The Chicago ad:tech party scene Monday night was much more subdued than San Francisco and New York shows. The evening kicked off with the traditional Tribal Fusion post-exhibit cocktail and munchies party held at the back of the the Sheraton exhibit hall. Great tasting Tribal Fusion branded beer was served along with fried finger food. We spent some time speaking with United Virtualities' Director of Channel Partnerships Natalia Scalia who made the trip to ad:tech from Argentina and Miami-based Nearly Natural Business Development Manager Stephen Wechsler who, apparently, has had to make it habit, when handing out his business card, to clarify his company deals with flowers, not breast implants. After discussions regarding ooqa ooqa, shoshkeles and silk flowers, we headed upstairs to the ad:tech speakers reception held in one of the hotel's bars.
At the speakers reception, we spent some time chatting with ad:tech Chair Susan Bratton, BlogAds Founder Henry Copeland, ad:tech Director of Marketing and Conferences Cindi Gallucci, DoubleClick Director of Research Rick Bruner and TechVenue.com Founder David Flint. The company was great, the river view pleasing and the libations relaxing.
After the speaker party, we headed to dinner with comScore Marketing Solutions Manager Graham Mudd and Rick Bruner. The name of the restaurant escapes the mind right now but the food was excellent. (It was Shaw's Restaurant) We discussed some weblog related research the two are working on which will be released in the hear future.
Finishing dinner, our group walked around the corner to the Chicago Interactive Marketing Association party held at the Rock Bottom Brewery which turned out the be the night's biggest party. We ran into United Virtualities' Scalia again who seemed to have attracted the attention of a guy dressed Hawaiian style. We left that one alone. Held on the rooftop, it was crowded, hot and humid but amusing enough to stick around for a bit if only to observe the length grown men and women will go to gain entry into what they, apparently, perceived to be the hippest spot in town.
Slithering out from between sweaty bodies, we cabbed it over to Chicago's First Lady, a river boat docked at Michigan and Wacker for the Tribal Fusion party. Sadly, there weren't too many people there so our stay was brief. Compared to the New York and San Francisco Bluelithium blowouts, Monday night's events were, for sure, quite subdued in comparison.
UPDATE: According Sean in comments, we didn't stay long enough at the Tribal Fusion party to experience the unplanned, two hour cruise the boat took late at night.
In a move that ackowledges the shift in news consumption from TV to the web, CBS News has announced plans for the launch of a 24-hour, broadband news network which will become the centerpiece of the network's news delivery platform. The new CBSNews.com site will include broadband video, a weblog, called "Public Eye," written by Vaughn Ververs and on-air reporters will produce online segments throughout the day.
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The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), the official organization for the word of mouth marketing industry has released the first set of standards for tracking and quantifying word of mouth (WOM) marketing. The standards will be be called "Measuring Word of Mouth, Volume 1."
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Close to Mid-Chest
On the gaspedal
weblog, there's a few tips for ad:tech conference attendees to take to heart to improve the conference going experience. While the obvious tips like show your badge to how to meet people to travel tips are there, some less obvious but more helpful tips are listed as well. While we might not agree with this one because it takes the fun out of crowded exhibit hall floors, gaspedal suggests booth babes are for idiots calling the practice one which would appeal to 14 year old morons living in the un-PC 70's. Other gems include the "boob alert" which states a mid-chest placed conference name tag on a woman isn't an invitation for a full body visual exam and the "rude alert" which claims answering a cell phone in the middle of a conversation is very bad form.
Preconceived notions the session entitled "Kick Ass Creative" would be drenched in self-congratulatory praise for pet creative work and new age strategies were clearly confirmed. The session, led by Ad Age Publishing VP and Editorial Director David Klein, included panelists Carat Interactive EVP Creative Director Mike Yapp, Agency.com Creative Director Dorian Sweet, Avenue A/Razorfish ECD Brooke Nanberg and Organic Inc. ECD Colleen DeCourcy.
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Either, sadly, there's not much in the way of social events going on Monday night at ad:tech Chicago 2005 or we just haven't been informed of all events. We do know Tribal Fusion is hosting an invite-only networking event from 8P to midnight aboard Chicago's First Lady. The boat is docked near Michigan Avenue at Wacker Drive. The Chicago Interactive Marketing Association, along with Leapfrog Online, is hosting a party at the Rock Bottom Brewery Gold Room and Rooftop (One West Grand) from 6:30P to 1:30A. The first 300 guests will get open bar and a free buffet.
UPDATE: Commission Junction is hosting an early party at Sushi Samba's Rooftop Lounge at 504 North Wells Street beginning at 6PM. Open bar until 7:30P but it's invite only so stop by their booth for an invite. Be nice. They can't invite everyone.
Each conference requires the ubiquitous booth babe coverage if only to reinforce the notion that ad:tech is about advertising and, in advertising, it's well known sex does sell. As before, SEO Inc. hired several beautiful women to attract attendees to its booth so its search engine optimization services could be described. From the throngs of people swarming the booth, the strategy, once again, has paid off.
While it's safe to say this isn't a sanctioned Hanes promotion, we're quite sure this visual, and the others that go with it, will be seen by far more people and get much more mileage than your typical Hanes ad.
Among all the iPod spoofs circulating, this one's fairly humorous poking fun at the ever increasing size of the unit and the endless proliferation of accessories made for it. The spoof promotes the iPod Flea, an MP3 player so small it can play just one song over and over for an hour.
Why we didn't find this first is beyond us but we thank Adland for pointing to it. Ad agency poster child Crispin Porter Bogusky has created Pink Panty Poker, a strip poker game that's easy to play and quick to reward with hot models tearing their clothes off for your viewing pleasure. An admirable effort. CPB copywriter and VP Creative Director Scott Linnen explains the project to Adverblog here.
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