Coca Colas “failed forward” with its social network “The Yard,” its Group Manager of Global Interactive Marketing, Tom Daly, just admitted. “Not that we failed,” Daly clarified, explained that the soft drink maker learned a great deal from the exercise, and should be commended for “leaning forward.”

When you think about the IT infrastructure around AdSense and AdWords there's a lot that can be done about sentiment analysis. Twitter and Facebook are trying to plug into that system, but I don't think there's a substitute for humans. At the end of the day brands have to get use to is people say bad things about you. Something says something bad about you on TV is one thing, but when someone says something bad about you on Twitter it's different. On Twitter the brand says "I'm sorry. I'll fix it." That doesn't happen on TV.

While the virtue of Google’s search engine might have been instantly clear, there’s a 3-to-4 month lag time between people really “get” Twitter, and why they should care about it. So says John Battelle, founder and CEO, of premium ad network Federated Media. According to Battelle, people experiment with the micro-blogging service, then stop, then pick up where they left off several months later. Why? It often takes a friend “thanking” or mentioning them on Twitter, at which something clicks in the reptilian part of their brains, which says: “I want to connect.”

Not surprisingly, Darren Huston, corporate vice president of consumer and online products at Microsoft, thinks his company is better positioned than most to take advantage of opportunities going forward. “We’re in a pretty unique position,” he said alluding to Microsoft’s investments in software, advertising, and, most recently, search. More than mere platitudes, Huston stressed the idea that media and marketing is now a two way street. “It’s a really, really, really big deal,” he said. Really.

Darren Huston, Corporate Vice President, Consumer & Online, Microsoft Corp., on "Harnessing New Digital Tools to Fuel Your Marketing Plans" Bing was a brand we created. Ask two people on streets in NY what is Bing, one will know what it is and that Microsoft birthed it. Windows Vista, huge perception issues ... Now Windows 7 is a rebirth of our OS and so far is good. We've gone in five years from

Ken Sunshine, longtime publicist who has worked for former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, Barbra Streisand and the Jackson family then took the stage to interview none other than the Reverend Al Sharpton on marketing and trust. Sunshine introduced Sharpton with a lengthy speech that included an anecdote illustrating the fact that both Sunshine and Sharpton are insomniacs. "I called him at seven in the morning - 4am in Las Vegas (where he was) to ask him what it was about Serena and Kanye. 'Are black people going crazy?' The Rev response was 'I could say the same …

Tom Daly, group manager, global interactive, Coca-Cola, on receiving his award as an Online All-Star: "Someone said I was a 'net giver.' I have a confession. I'm a 'net taker.' I take their energy, passion, creativity, I take and I take and I take and I use the perch that I've been given, the Coca-Cola brand. I was fortunate to understand interactive marketing at UPS, in 1995 the emergence of electronic commerce,... the chances I've been given I just want to say thank you."

It wouldn't be a media conference without technical difficulties. Just ask Sarah Fay, former OMMA All-Star and former CEO at Carat, who's video presentation just failed to launch. Fay's one of our favorite executives, and this isn't a jab, but she seems a bit out of practice as she stumbles through her opening remarks. In May, Fay left her position as head of Aegis Media North America just a year after taking over for David Verklin. She is presently on sabbatical.

No place for settling in to ways of doing things. Our own companies are client companies. We are all drinking from the fire hose. Stay current, stay open minded to new solutions. Favorite New Yorker cartoon, guy looking at his calendar, saying, "No, Thursday's out. How about never. Is never good for you?" Be constantly on the prowl for ways to innovate because otherwise the world will move past you. The brands that win will be those whose customers tell each other the best stories. No one can claim to be the ultimate expert in social marketing …

Blake Mycoskie, founder, CEO and "chief shoe giver" of Tom's Shoes, owns a small company that got very big buzz when AT&T tapped them to star in one of their campaigns for wireless service. He might be the perfect exponent of the socially responsible company, or in Mycoskie's words, one whose "DNA is social responsiblity." At the Advertising Week Trust Forum, Mycoskie, in sockless shoes, jeans and a t-shirt was seated between Meredith Verdone, SVP Bank of America, and Steve Pacheco, Fedex's managing director of advertising. He looked as if he'd just come in from Rangoon on a pontoon boat, …