Ad:tech, the interactive advertising and technology conference and exhibition, in San Francisco, was buzzing! There were interesting keynote speakers, panels and workshops for specific topics, to help attendees with the tools and techniques to compete in a crowded web. Scanning the list of topics showed a few that seemed far too basic for me, but there were definitely takers for those too.
In the Expo space, there were the usual booths large and small and even micro booths in the mobile section. Several booths had more than their fair share of pretty girls, no complaints there! Even with the economy down, it is clear the internet still has a lot of action going on.
NewsBlaze teamed up with WOW, the World Organization of Webmasters, to walk the Expo and discover the Buzz. Early in the day, the Expo floor was so busy that it was hard to get the attention of someone for an interview of more than a few minutes.
Mediashakers has an interesting global ad network, that allows both advertisers and publishers to maximize their revenue generation.
XY7.com, around since 2004, is a performance-based affiliate network with hot exclusive deals with great account optimization for maximum ROI and their new XY7Elite system for Super Affiliates.
Tinbu has a nice model for publishers large and small, providing several interactive information modules for media, and community websites. I was particularly interested in the local Weather, Horoscopes, sport, gas prices, and entertainment.
Outside, after the expo we talked to people as they walked past asking them what they learned that they didn’t know before. The answers varied from learning about new companies in the ad space, meeting a lot more people, some having collected more than 150 new business cards. A few said they didn’t learn anything they didn’t already know and a few just laughed but maybe they were tired.
I thought it was a very interesting show, very well organized, other than the registration process, where there were long lines. We will definitely be hooking up with some of the ad and content companies over the next week.
Some of the interesting companies we spoke to were:
Media Shakers
XY7.com
Telematch
Quova