• by Joe Mandese , November 3, 2009

As much as the ad business â€" especially the digital advertising marketplace â€" has changed over the past 12-15 years, it’s nothing compared to what’s in store very soon, according to Matt Spiegel, CEO, Omnicom Media Group Digital, and the opening keynote speaker at OMMA Ad Nets in New York today.

“As much as we think over the past 15 years, or 12 years,” Spiegel said, “we’ve just set the table for change.”

But that change is poised to happen, and big time, and Spiegel says it’s because of three fundamental factors that have “lined up to make it happen.”

The first he said, is consumer behavior. “It has fundamentally changed, and it changed a long time ago.”  That said, the changes in consumer behavior (ie. spending more of their time online), but online ad adoption has not kept up with that.

“The second key factor that we’ve needed is technology,” Spiegel cited, adding that the third, and perhaps most important variable is “money.”

“And I don’t mean more of it. I mean the economic collapse of last fall,” Spiegel said, noting that the global economic recession has created a lot of interest from marketers that has “shined a spotlight on what was going on in this space.”

Now if only we can make it a clean, well-lighted space.