• by Joe Mandese , November 6, 2008

Those were the two intoxicating metaphors ICON International Senior Vice President-Online Media Jocelyn Griffing used to describe how agencies go about building an effective schedule of online ad networks during the opening panel at the OMMA Ad Nets conference in New York.

“It’s kind of a crack pipe,” she said to describe the ultra efficient impressions aspect of ad network delivery, and the seemingly drug-induced focus on clicks and conversions.

But the more appropriate drug reference, she implied, is alcohol, not crack cocaine.

“If you look at it like you want to build a martini â€" my favorite metaphor,” she said, “You’d say the blood and guts of this drink is the gin. And then you’d say you’d have a little bit of vermouth.”

In other words, good ad network campaigns are comprised from a mixture of networks and audiences that is more like the science of mixology than online ad optimization.