live blogging: digital marketing forum 2008

Having survived a typical Bucharest morning, I reached the Digital Marketing Forum [RO] in time to hear the speech of Alain Heureux, President of IAB Europe. Honestly, I can't follow him and the talk only captured my attention twice, briefly; same ole, same ole--user generated content, brand ambassadors, Flickr and (in trouble) Second Life, stats on European countries expenditure online/ user, becoming part of IAB Europe etc.. Notable: some consumers are in 2012 already. Next!

Alexander Schoenfeld, Creative Director, Landor Hamburg: What the branding agencies are concerned with now is to define how a brand moves, how it interacts with you. It sounds to me like possibly connected with animotion: 3-D logos designed to be in motion, never still or flat. Better speaker overall, and more interesting points, but still too much and too little at the same time, for my taste, a mishmash of facts, funny videos, and truisms: stories must be told online differently, [...], and that's what the future is about. Lengthy speech--again, is it so hard to only use the time allocated?

Workshop: advertising opportunities on mobile phones
Because I could bet that Vodafone and Orange marketers were there, having launched Twitter users recently (webshop_webcare and vodafonebuzz), thus definitely into mobile marketing.

Antonio Eram, Netopia System: 10M monthly SMS-es in Romania contain promotional messages (hope I got that right), 16M SMS users, and 65% of them agreed to receive promotional messages. Cool figures! Ah, and the reports start pouring in 5 seconds after sending the bulk SMS. The main challenge, as you can imagine, is being creative and effective in 140 characters. Overall, very nice chap and well structured presentation.

Nir Manor, Onmax started by asking who's who--what the jobs and industries of the attendants are. Smart move, and quick, to shape and target one's speech. I feel, however, that I could've found online the data he brought us. As for tips, you know what it's like--we always feel that most tips we hear are obvious, and then again tips are good because a). they're free and b). we need to be reminded of the obvious. Notable: TMI, acronym for Too Much Information.

Mugur Patrascu, iLeo. Oh, dear. I've rarely heard such a loose speech before--sky high emotions? Surprising from someone who must be presenting concepts, strategies, and budgets to clients a lot more than the usual professional. Also, it didn't feel like he mastered his subject to any degree. Some of the audience knew better, and some of the audience loved his videos. These advertising people, they so easily dazzle us. Even with someone else's work! Which is better than the dazzle of that odd blog of theirs--I can take my eyes off it, thank you.

On the event
1. Great participation. A chair had to be brought in for me, and some people are standing, in the back. How many hundreds are here, and who are they?
2. Best, even, a lot of these people were rather on the client side than from agencies. It may sound right, for it is, but it's more than that: it's fabulous, as it happens for the first time.
3. Wi-Fi up and down, but hey, there's some, as it should be at this kind of event--in the main room. The two networks available in the workshop room weren't exactly on.

On my experience
1. Being a guest is always fab. Thank you!
2. If I need more, and better, and higher and this kind of event is not for me anymore, then which is? I fear SXSW, and I can't attend this year.
3. I met the usual suspects and it was great--as a proof, I'm nearly out of voice. I mean, what are the chances that I'm around for a few days and someone else organises a meetup with everyone I want to see, then invites me and splashes on (virgin) drinks and lush sweets (I didn't try)?
4. On the other hand, I welcomed seeing so many faces I didn't recognise. Times are changing.
5. Diana Apan came to talk to me because she recognised my pink shoes. Imagine the surge my blogging ego had! I talked her head off afterwards, as my subtle thank you. Honestly? The ebright start-up she's part of seems a promising tool for taking your offline magazines online, and then anywhere you go, and has so far published the free Digital Marketing Report '08--which I can't see because their Beta app isn't in love with Mac. Yet :)

Overall
Great event for the right audience. Well done, Manafu* [RO] and team! Keep them coming.

Bonus
A man and a woman of maybe 40 try to decode the BF and GF on the screen. Whispering loudly.