Um, Mr. Kvamme, do you know who is in the audience here today? That's what I was wondering when Kvamme noted that social marketing enables you to get your "message out" basically "for free." That may be a good thing for word-of-mouth marketers, but I'm not sure why that's a good thing for advertising agencies -- digital or otherwise -- which generally depend on advertising as a source of revenues.

That's right, according to OMMA opening keynoter, Sequoia Capital's Mark Kvamme, that's when it all began. It was teh year that the marketing industry came up with the "4 Ps:" product, price, place and promotion. "I'm a big believer that history is a good indicator of where we are going to go in the future," Kvamme said, who then fast-forwarded closer to our future -- 1988 -- the year that Kvamme and his partners created CKS. Kvamme

That was the sound I heard when MediaPost publisher Ken Fadner gave his opening remarks to kick-off OMMA Global in San Francisco this morning. The reason, Fadner noted that MediaPost moved the conference from Los Angeles, at which point, the audience got vocally interactive (“Hsssssss”). “I know there’s a certain amount of dislike between the two cities,” Fadner said on that cue. He said the San Francisco epiphany hit him during the last OMMA Global conference in Los Angeles, when “online video was the future of the online world,” which, of course, it didn’t turn out to be. “I’m …

Online Publishing: Will expand from Salons 14 & 15 to Salons 13, 14 & 15 Media Planning: will expland from Salons 12 & 13 to Salons 10, 11 & 12 Marketing: will move from Salons 10 & 11 to Salons 4, 5 & 6 Advertising: will move from Nob Hill C & D to Salons 1, 2 & 3

ESPN will be launching cross platform research effort, ESPN XP, in the coming months. Artie Bulgrin, senior vp of research for ESPN, in speaking at the 4A’s media conference, says the new research effort will measure cross media audience, usage by platform, and advertising efficiencies. It’ll start this up summer around the FIFA World Cup soccer event. “We don’t believe in replacing currencies,” says Bulgrin. “We want to reveal the value of cross platform.” The research effort will work in conjunction with the Disney-ABC Television media lab that started up in 2008 in Austin, Texas.

It's been a while since former Madison Avenue media star David Verklin has addressed the Four As, and the last time, it didn't go over too well, when he pinch-hit at the last minute and took the stage with one of his patented "crackle of change" speeches that left many in attendance grumbling about why they should listen to the former Carat chief telling them where their businesses are going. So it was indeed a surprise to see Verklin show up Tuesday as a previously unannounced guest speaker,especially when he's still brandishing some arrows in his back from some …

Advertising agencies need to transform themselves â€" but not necessarily towards traditional functions. There should be moves shifting to new information and technologies. “Agencies need to think to like software companies,” says Greg Smith, chief information officer of McCann Worldgroup. “Software companies are entrepreneurs.’ With consumer and clients developing new software and systems â€" with the limitations of computer storage for individual companies -- agencies are threatened to be left behind. “We will lose opportunities if we don’t do this.” One of the ways of improving this is moving to so-called “cloud” computing, where agencies get access …

In the crucial days around September 18, 2008, when the financial troubles were escalating -- and a number of major financial institution were on the verge of bankruptcy -- now Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, then the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, started making a list. Andrew Ross Sorkin, reporter and columnist of The New York Times, in speaking at the 4A’s media conference, says Geithner was drawing up a list of those companies that should merge â€" Goldman Sachs and CitiCorp; CitiCorp and Wachovia; and Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan; and other combinations. Of …

Some inner city high schools have had some troubled times. But Ron Berger, chairman of Euro RSCG U.S., says there is some hope. Two years ago the High School for Advertising and Media opened up in September 2008 â€" all with the focus on advertising and marketing. The 4A’s have been involved almost from the start â€" helping to shape the curriculum -- as well as number of media platforms and media agencies. Students closer work on branding assignments, go on field trips, and work closely with many industry professionals. The first class is due to graduate …

Some critics worry Apple Inc.’s iPad will control content much like Apple does it music and other content through its iTunes store. But one Conde Nast magazine executive doesn’t think so. Magazine content providers will demand to stay close to their readers. “It’s very important that we own the customer,” says Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, in speaking at the 4A's media conference It’s all about personal relationships, he says â€" not business relationships with intermediaries such as Apple’s iTunes or others. Says Anderson: “I do have a relationship with bands. I don’t have a …