iMedia Summitabulous! Agency Day Highlights!

For those who couldn’t come to agency day this year, I thought I would provide a synopsis of some of the play by play of what was by all accounts a great day and a wonderful beginning to the Agency Summit. So here are my nine key highlights, in the order that they came throughout the day.

9. People Came Together. The core activity of agency day was AgencyRX, the launch of a year-long project to remake the agency model by defining real actionable solutions for issues and opportunities to enrich the value that agencies provide clients. There were five key areas of focus:

- Agency Value: How can we materially enhance the value that clients realize from their agency relationships?
- Reporting Revolution: How can we improve the reporting process that we can focus more time on strategic insights and optimization and less on the mechanics of producing reports?
- Collaboration: How can we make different discipline areas come together to make truly remarkable marketing programs, and how can we foster real, accountable collaboration between agencies that serve a client?
- Emerging Media: How can we improve how emerging media opportunities are evaluated, tested and implemented on our businesses?
- Training for Excellence: How can we develop cross agency solutions to improve expertise in our people?

Each area was addressed by a core team that outlined the key issues, an action plan, and a timeline to make our ideas come to fruition. Thanks in particular to those attendees who were asked to lead and facilitate each group!

At the end of the main session Dave Smith updated the group on the activities of The Aspen Group and launched the voting for the "Aspies" Awards.

What I was most struck by was how enthusiastic was every attendee in finding the solutions our business so needs to achieve its potential -- to be the business we want it to be! It really was a continuation of the spirit begun many years ago by The Aspen Group, and a demonstration that people are just as committed now to working together as they were when the tradition of an agency day began!

I am particularly grateful to iMedia itself for making this agency day possible.

8. AOL Platform A gave a comprehensive presentation on the many opportunities and developments as this company makes strides in providing that “Everything you want, in one place” solution that truly defines the vision behind the company. My key takeaway from the presentation is the strength of their many online site brands – they really do offer leadership presences in many of the key verticals that consumers are interested in today. As they constantly add new properties to their quiver of assets, they also offer the cutting edge targeting and other technologies that can make a difference – and indeed are making a difference – for so many brands today. Also, lemme give you a reminder that AOL Platform A is one of the biggest sponsors of iMedia event after event, year after year. So special props for that, folks!

7. Gordon Paddison gave a lively on stage interview about the issues and opportunities facing clients and agencies. Gordon was interviewed by Catalyst:SF’s own Cory Treffiletti. Gordon tells it like it is, and you gotta appreciate him for that. But I was most struck by how constructive were his suggestions, and how he paired his trademark honesty with direct suggestions about ways to address the issues facing all of us in our client relationships.

6. Susan Bratton led a program designed to help people identify how they can achieve work life balance and help the people on their teams achieve balance in THEIR lives. The program was absolutely in the spirit of her exciting new podcast centric initiative, Personal Life Media. What most struck me about her program was how she wove a positive, proactive, solutions oriented life seminar in just 45 or so minutes. I came away from that program with a new appreciation for not only how my own days (read:life) have areas for improvement, coupled with the beginnings of a toolset to do it.

5. Casale Media presented their developments in the area of brand safety online. I confess that I always look forward to Casale presentations because the spirit of these presentations is so consistent and specific. A Casale presentation focuses on real tangible ideas and programs – no vapor from these fellas ever. It’s that strong solutions orientation that makes such a refreshing change from so many media presentations today.

4. DoubleClick offered an insightful presentation of their new initiatives and programs that will have profound impacts on what we can do and how we can account for it online. I always enjoy DoubleClick presentations because perhaps no company is more at the vortex of digital today, owing to their critical role in serving, reporting, and unearthing findings that drive real agency insights.

3. BrightRoll presented a really engaging and entertaining program around real, actionable solutions to taking online video to another level. My favorite thing about the BrightRoll people (disclosure: they are a Catalyst:SF client) is that they are direct, honest, and genuinely driven to find solutions that will help brands make more of online video. They addressed key questions that planners and buyers face every day -- the sort of questions for which the answers can drive more strategic and effective brand solutions using online video. The company also introduced two new products that I think have real potential to be game changers: BrightRoll Broadcast, a "channel" consisting entirely of broadcast websites that encompass the super premium video assets available online, and BrightRoll Reach, a solution designed to meet the needs of value oriented advertisers looking for TV sized reach online.

2. Sportgenic threw a wonderful games oriented reception in the spirit of both their sports heritage and engagement. One thing you NEVER get from this team (disclosure: they are a Catalyst:SF client) is a cookie cutter approach. Because they operate within the sports marketing arena, and because of who they are, you can always expect something different and involving from them.

1. Specific Media threw a great after hours reception that helped further build the connections and spirit of the agency leaders assembled here. Collaboration has been a watchword at Specific for some time, so their choice of this sponsorship seems particularly fitting. Their people are always a heckuva lot of fun as well.

I’d like to close this post by reiterating my personal thanks to the sponsors of iMedia Summits, because their dollars and commitment to the agency sector make all of this teamwork, learning, and energizing possible.

Hey, no one needs a reminder of how time these days are a bit tough – and I am so very grateful that the people who lead these forward thinking companies cough up the bucks to get us all together. It’s good business for you, I get that part, but it’s also a demonstration of commitment to others – indeed to relationships – that I am sure every attendee of this conference appreciates as much as I do.

So thanks ladies and gents!

Gentle reader, please excuse my run-on sentences in this post. It's kinda late as I type this.