The news business has never been so challenging yet so dynamic and full of opportunity. The industry operates within a real-time, 24/7 global news cycle and, as production costs spiral towards zero, the news gathering process now includes contributions from professional editors and reporters as well as citizen journalists from around the world. Trust is perhaps the most valuable brand asset a news organization can earn, but as the global news business goes digital and becomes inherently interactive, how do leading news organizations balance professional journalism and citizen journalism—as well as the increasingly fine line between news and entertainment—while maintaining a reputation for trustworthiness and professionalism? Furthermore, what roles will television and online media platforms play in the future? What role will each platform have independently and how and where will they serve as a compliment in regards to distribution and advertising? ad:tech is thrilled to welcome Jon Klein, the President of CNN, to the keynote stage to offer his perspectives on the future of news on a truly historical day for our country and the world.

What do Obama, Apple and Ben & Jerry’s have in common? They all get high marks—and broad peer propagation—from today’s Millennial market. At close to 90 million strong and with record spending power, understanding the nuances of brand adoption among these influential consumers has become a key priority for many marketers. For a generation swiftly evolving as advancing technologies enhance their daily media experience, “what’s next” appears to be their collective mantra. Are you moving with the media landscape or still lagging behind trying to decipher what’s making this generation click, text or twitter? As the nation prepares for a night of nail-biting election results, this panel of media savvy Millennials will give it to you straight—from their media behaviors and brand preferences, to the politics of virality. Samantha Skey of Alloy Media + Marketing will lead an engaging and enlightening session sharing new research and road rules to forging a connection with this passionate and plugged-in consumer (and with their wide, wide network of friends).

Consumer generated content, social networking, widgets, online video, ad networks, activation, engagement, mobile marketing, the death of television as we know it and so much more—The digital revolution is in full swing and the velocity of change only seems to be increasing. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) estimates that online advertising spending will surge well past $20 billion in 2008 as marketers increasingly leverage digital media and technology platforms to establish a dialog with their customers, optimize messaging and delivery and, ultimately, drive brand preference. But what about the looming recession and its impact on media and advertising? Will digital media suffer along with other platforms or might our industry benefit from these tough times as marketers shift a disproportionate amount of spending to performance-based marketing channels? Once again, we are pleased to partner with the IAB to present this State of the Industry session and welcome back moderator-extraordinaire—IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg. If you need a primer on where things stand today and also need to prepare to embrace and leverage what comes next, don’t miss this annual, bellwether state-of-the-industry event.

From high-definition and multi-platform programming to the on-demand universe of DVRs, TiVO, Slingbox and others, television is being catapulted by technology into a whole new world where it can be consumed anytime, anywhere and on any device. And although many continue to predict the demise of the television industry, in many cases CPMs are on the rise for broadcast and spot television. As a result, it appears the rumors of near-death for television have been greatly exaggerated. Our TV 3.0 experts delve into the theory and research behind consumer’s new TV consumption habits and look at how leading broadcasters are taking advantage of the multi-platform landscape in an era where media can be distributed via broadcast and cable, through podcast and vidcasts, and on-demand via multiple platforms, including mobile. How are viewers watching television and what are their attitudes toward new forms of programming and advertising? This session looks at how these collective tectonic shifts are affecting the overall value proposition of television advertising in a multi-platform world.

Search is a blunt instrument. In a recent ComScore survey, 62% of consumers agree with the statement “there is so much information on the Internet that it can be difficult to find exactly what I am looking for.” Therefore, Context is King for the consumer. Publishers that deliver relevant, actionable information that resonates will serve the consumer best. The competition is fierce and the stakes are high and this panel brings together executives from traditional media companies and new breed publishers to talk about their content and technology offerings and the advertising value proposition in this rapidly-evolving marketplace.

