• by September 9, 2004

THE SHOW(S) JUST GO ON -- If the Riff has seemed a little more distracted than usual lately, it's because we have been. It's mainly because our colleagues at MediaPost have been inundating us with so many new developments. Just consider that in the next several weeks, our publisher will produce two separate conferences and two separate media awards shows that are all part of Advertising Week in New York. Add to that the fact that they've launched TV Watch, a new daily media critique about the TV business, penned by Wayne Friedman. Frankly, things have been a little busy around here.

Anyway, they asked us if we could plug (actually they used the term "mention") all the Advertising Week shindigs to make absolutely sure that our readers were aware of them. Like you missed the deluge of house ads that have been cluttering your inbox for the past month. Well, in case you did miss them, here's what they were "mentioning:"

Two events: Interactive Advertising World, (Sept. 20 & 21) and Forecast 2005, (Sept. 22); and two awards shows: Online Media, Marketing and Advertising Awards, (Sept. 21) and the Creative Media Awards, (Sept. 22).

We'll spare you the gory details, but if you really want to learn more, click on the links above. In a nutshell, IAW, which MediaPost is jointly producing with the Interactive Advertising Bureau, will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about online marketing and media - and in only two days.

As for Forecast 2005, well it's just that, a forecast about 2005. Actually, it'll be a lot of forecasts about ad spending across the major media in 2005. It'll also be an opportunity to watch a bunch of industry heavyweights attempt to a) understand MediaPost's inscrutable "resolves" (think outrageous theses on hallucinogenic drugs); and b) actually try to answer them. That'll be worth the price of admission alone. And if you're a qualified media planner or buyer at a major ad shop or advertiser, the price will be just your time.

Now about those awards shows. Well, we figured there weren't enough of those in the ad business and that Madison Avenue had a hankering for not just one but two more. We also figured we'd schedule them during a week when ad folks didn't have enough things to choose from, say schmoozing with Mayor Bloomberg and the Pillsbury Doughboy at his honor's reception for Advertising Week at Gracie Mansion. Or raving with the Coppertone Girl to the sounds of closet rockers during Madison Avenue's Battle of the Bands at Irving Plaza. But if celebrating outstanding online and traditional media campaigns is your thing, then you definitely won't want to miss these shows. The Zen-like sounding OMMAs (yep, we actually had a committee to think that one up), of course will honor the best of the online advertising world, while the Creative Media Awards (we didn't have a committee for that, so we're just calling them the CMAs) will showcase the most creative media campaigns of the past year.

THEY MOVED FOR MORE ROOM, BUT GOT A ROOM WITH A VIEW -- Perhaps the most ironic part of TargetCast's recent move to a new, larger Manhattan headquarters is that it's situated directly across the street from MediaCom Worldwide's New York offices. Why is that ironic? Because on Wednesday, the upstarts at TargetCast poached a plumb pharmaceutical account - Wyeth Consumer Healthcare - from MediaCom. It's also ironic, because TargetCast picked up brands that included Advil, but after hearing the marketer's decision, it was the team at MediaCom that required some analgesics. As for TargetCast CEO Steve Farella, whose been on more than his fair share of media account wins - and losses - during his years as a media chieftain, he claims there was no smirk on his face when he gazed across Third Avenue into MediaCom's offices after getting "the call," but he swears he could hear the muffled sound of whimpering.