It took about an hour, but we finally got our first "Moneyball" reference at OMMA RTB. Thank you, Paul Rostkowski, President of Varick Media Management! Moneyball, if you're not familiar, is a book by Michael Lewis (turned movie) about the Oakland A's, and -- because of its focus on the team's analytical, evidence-based, "sabermetric" approach to building a roster -- a favorite among techie marketers. Asked what he's batting at VMM -- MDC Partners' digital media buying firm -- Rostkowski boasted: "North of .300." The brainchild of kirshenbaum bond senecal + partners, VMM was incubated at The Media Kitchen by …

Okay, so that was a paraphrase. Pahade actually said, "We talk about all things digital, I don't even know what that means anymore."

Nick Pahade, a few weeks into his latest gig as CEO of Initiative, has one question for CMOs: What is their audience strategy? Answers, Pahade explained during his OMMA RTB keynote, run the gamut. Some marketers say they're already devoting 20% of their budgets to RTB; some don't know what he's talking about (and tell him to: "Go ask my digital guy!"); others say they're planning on RTB; while a precious few insist: "We're ready!" Even for that last group, Pahade admits there are a variety of obstacles, which stand in their way. Centralizing efforts, cultural barriers, embedded prejudices, ... …

Yep, Nick Pahade nailed me after I introduced him for his opening keynote at OMMA RTB this morning.

That's the way Forrester's Joanna O'Connell kicked OMMA RTB off with, using the handshake metaphor as a way of explain what the technology is supposed to do in the RTB marketplace.

Most marketers are ___________ about real-time bidding: A) Excited B) Reticent C) Terrified D) All of the above! Unfortunately, the answer is most likely D, according to Joanna O'Connell, Senior Analyst at Forrester. As a result, O'Connell added at OMMA RTB: "We need to find ways to make [RTB] palatable for both sides [meaning not just quants and computer scientists] in order the make this work.

Interestingly, OMMA RTB got off to a start today with our opener - Forrester's Joanna O'Connell - striking a metaphor that was similar to one floated during OMMA Social yesterday: High school.

By way of welcoming attendees to OMMA RTB, this morning, co-MC and MediaPost Editor-in-Chief Joe Mandese warned them that they ("people, culture, organizations") represent the greatest barrier to progress. Love you, too, Joe! Inconvenient as it may be, however, Mandese added that successful RTB strategies must internalize "the human factor." Feelin' the love!

If Buzzfeed's founders founded Buzzfeed, today, there would probably be no Buzzfeed.com, according Buzzfeed President Jon Steinberg. (Not a founder himself, Steinberg joined Buzzfeed from Google in mid-2010.) Rather, Steinberg thinks the trend aggregator -- which uses a combination of algorithmic and human sifting to pick popular Web content -- would exist as a "super presence" on super social-hubs likes YouTube and Facebook.

Noah Brier of social media marketing firm Percolate distinguishes between two types of social content: “stalk” and “flow.” The former is more ambitious material—a high-quality video or longer-form written piece—a brand might post on a weekly or quarterly basis. Flow refers to content produced on a more continous basis—links, polls-to keep people engaged between the stalk postings. He added that most brands lean toward only post higher level content quarterly.