Here is Joyce Schwarz look at Adtech from 2002 -- 9 years ago -- how did the online advertising world look then. Enjoy. For a look at the future of online and mobile advertising, email: joyceschwarz@gmail.com or sign up for www.hollywood2020.net her blog which has more than 3/4 million page views and 2000 posts.

1. @d:Tech, Los Angeles 2002
By Joyce A. Schwarz, www.joycecom.com, joycecom@aol.com
What do you get when you cross a recession with the Dot
Com- fall-out? Answer: @d:Tech, Los Angeles 2002. Billed as
“the premier event for interactive advertising and
marketing”, Ad Tech, Los Angeles 2002(www.ad-tech.com),
June 19-21, attracted 1600 attendees according to the
official @d:TECH newsletter recap.
METRICS #1 TOPIC
Conference chair, the personable, Susan S. Bratton,
formerly SVP. at Excite@Home and now founder of her own
firm Cendara, Inc. says in her welcoming statement “we’ve
worked hard to create avenue chock full of pan-industry
information”. In the sessions and on the floor, there was
some cross-platform chatter, but in reality, the conclave
tilted toward such topics as search engine marketing and
online traffic conversion. The recurring theme in the
exhibit hall with 40 something vendors was ‘metrics,
metrics and metrics’ as such majors as ASK JEEVES, GOOGLE,
and OVERTURE made way for heavy competition from upstarts

2. like Search 123 and Quigo Technologies Inc in the thriving
PPC (pay per click) arena.
Sure, you could still hear speakers repeating that
‘old chestnut’ that “Content is king” but the unifier for
most of the panels and the audience was the French word for
royalty “ROI”which whose initials stand not so
coincidentally for Return On Investment. One exhibitor
whose amiable crew attracted a nice crowd, James Beriker,
President & CEO, Westlake, California based Search123
(search123.com) says, “This audience was more sophisticated
than in past years and clearly more intent on measuring the
performance of every dollar spent. ROI is no longer an
online marketing buzzword, it’s an imperative”.
With far more attendees from the brand side, experts
are left wondering what the major media buyers are really
demanding to create that ROI for their clients. Marketing
guru Stan Rapp, Chairman, MRM Partners Worldwide urges the
audience to look beyond the traditional ROI to Return on
Relationship (ROR) for greater profit. He’s quoted in the
show recap as saying,” whoever owns the database owns
interactive access to the customer”.
MOBILE MOGULS PLAN 24/7/365 MEDIA
Upstairs one of the event’s best attended sectors
turned out to be Mobile Marketing sessions. At a peek into

3. the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) General meeting
being held in conjunction with @d-Tech I found such leaders
as Lucy Hood, Senior Vice President of Content at Newscorp
Corp. joining discussions with wireless carrier execs Kris
Cone, Director of Business Development, ATT Wireless and
Eric Burger, Director of Data Content and Partnerships
Cingular and top leaders from AOL and Unilever. The MMA’s
(www.waaglobal.org) challenge is to establish a mobile
marketing industry in the U.S. and promote business models
that can work sooner rather than later. MMA Co-chair, Perry
Allison, VP Strategic Alliances, Sky-Go,, a proponent of
cross-media campaigns, led discussions and moderated a
panel featuring Griffith David, Co-Founder and VP Business
Development, Adversoft, Jason Kuperman, Director
Interactive Marketing, TBWAChiatDay and Jesse Zellmer,
Director, Ticket Sales, San Diego Gulls. If you see
Kuperman, ask him about his tale of the Teddy Bear and LBS
(location based services)—it’s a classic. An early
interactive proponent, Kuperman understands the value of
adding mobile into the media mix to deliver consumers
anything, anytime instantly. Up and coming agency
Adversoft’s David is one to watch since his firm’s case
studies ring true in this crowded marketplace where access
is crucial. His advice includes “the longer you keep the

4. dialogue going, the deeper the relationship”.
MOBILE’TAINMENT –A NEW GAME TO PLAY
Top honors for best panel of the day go to the case
study “Sony Pictures Entertains Wireless”. Two of
Hollywood’s brightest and charismatic marketers Rio
Caraeff, VP Wireless Services, Sony Pictures Digital
Entertainment and Audrey Marco, VP, Partnership Marketing,
Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment are just WOW! These
two powerhouses understand that wireless is all about
unleashing the screen to billions around the globe, not
just communicating to 160 million world-wide cell phone
owners.
Caraeff is ‘right on’ when he holds up a mobile phone
and tells the audience, “this is not a game boy;
fundamentally we’re talking about a 2-way radio system”. He
says it’s all about having an experience and integrating
marketing, retailer and operator. The priority is to give
the consumer a good experience first and foremost whether
it be with polyphonic ring tones or letterbox mode image
delivery. Of course with such properties as “Men In Black”,
“Ali” and “Spiderman” Sony is fast learning that the
message and the medium vary he explains.

5. Marcos sums up the challenge for all 21st Century
marketers when she explains that “Always on means always
engaged”.
PRIVACY VERSUS ACCESS
As marketers our greatest opportunity is a duality for
creatives. Getting access ,doesn’t equal getting attention
in a message massaged-environment.
The challenge of protecting privacy and security in
times of uncertainty is a hurdle every marketer at @d-Tech
and beyond is facing as we head into the 24/7/365 arena.
That’s why I’m disappointed that so few of the gurus hung
out to hear Fran Meier, executive director, TRUSTe
(www.truste.org)talk about this non-profit trade group’s
new mobile labeling and privacy industry initiative.
The day was ending back East but the dawn of LBS
(location based services) mobile is ushering us into will
mean curtains to marketers who don’t abide by consumer’s
opt-in preferences. Sound complex? It is!
“FUTURE SCHLOCK”
Head to your local movie theatre to get a peek at
Hollywood’s version of Ad-Tech--a product-placement retina-
scanning dystopian-driven world depicted in the new film
MINORITY REPORT. As my colleague Jack Feuer,“Adweek”
national news editor says in this week’s column in that

6. trade journal,” Minority Report is awash in ads. The
reality will be worse”. Feuer labels it ‘Future Schlock”.
Maybe by fall, when @d:Tech heads for New York, more
advertising and marketing executives will be ready to face
head-on such time-critical issues as privacy and
personalization.
########
Joyce A. Schwarz, heads JCOM,(www.joycecom.com) a
Marina Del Rey, CA based emerging media and new marketing
consulting firm. In her spare time she writes books on the
industry such as the recently released “Cutting the Cord:
Guide to Going Wireless” now on Amazon.com and BN.com and
at your nearest Barnes & Noble bookstore. Chapter 7 of this
tome covers personalization and privacy in advertising and
content delivery across platforms. You can reach her in
somewhat real time at joycecom@aol.com