The digital revolution is in full swing. While online advertising continues to grow in excess of 20% annually, digital media and technologies are having a broader impact on large and small companies alike across the entire media landscape. The business models of print, radio and television are under assault and tens of billions of dollars are in play as digital transforms the media economy. And with a media recession looming, there is also an emerging debate as to whether online media will benefit as marketers focus on advertising solutions with superior performance and ROI. This session lets you sort through all the noise to look at the evolving media marketplace, the mergers and acquisitions landscape, the start-up environment and the key strategic and tactical trends for the business of digital marketing in 2008 and beyond. This panel includes the insights and predictions of experienced, senior executives from the worlds of media, advertising, venture capital and Wall Street.

Digital media and technologies continue to affect all media and the business of marketing communications. And advertising agencies are not immune to the influence of the digital revolution. In addition to the established traditional creative and media services agencies, a new raft of agencies have emerged onto the scene, looking to shake-up the status quo. As a result, the strategic relationship with the client is up for grabs and the agencies, regardless of their pedigree, with the best ideas and an ability to execute will be victorious. Yet, many questions remain unanswered: Will the industry re-bundle and should it? What will happen to the large, traditional creative shops? How are agencies successfully delivering integrated campaigns? How do agencies evolve their staffing priorities and compensation models? What is the client’s point of view? The entire media and advertising industry is in flux and re-aligning for the future. As this core trend accelerates, how will the agency landscape evolve and what agencies are best positioned to lead world-class brands into a digital future?

In the analog age of advertising—dominated by superstar creative directors and other mad men—the big brand idea and message were created, crafted and pushed out to the masses via predictably reliable media channels. Times have changed, however, as digital transforms all media and has given the consumer unprecedented amounts of choice and control. Advertising is no longer an exercise in amplifying a monologue but an effort to perfect the art of conversation. In the digital age, should brands still focus on developing a core essence and identity—universally identifiable to its entire target market—or should brands focus on custom-tailoring their essence and identity, in dynamic fashion, for each of their niche audiences and channels? If the big idea still has value in a fragmented, digital world, who should own it? How is it created, produced and distributed? What agencies are best positioned to own the core brand relationship with their clients? What is the role of media and will (or should) agencies re-bundle? And how should clients think about re-aligning their organizations to effectively oversee the development of the big idea and manage their brand portfolios in the digital age? Moderated by Paul Woolmington, Founding Partner of the groundbreaking agency Naked Communications, this panel brings together a stellar group of innovative, forward-thinking advertising and media executives to talk about the future of branding and the Big Idea in the complex and fragmented digital universe.

Offline. Online. Above the line. Below the line. There is no line. Never—in the history of advertising—has the exercise of strategic media planning and buying been so complex. Digital media and technologies have unleashed a torrent of new advertising platforms while traditional media platforms endure increased scrutiny in an era of performance marketing. The media ecosystem is so vast yet so fragmented and the consumer has never enjoyed so much control. It is a perfect storm of complexity and if the digital revolution hasn’t already caused enough anxiety, the threat of an economic slowdown and reduced advertising budgets also loom. For media professionals, the good news is that it has never been such an exciting time to be on the buy-side. Across most digital platforms, marketers and their agency partners are limited only by their imagination while many traditional media platforms are becoming more measurable (albeit slowly). Not to be forgotten, search has taken the advertising industry by storm and shows no sign of slowing its siphoning of advertising dollars from all other media. So, what are planners, buyers and brand managers to do? BusinessWeek Media Columnist Jon Fine has returned to moderate this always popular session that brings together leading agency and client-side media professionals to discuss how they view the emerging landscape and how they are allocating dollars in the new media mix.

Markets need currencies. Virtually every developed market—whether it’s the market for oil, radio, soybeans or television advertising—has been able to maximize its potential because a universal, value-based currency was created and agreed-upon by its market makers. While the online display advertising market has been arguing about a universal metric and currency for the better part of 15 years, Google walked right in and in less than 7 years created its own marketplace (search), established its own currency (CPC) and by the end of this fiscal year will have managed to siphon a cool $60B out of the media marketplace since 2002. The lesson is clear: To maximize the growth of the non-search online advertising marketplace, a universal new media currency must be established. For the first time on stage together—anywhere—ad:tech is pleased to welcome the companies that can help make this new market happen and can offer insights into the future of measurement and how the industry can and must work together to establish a unified new media currency. Moderated by David Hallerman, Senior Analyst for eMarketer, this panel looks at the past and the present in an effort to put the future of measurement in context and help establish a game plan for the future. And, as always, we expect our well-informed delegates will come with plenty of questions. Arrive early for what promises to be an engaging, lively and very important industry debate.

