Whew! It's not easy insinuating yourself into a crowd of 1200 people. I couldn't help but notice how alike the venues are. Last year it was in Phoenix and this year in Orlando. Identical except for the humidity. On our way through the hotel maze, ran into Roy Elvove, EVP, director of corp comm at BBDO. Big fan, he said.  I believed him! At the Facebook reception, I ran into Karen Spiegel, svp/managing direcgtor, communications/marketing at R/GA. She told me she's been there several years -- was it seven? Says all the principals have been there that long as …

I'm at Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Conn., on my way to Orlando and the ANA conference. On the drive up on I91 I saw several electronic billboards that drew my interest. One was for Dunkin' Donuts and it was white white white and advertising the flatbread egg white sandwiches against a solid grey sky. Beautiful, and well placed because there were no others nearby. I think there may have been a landfill behind it. Then, another, off to the right advertising the candidacy off a local state senator wannabe. That one had just changed from another and I …

What's your favorite city?  Paris, France? Paris, Texas?  Mine is Orlando, where I'm going today for the Masters of Marketing ANA conference, not in that order. Wait, Orlando? My favorite city?  Sure, because Orlando isn't really Orlando, it's Orlando World.  It's a theme park whose theme is a central-Florida City filled with Theme parks.  There's Sea World, Disney World, Universal Studios World, God World (which is featured in Religulous this new Bill Maher flick).  And around each world arrayed like moons, are satellite theme parks for those who couldn't get into the Worlds they wanted.  I think there must …

Reporter extraordinare Karl Greenberg and I are heading to Orlando, Fla., today for the annual Masters of Marketing conference. Tonight there is a welcoming reception hosted by Facebook, where I'm eager to see some of the faces I see on the hour as I check my Facebook news feed to see what people are thinking and doing. In times like these, it feels good to be part of a community although I still haven't wrapped my arms around what exactly my community is and how my friends interact with other people's friends. Tomorrow morning we'll be hearing from …

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Todd Sussman, management Supervisor, MRM Worldwide says the new social media worked changed culture at Intel's marketing department.  "There is no linear path to how the tech guy learns no technology.  They are bouncing around and every day. We want to be able to catch them in this various places, which was the point of in-banner chat."  He says MRM  created concept with Itopia, educating on Intel's products creating this concept, Itopia, chatin one to one dialogue: what makes it difficult for you to be IT manager. Then we can show you how our product can benefit.  First tell us …

Todd Sussman, management Supervisor, MRM Worldwide on Intel digital/social media campaign aimed at IT pros.  (sorry for no caps, etc.) "In the old model they were forcing IT guys to learn products from top down, watered down comms, through marketing department. we asked Intel how we could close that gap.  How can we close the gap between IT manager and the guy who actually built the product.  A couple of years ago, we worked with SlashDot and built a forum, and for eight weeks and every week had a different topic, opened the week with a blog, and said, "ask …

Dr. Augustine Fou, SVP, Digital Strategist, MRM Worldwide Todd Sussman, management Supervisor, MRM Worldwide. This B-to-B effort by MRM Worldwide for Intel asked IT pros about Intel's processor technology.  It used social media to facilitate the conversation. Says Fou, "The old way of messaging has always been the marketer out; we have brand message you hear it.  The words Intel uses are highly technical, so for them it's how much simpler can we make this? but it's still their jargon. engineer's jargon.  The analogy is, the conversations around the water cooler, but not with socialmedia sites, those conversations …

The Interactive Advertising Bureau continues to push for an industry self-regulatory body to police consumer online privacy, but it's unlikely that entity would actually be housed within the IAB, Mike Zaneis, Vice President, Public Policy of the IAB said at the conclusion of OMMA Expo's "Bad Science" panel.

Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore, made one of the most important observations of the conference in noting the U.S. advertising spending's dependence on the financial industry which drove down display ad spending to a negative 6% in the second quarter, according to Nielsen Media. The turmoil on Wall Street will adversely impact multiple industries due to the devastating consolidation, job losses and tighteneing of credit.