• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 25, 2013

Lenovo global digital marketing chief Gary Milner kicked OMMA RTB off this morning with a thought-provoking keynote, citing some famous and fabulous quotes falsely predicting digital media outcomes -- including an 1876 Western Union memo proclaiming the telephone would never really take off as a media device, or Microsoft chief Steve Balmer’s quip that it’s modern day equivalent, the iPhone, would never get much market share.

“We overestimate what the real effect is, but in the long-term these things take off and really change the marketplace,” Milner said, adding, “And I think that’s where we are with RTB and the programmatic marketplace.”

Milner suggested that industry pundits underestimate the potential for RTB, because of the way they look at it.

“People talk about remnant [inventory] as RTB, but what really matters is the customer,” he said, implying that RTB is just another tool for big brands to gain access to their customers, albeit in a highly efficient way.