How are leading media and entertainment companies looking at the evolving distribution landscape and taking advantage of multi-platform opportunities in an era where content can be distributed via broadcast, cable and online, and through mobile devices and across multiple on-demand platforms? How does the wave of consumer generated content fit into this picture? And if content is king, why is monetizing content online so seemingly difficult? How will programming evolve in a multi-platform universe and how will advertising fit into a content universe of short-form, medium-form and long-form content across a range of platforms and devices? It’s a fluid and dynamic landscape and this session brings together leading executives from across the media and entertainment industry to look at the current and future landscape of consumers, content and control in the digital era.

A recent Forrester report noted that although greater than 90% of luxury brands have a Web site, less than one-third of these brands sell products online despite the overwhelming evidence that affluent consumers spend a considerable amount of time researching and purchasing products online. These findings have been a long-term conundrum because the online consumer has always skewed affluent and consistently has over-indexed on key affluence metrics such as income and education, yet many luxury brands often saw the online universe as too pedestrian and not suitable for their brands. And although many brands have been slow to bolster their online presence, a wide array of retailing and media sites have emerged and are successfully reaching the affluent online consumer. Join us for this panel as we hear from executives who have successfully reached the consumer online and share an overview of where the online luxury market is headed. Discover how brands and online publishers can successfully target and engage the affluent consumer online.

The increasing prevalence of digital signage, embedded screens, projected interfaces and kiosks present a range of new considerations and opportunities for both advertisers and consumers. The era of the “Fourth Screen” is upon us and is poised to radically alter both the advertiser’s and consumer’s perception of what digital media is and what purpose it serves in daily life. The addition of dynamic distribution and targeting, interactivity and clever placement to these new Fourth Screen experiences via touch, gesture and even mobile phones stands to create a highly immersive and engaging media environment. What are the considerations for advertisers and agencies in the digital out-of-home world of tomorrow? What will succeed and what will fail with consumers? Are marketers gaining traction and seeing results today? And what kind of metrics can we use to gauge this exciting new media opportunity?

The definition of interactive continues to change. Digital is no longer a fixed medium, but is now making its way out of the home and the office into new venues and devices. With this evolution, opportunities are beginning to emerge in categories such as telematics, radio frequency tagging, home mobility and digital out-of-home, to name a few. For this session, the Interpublic Emerging Media Lab facilitates an engaging panel discussion on the latest in marketing innovation, including hands-on demonstrations and a range of case studies. Technologies to be discussed include:

• Radio-Frequency Identification (RFI)
• Digital POS terminals
• OLED and new digital out-of-home signage
• Mobile couponing
• VoIP
• Biometrics
• Virtual worlds and artificial intelligence

Hosted by Lori Schwartz, head of the IPG Media Lab, this panel brings together thought-leaders and innovative marketing and media executives to share their ideas and experiences in this lively and interactive forum and offer attendees tangible insights on how to leverage new solutions in their media plans.

