Advertising Week 2011 recap: Part 1

Advertising Week is a time when many of our clients learn about the next big thing, what they’ve recently missed out on, and what their clients need. The trend I noticed is that instead of generating new platforms themselves, agencies are looking at startup companies to discover new platforms and present them to their clients. This is a good time to be a startup because advertisers and clients don’t seem sure of what they want. It’s interesting that creative minds are outsourcing for new technologies. Another way to view this trend, though, is that agencies are actually looking to recruit talent by talking to companies that think of media as social and not as technology.

The Metrics that Matter – Draftfcb

This panel had some good information on how brands value analysis from the United States Census. The census has always been the benchmark of marketing, but there have been many changes in the way advertisers market since the 2000 census. For example, social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, weren’t around then.

The 18 to 49-year old market has traditionally been considered the marketing sweet spot, but purchasing power is now evenly distributed to people up to 70. Baby boomers are still buying strong and the buying attitude is transferring to their children.

Women also have more buying power. From 1997 to 2007 there has been a 50% increase of women owning their own businesses.

Winning the Marketing War – GE, Time Inc., Panasonic, CVS

It was interesting to see brands talk about what they expect from agencies. Brands understand that social media enables them to connect with consumers in ways that haven’t been possible until recently.

They also understand that the two-way nature of social media takes away some of their control over the discourse surrounding their products. Individual consumers have available to them many powerful platforms to express their opinions. Thus, companies now believe targeting the right people with extraordinary content is more valuable than producing messages for the masses.

Consumer confidence is everything and finding talent that knows how to listen to social conversations is highly valued. Companies need people that distinguish the noise from the music, as well as have the ability to understand it.

Neurological Marketing – Bravo

Neurological marketing, which has turned up in other conferences, is the study of how the brain reacts to marketing. It is intended to take biased, personally opinionated subjects out of the equation.

According to the presenter, we may not actually be aware, and we certainly can’t articulate, many of our decisions because they occur in our subconscious. Methodology and rigger are critical to this type of research, but the costs associated with neurological marketing typically limits the sample size. It works, but it’s often not the most respected field of research, despite great interest from Yahoo. Nonetheless, this panel was worth attending to understand what non-Facebook technologies companies are looking to for marketing research.

Future of Film – Tribeca Film Festival – American Express

Brands like American Express are trying to associate themselves with cool events in an effort to position themselves as more than just a credit card. They are realizing that by attaching themselves to a memorable event–The Tribeca Film Festival in this case study–they are able to enhance an aspect of entertainment that will hopefully result in their clients (or prospectives) choosing their services. They also get to take credit (no pun intended) for helping out an industry, such as indie film, that’s in dire need of funding.

The first day of session at Advertising Week offered a lot of interesting information. I couldn’t wait to see how the rest of the week turned out. As a technology vendor to brands, agencies and other businesses that require a media solution, the insights offered are actionable in different ways. Stay tuned for notes from the rest of Advertising Week in part two.