• by Mark Naples , July 16, 2004

Whenever I attend AD:TECH conferences, I usually file a follow-up column that features a smaller player or company that I became aware of only at that week's show. AD:TECH has always been great for that story, from my vantage point. It's arguably our industry's conference with the most general theme and largest base, and therefore, it is accessible to a larger number of business types than other shows.

This week's AD:TECH, the first-ever held in Chicago, didn't have that feel for me. On the one hand, since it was Chicago's first AD:TECH, most of the people I met and booths I visited were from major companies that could make the kind of commitment that traveling to a first show of this kind at a new location would imply. On the other hand, the show was smaller than previous events held in New York and San Francisco, and the rooms for exhibits and also for panels just seemed uncomfortably packed, even beyond the "full" feeling that many conference organizers seek.

I'm not saying that there weren't numerous, smaller companies represented, just that the focus here seemed more to fall on bigger brands and bigger service providers. You know - it being Chicago, the city with broad shoulders and big brands and all.

Interactive is becoming a bigger industry, as we all know. And the fact that most of the topical conversations taking place at AD:TECH concerned industry news that was unrelated to events in Chicago made me realize what a symptom of this growth that is. From Google's announcements concerning its discouraging of Natural Search Optimization to the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee announcing that they were issuing press passes only to selected Web bloggers, as inward as we can be caught looking at events like this one, the rest of the world has clearly, if not recently, reserved a place for interactive. And more people from more walks of life are getting it.

Look for still more marketers to come along before the next AD:TECH, in New York, this November 8-12, in the wake of Procter & Gamble's announcement, which Tobi Elkin covered in yesterday's Minute. Tim Kopp, Section Manager in P&G's Beauty Division, is also in the company's business analytics and emerging media units, as Tobi reported. Mr. Kopp was an AD:TECH panelist Tuesday, and his company announced that its North American media review process had compelled them to stay with Publicis Groupe's Starcom Mediavest Group while also selecting Aegis Group's Carat, "to help it craft integrated communications plans across media."

As Tobi noted, the shift that this represents - that the Media managers will be calling more of the shots on behalf of P&G's $4B budget now, more than the creative types - is major. I would assert that it's maybe even more than just major - it's a sea change. Not only will different products be more likely than before to leverage interactive for their marketing. Now, with the media buyers calling more of the shots, quantifiable accountability will play more of a role in P&G's marketing decisions.

Anyone reading this probably understands how this could become big news for interactive. With so many of the booths at AD:TECH populated by companies that quantify the results of interactive campaigns, and with our industry focused on its standing as the only medium that can track hard results in real time, this move toward increased accountability by one of the largest marketing organizations in the world makes me think that future AD:TECH events may even be able to get away with not shouting, as implied by the all caps name of the franchise.

After all, Mr. Kopp of P&G and others clearly don't need to hear us shouting anymore. It seems that the ship is turning. And the barometer of all CPG for many observers is finally heading downstream.