We've never had access to more real-time, in-depth data about what customers think and how they behave in an increasingly multi-platform, integrated world. Despite access to an increasing amount of data, the consumer has never seemed so elusive, and it has never been more challenging to translate data into insight and apply that insight to decision making that translates into in-market results. Social media is a whole new frontier for customer insight: Millions of conversations to listen to. But how do you know what to pay attention to and how do you use it? In this session, leading customer insight practitioners share how they are handling key customer insight challenges including:

• Social media – what to listen to and how to use it
• What new quantitative and qualitative data-mining techniques are dynamically uncovering breakthrough insights
• What specific insights are most relevant and helpful
• What are the emerging best-practice techniques for tightening the connection between insight and decision making
• What insights do marketers want and need but can't yet get

Although sports has always been a popular online category, widespread broadband penetration and recent aggressive online programming offers from leading media companies have become a true boon to the online sports enthusiast. Not only have we seen a significant rise in the live streaming of high-profile events and sports, but the soon-to-be unlocked sports programming libraries of major media companies promises great commercial value. Online sports enthusiasts are a desirable group to reach, not only because of their general demographic makeup but because these consumers tend to be highly engaged with the online content they consume—good news for media companies and advertisers. Moderated by Ray Katz of Optimum Sports (Omnicom), this panel looks at key emerging trends from the buy-side and sell-side and discusses best-in-class practices that have emerged in the world of online sports marketing and content development.

If your job requires you to analyze and understand digital advertising networks, you may have felt like you were just getting your head around the online ad network ecosystem (barely) before the digital advertising network landscape seemed to expand again. From the hundreds of “traditional” online ad networks to the rapidly emerging next-generation networks across the mobile, widget and digital out-of-home landscapes, the digital network landscape is now maddeningly diverse and complex. Separating the wheat from the chaff has become a monumental challenge for even the most seasoned online media professional. And although a single, 60-minute session won’t solve the mysteries of this vast marketplace, join us to get a detailed primer on the state of the digital network landscape and gain insights and best practices recommendations from both the buy-side and the sell-side. Moderated by David Joseph, Executive Director of Equity Research for Internet and Interactive Entertainment at Morgan Stanley, this session looks at how publishers are building and optimizing their networks to improve inventory quality and pricing power. Attendees will also get the view from the buy-side regarding how they see the emerging advertising value proposition across the digital network marketplace.

Digital video across multiple platforms is transforming all media and the business of marketing communications. And with online video advertising pegged to reach $7.5B by 2012, the future is bright. Online video buyers, sellers and producers are excited about the emerging landscape but also keen to move beyond the pre-roll, explore new formats and continue to drive innovation. In addition to the new marketing opportunities, the video era has introduced a fresh set of complex technical and workflow-related challenges in regards to conceptualizing, producing, delivering and measuring the performance of video-based content and advertising. This session provides creative professionals, buyers, marketers and producers with valuable insight in how to optimize creative production, development and resource allocation in the digital video age.

Search and social media are inextricably linked. 70 percent of all online content will be user generated by 2010, and search is how users will most often find that content. Recent integrated search results via Google Universal have only elevated the visibility of social media sites. In addition, the search functions of the major social media sites are becoming significant platforms in their own right, which may further complicate the future relationships they have with their current search partners. This presentation discusses the synergies and developing complexities between search and social media and examines how evolving user behavior is providing insights into the future of search and best practices for search marketing and optimization.

The US online leisure/non-managed business travel market will exceed $100B in 2008 and is slated to grow to $146B by 2010 (eMarketer). The stakes are high and, historically, the online travel companies have been a pioneering group leading the way with industry-wide innovations and technology advancements (e.g., we now have the aggregators that aggregate the aggregators a-la Kayak). Because the online travel consumer is a highly desirable target, ecommerce players and an array of media companies continue to aggressively target these consumers with forward-thinking, consumer-friendly tools, sales promotions and innovative advertising. This session looks at the online travel ecosystem and the evolving online travel consumer and investigates how leading suppliers, content companies and advertisers are targeting, reaching and engaging their customers online and building lifetime customer value.

Mobile advertising has long been hyped as the ‘must do’ of mobile marketing initiatives. Join this panel of experts as they discuss the current realities, opportunities and challenges in mobile advertising today in the United States. Learn first hand how the industry is leveraging mobile web, messaging, applications and video/television-based advertising to interact with their consumer through the highly personal mobile device–and drive higher levels of engagement than other media channels. If you are serious about advertising, this panel should not be missed.

