LAist @ ad:tech SF

LAist is at ad:tech SF to cover developments in media as well as how advertisers are planning on targeting you everywhere-anytime. There are ad:tech conferences all over the world but this is the big one with their annual awards ceremony and everything - winners were announced tonight and areHERE. (see tomorrow's post). If you think this is boring you should be aware that the method by which every ad is delivered to you on the web, TV, and the radio is via a method that is marketed at shows like this. Tonight we'll talk about what was seen on the show floor.

Have you seen those TV screens on top of the gas pump? How about the ones on the floor in the airport or in a store? What about the screens on the bikes at the gym? You might have seen all or one of those but now businesses can put together campaigns across these devices wherever they are available across the network instead of having to deal with each entity location through a company called SeeSaw Networks. [See pics in the Gallery]. So if you are in a gym in Atlanta or a gas station in New Jersey, you could be seeing the same ad from a national campaign and it was even easier for the advertiser to do it.

When you walk around on a trade show floor you tend to gravitate towards certain things and away from certain things - but not for all the right reasons. One of the coolest displays to look at was List Fusion's because it was done up as a functional '50s diner with cherry pie and branded Joe's Sodas, the problem I had is that I couldn't figure out for the life of me what the hell it was that they did other than it had something to do with "lists" and databases. Look at the gallery for a couple of examples of terrible booths - they were either filthy, not well staffed, or missing adequate signage and other basics - so you're in marketing/advertising and from day one of the show your booth looks like garbage?

There was some pretty pointy-headed tech at the show, like ad bidding services which sounds really dry and boring but if you do searches for content that might relate to products or services, the ads that appear on the site are probably being directed to you based on a bidding process that takes into account your zip code and any other demographics that have been cookied about you - and the ads placed there usually are not controlled by the site you are visiting in any way. You might be familiar with the Google Content network but there are other services that do this like Matchpoint who at least offer a double opt-in process so that you don't feel so stalked.

I have to mention Ion Interactive mainly because I knocked over part of their display and broke a brochure holder (sorry guys!) but they are also a cool company that helps companies make sure that they truly help whomever manages to stumble onto their site by getting them to the assets that they came to the site for, a process called post-click marketing.

There were tons and tons of content network companies like Casale Media and lots of really hardcore technology companies (like stuff for wireless) but interestingly there were more consumery brands like Google, DoubleClick, eBay, and Yahoo! there with info for just about anyone who uses their websites for something more than just search or free email - yeah, it was advertiser friendly but you didn't have to be some kind of mega media outlet to get valuable information from them.