Jason Yim, President and Executive Creative Director, Trigger LLC, talking about the company's efforts for National Mandela Day: "We had the man, a great message and a great mission. The barrier to entry was pretty low. Mobile was an important facet. But, again, start with idea, good content. Without that, I don’t know how successful any mobile app will be." Next stop for the effort is Madrid. "In the U.S., we are so far behind. We use mobile passively," he says. "With proximity marketing, we should expect more dynamic use of mobile. In many ways [in the campaign], mobile …

Looking around the ballroom earlier, I was surprised to see so many people apparently bored and napping. Then I realized all of them were actually looking at their smartphones. Probably tweeting about the session!

For any ad execs who long for the days before the Web made it possible for consumers to create and distribute media themselves, Initiative’s Bant Breen offered some consolation. Speaking at a panel about whether Madison Avenue still has a future, Breen told the audience that beyond all of the user-generated content is “a ton of data” that can be mined. PHD’s Scott Hagedorn agreed, chiming in that all of the data that used to come from research panels is “now out there for free.” Of course, this consumer data -- or some of it, anyway -- might not …

Also onstage at the Trust Forum was a microscope. Really. Babcock had brought that up to demonstrate the idea of a "trust lens", to demonstrate -- I have to confess here that I'm not entirely sure what a trust lens is. But I think I forgot to mention in the earlier post why it was she also had a hula hoop onstage. That's another interesting story, but the upshot is that it is sort of a metaphor for a trust lens. I want one. And if I'd been sitting in the right seat I would have gotten one, too, because …

There was a little of everything -- hula hoops, Curious George, Tom's Shoes, and the Reverend Al Sharpton himself at the Advertising Week Trust Forum. The event began with tasty revelation by host Loreen Babcock, chairman and CEO of the agency Unit 7, which also explains why she had a Curious George stuffed monkey on stage (along with the Hula Hoop): she had gone to attend a conference in, I think, New York. She had arrived, luggage in tow and late hoping beyond hope that she had not missed the main speaker. No seats, she ran up to the balcony …

Here's some food for thought from a few expert panelist at OMMA Global New York. Moderated by MediaPost's editor in chief Joe Mandese, during a panel on whether Madison Avenue has a future. Brandon Berger, vice president of digital innovation at MDC Partners, says managing conversations is a service and that's where agencies need to look for the money. Lisa Donohue, CEO, Starcom USA, says think of social as more than a tactic. "We all need to get comfortable in the gray," she says.

“It’s a great time to be in the media business… unless you’re a media person,” is what one colleague recently told Scott Hagedorn, CEO US, Omnicom’s PHD. Partly as result, Hagedorn is “feeling a pull to become more of a lead agency.” Bant Breen, President of Worldwide Digital Communications at Initiative, says he is seeing this (i.e., industry transformation largely driven by “social” trends) as a huge boon for business. "There’s a false perception that advertising was really simple before social media," he said, adding, "Behind all this is a ton of data that is making advertising much more …

Food for thought here from a few expert panelist at OMMA Global New York. Moderated by MediaPost's editor in chief Joe Mandese, during a panel on Brandon Berger, vice president of digital innovation at MDC Partners, says managing conversations is a service and that's where agencies need to look for the money. Lisa Donohue, CEO, Starcom USA, says think of social as more than a tactic. "We all need to get comfortable in the gray," she says.

When Nick Brien, President and CEO, Mediabrands, got to talking about the marvelous "United Breaks Guitars" video on YouTube and the ever-popular Sears Sucks, a very popular blog, it got me thinking that someone ... hmmm, someone should publish an "Engage:Customer Service" newsletter. "Marketing Daily" has hosted several positive and negative Customer Service opinion pieces. What's your take? Should we?

To illustrate the shifts taking place between professional sourcing and control over brands and consumers’, Nick Brien played a clip form “The Devil Wears Prada,” in which Meryl Streep’s character lambastes an assistant who doesn’t distinguish between two shades of green belts. Basically, it’s a case for how designers shape everything, everyone wears. Fast-forward, Brien says, and preeminent fashion house Channel has actually opened its premiere 5th Avenue Manhattan store for “design meets,” in which consumers can design their own custom, handbags.