Consumers are inundated with marketing messages through an ever-increasing number of offline and online channels. Meanwhile, advertisers continue to strive to find the optimal mix and experiment with new channels such as social marketing, mobile marketing, online video, advergaming and others. What’s more, consumers have unprecedented amounts of control and choice and the brand conversation has evolved from a monologue to a dialog. Clearly, knowing what works best to achieve corporate goals is crucial and, for many, digital advertising offers unprecedented insight. However, most of today’s largest advertisers lack direct online transaction models that let performance metrics speak volumes in the boardroom. In addition, nearly all advertisers lack the resources to fully and profitably scale online marketing efforts to the appropriate extent. What could be a flood of dollars online is merely a stream. Moderated by Pete Blackshaw, Executive VP of Strategic Services at Nielsen Online and the author of the recently-released book “Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends…Angry Customers Tell 3000” (Doubleday), this panel delves into the state of digital marketing leveraging real-world experiences and the latest thinking from leading marketers to identify what is needed to usher in the next evolution of online advertising investment.

In a world where consumers’ demand for timely, relevant information is increasingly insatiable and immediate, the US local advertising market has evolved into a $150B free-for-all. To further illustrate the point, Bill Gates has predicted the hard-copy Yellow Pages will be extinct within 5 years. This institutional death alone will essentially toss a $11B jump ball into the mediasphere. And you wonder whether Google can keep growing at its current pace? At the local level, relevance is king and the efficiencies of free, dynamic local search and geo-targeting mastered by companies such as Google and Craig’s List are poised to paralyze today’s incumbent local media channels. Or is the jury still out? Can entrenched local media concerns leverage their community relationships and established brands to build and acquire new media businesses that not only offset inevitable deterioration in their core businesses but generate incremental revenues and profits and ensure their long-term survival? Can traditional local media companies re-emerge as thriving, growing businesses that feature highly targeted and relevant advertising inventory or might they ultimately be the acquisition targets of, and play second fiddle to, the more nimble and innovative upstarts? Moderated by leading local advertising expert Gordon Borrell, President and CEO of Borrell Associates, this panel brings together leading buy-side and sell-side executives to discuss the state of the rapidly evolving local media marketplace.

Companies in the financial services vertical have long been at the forefront of leveraging digital and interactive platforms to enhance their overall marketing communications efforts and maximize customer acquisition and lifetime customer value. Although acquisition and CRM efforts remain a central focus of leading firms in this vertical, the multimedia-rich Internet and emerging platforms are letting these companies implement “branded acquisition” campaigns. Find out how leading online and traditional financial services companies are using digital platforms to compliment above-the-line campaigns to drive both customer acquisition and brand preference and hear from leading media companies about their current and future product and content offerings that are and will be designed to attract this highly desirable consumer.

This industry loves hyperbole. Our beloved industry pundits either claim that Exchanges are nothing more than meaningless bottom-feeders selling remnant inventory while others believe Exchanges are poised to create powerful, new buying efficiencies across the advertising marketplace and could make agencies irrelevant. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in the middle but the fact is that Exchanges can be very efficient and powerful marketplaces. There’s a little building in Lower Manhattan on Wall Street that has proven that this Exchange model can work. The bottom line is markets like efficiency and the advertising market is no different. This panel breaks through the hype and hyperbole and takes an in-depth look at the Exchange marketplace today and where it is heading. How do buyers and sellers truly feel about this market? What is the current state of inventory quality across the Exchange ecosystem? What are the pricing trends? And is there evidence that these exchanges can successfully sell inventory across all media? If so, does this open up a new opportunity for more efficient cross-media buying, measurement and optimization? Led by Bill Morrison of ThinkPanure, this panel brings together engaged buyers and sellers to give you an accurate overview of the marketplace and sage advice on how to buy, sell and negotiate within it.

