," not "DEN-you-oh," like I had been saying it. Whatever.

I Want a ClueTrain Stick

Albert Cheng, EVP Digital Media, ABC Television Group is speaking right now at OMMA. You'd think that by now, ABC would get a clue and figure out that there's an interactive component to this newfangled Internet thing. So far, from Cheng's comments, I gather that they want to... * Invest big in content * Build a "marketing platform" * Build "direct relationships," but mostly by using the Internet's pipes to push content.

OMG, he actually believes that ABC's "equity" that has been earned with "consumers" cannot be replaced.

Jeez, he said he also believes that video is the primary driver behind consumers connecting with brands. He uses Sears' online sponsorship of Extreme Makeover:Home Edition as an example, saying that Sears enjoys a halo effect advertising with the show and that association with a show with an "altruistic bent" is beneficial for Sears. Nothing on how conversations about Sears and its products are happening outside the Disney/ABC realm of influence.

Ugh.

Sorta, Kinda Liveblogging

There's wifi at the conference, so I might be posting here and there, depending on how long my battery lasts. Geoff Ramsey is giving the opening remarks, discussing where the growth is coming in the ad industry. He just made a joke about where TV's growth is and referenced Clara Peller. No one laughed - I'm convinced it's because no one remembers the old "Where's the Beef?" commercials.

Interesting stat from the ANA - 78% of leading advertisers think they're getting diminishing returns from traditional media.

Useless Circ

No one ever believes me when I tell them that you can see examples of poor media measurement in your everyday life. Whether you're walking down the street and notice people dumping bundles of publications into dumpsters, or people tuning out to radio or TV shows, you do see this everywhere. For instance, I noticed that when I checked into the Sheraton last night, the little folder they give you with your keycard has the following on it:

I accept delivery of USA Today
If you do not wish to receive this paper, please return it to the front desk for a credit of 75 cents.

So, in other words, the hotel charges you for your newspaper whether you read it or not. What makes me think the publication is counting this toward paid circulation?

So I walked down the hall toward the front desk this morning, noticing that most hotel guests had simply left their paper in front of their door. When I got to the front desk, I plopped my copy down on the desk and told the attendant that I wanted my 75 cents credit for my paper. She looked at me like I had two heads (or, more likely, like I'm the first person to do this). She took the paper, but what are the odds that I get charged for it anyway? I'll check the bill on my way out...