Welcome to the era of performance marketing. Digital media, platforms and technologies continue to be enhanced by increasingly focused targeting capabilities that have captured the interest of the buy-side community. Although the industry strives to deliver the holy grail of advertising known as true one-to-one messaging, marketers and their media partners have executed highly targeted campaigns that successfully deliver on the “one-to-few” marketing promise. Terms such as demographic, experiential, psychographic and behavioral targeting have entered the industry’s lexicon and reflect standard practices in the targeting ecosystem and, now, many digital media experts are talking about the next evolution in targeting—predictive targeting. Led by Rich LeFurgy, a Principal at Archer Advisors and co-founder of the IAB, this panel looks at the current state of targeting and explores the emerging key advancements and innovations across the market. More specifically, what is the state of targeting for online video and how do key players in the industry feel about the targeting capabilities of the various emerging platforms including mobile, widgets and interactive television? And how does the industry handle the issue of privacy as the government puts pressure on companies such as Google and appears poised to engage more proactively in the affairs of digital media? Join leading media and marketing executives in a discussion of current and emerging trends and best practices as they relate to targeting, personalization and precision marketing.

The growth in online advertising is remarkable, yet digital ads remain confined to only a portion of people’s digital lives—when they browse the Web. In fact, users still spend greater than 60% of their computer time outside the browser, sending emails, working on documents, organizing pictures and a long list of connected scenarios where virtually no ads are shown today. However, this situation is about to change. In a world of ever-growing connectivity, in-application advertising is poised to become a new continent for marketers. Vast amounts of non-browser ad inventory will get created by software companies competing against free ad-funded Web-applications, and both users and marketers stand to benefit. This session explores the nascent application advertising market and highlights emergent opportunities for marketers. Some of the questions being discussed include:

•What shapes or form will non-browser ad inventory take?
•How valuable will advertising in applications be for marketers?
•What benefits will end-users find in a world where applications are partly ad-subsidized?
•How fast will the application advertising market grow and why?
•What is the outlook for advertising in specific application areas like gaming, productivity and communications?

Do you know the true impact of your email campaigns? Have you optimized your creative and code for maximum deliverability, proper rendering and CAN-SPAM compliance? Are you leveraging you custom data properly and integrating with other channels? Being so close to your campaigns can keep you from seeing them objectively. Gain the insight you need to improve results by taking advantage of this unique opportunity to have your latest email campaign critiqued by a panel of seasoned email marketers from notable brands. This interactive clinic will evaluate a series of campaigns submitted by audience and panel members. Discover what makes a campaign successful and how they can be improved with the right execution. Also, learn whether your opinions are in line with industry experts and your email marketing peers. To have you campaign reviewed, send them to emailreview@strongmail.com prior to the event.

Only a few years ago, radio was a media darling. Through the rise of search and the resurgence of online media, radio chugged along delivering a clear value proposition for advertisers and mountains of cash for the operators. The fact is America remains a car culture and while satellite radio has taken a bite out of radio’s market share, the terrestrial radio market remains viable and popular with advertisers. There is no doubt, however, that we are approaching an inflection point as evidenced by the proposed merger of XM and Sirius, the sell-out of Clear Channel and the fact that other radio-driven companies have fallen out of favor with Wall Street. There also seems to be some fundamental questions about ratings for key demographics as Arbitron improves its audience measurement techniques. So where does radio go from here? In truth, digital is transforming the greater landscape to the point where a new industry is emerging around the core product of audio-based content. In addition to terrestrial radio and satellite, new distribution channels have emerged including the Internet, mobile communications and gaming devices and, subsequently, new advertising formats have emerged as well. Led by Eric Ronning of Ronning Lipset Radio, this session looks at how digital is transforming the business of radio, how emerging digital platforms and distribution points are creating a new media industry and where advertisers will fit into this brave new world of digital audio.

Addressability has become the hottest topic in the interactive TV world. The technology promises to enable advertisers to target video and interactive commercials to individual households based upon specific criteria without violating privacy issues. Leading data management company Acxiom, cable operator Cox, interactive technologist Navic, boutique creative/media agency Brightline and ad agency MPG will share market trial experiences that have married linear cable inventory, interactive television applications, creative versioning and lifestyle data. Mitch Oscar, one of the industry’s leading authorities on interactive television and addressable advertising, will lead an all-star panel of executives involved in the emerging interactive television space. These executives will share their experiences, processes and learnings from their interaction with the consenting constituencies (i.e., the advertiser, the ad agency, the cable systems operator, the interactive technologist and, of course, the manageable data).

A new age of branding is upon us. In the pre-search, analog past, a message was pushed—over and over and over again—to consumers until the ideal combination of reach, frequency and targeting (hopefully) achieved its objective of “brand building”—be it recall, awareness or equity. Although push messaging is still effective and widely used, consumers increasingly are turning branding on its head and putting pressure on marketers to engage with consumers across a wide array of touch points and develop an equally effective “pull” marketing strategy. Consumers are increasingly proactive and have a new found sense of control. In many cases, the brands have become the hunted and the new laws of branding require all marketers to be able to efficiently and effectively respond to those consumers who are most interested in your products or product category and are raising their hands and asking you to serve up the most relevant brand message to them, whether it be text, image or sight-sound-and-motion video. As all media goes digital, marketers increasingly have the ability to measure performance across all media enabling them to optimize their media mix to drive both branding and performance (i.e., sales). Moderated by Brian Stelter, Advertising Reporter for The New York Times, this panel brings together leading marketers and media professionals to discuss best practices to master the art of conversation and optimize the media mix across the rapidly evolving digital media ecosystem.

There is a multi-billion-dollar opportunity to provide solutions to businesses that need to speak with online consumers to deliver their product or service. Many of the largest vertical markets require personal contact, either face-to-face or by phone: automotive, real estate, mortgage, insurance, education, travel, legal, home improvement. What is the future of lead generation? How will exchanges impact the industry? Has a shift occurred from quantity to quality? What are the best ways to drive local, targeted advertising? Are brand advertisers driving up media costs? Learn the “inside secrets” necessary to help businesses and brands profitably acquire customers online. Reply.com and leading experts discuss how lead gen is transforming from quantity to quality, and how Lead Generation 2.0 offers greater controls and new revenue opportunities. Listen as the experts elaborate on their take on the industry.

This new session is designed for the more advanced online marketer seeking new tactical approaches to leverage the unique features of the web beyond standard IAB units placed blindly across ad networks. As CPMs rise for quality inventory among the portals and top 100 properties, advertisers are sliding into midsize websites—following users who are spending less time at the big sites and more time within the mid-tail of the online ecosystem. Site-specific creative integration - including product placement, advertorial, reskins, takeovers, contests, promotions, video, etc. –is evolving toward a standard toolbox of go-to market and optimization tactics that engage passionate users and contribute to word-of-mouth on and offline. But, as new tactics address emerging needs for widgets, mobile markets and more, consistent pricing and metrics for success lag behind. This session will look beyond reach and frequency, beyond CPMs and clickthroughs, and will feature discussion and debate about effective measures for engagement that are as varied as the creative campaigns they seek to quantify. It is time for the industry to transcend the conventional wisdom of the network buy and look deep into the mid-and-long tail to find opportunities for true consumer engagement.

Find out what ChaCha, the fastest growing mobile SMS search service in America, is doing to deliver on the promise of mobile marketing. Brad Bostic, President, Co-Founder and Chief Commerce Officer, explains how mobile answers create the ultimate user experience—resulting in a 83% satisfaction rate, habitual use (at least one time per day) and a new user every 4 seconds. He’ll provide real-world examples from recent campaigns and talk through what works, what doesn’t work and what to do to maximize your campaign. Through mobile answers—a viral, personal and “give and take” interaction—brands can extend and deepen their relationship with consumers while gathering valuable consumer data around purchasing behavior and preferences. Find out how to integrate mobile into your existing media mix and get a “sneak preview” into what ChaCha has in store for engaging customers in the ultimate call to action—purchase!