Don't underestimate the power of technology in the long term, according to Gary Milner, Director, Global Digital Marketing Manager, Lenovo, He said during the OMMA RTB conference in Los Angeles Thursday that it took VISA nearly 10 years to unify systems to support middle class America, which tends to have many credit accounts.

Lenovo global digital marketing chief Gary Milner kicked OMMA RTB off this morning with a thought-provoking keynote, citing some famous and fabulous quotes falsely predicting digital media outcomes -- including an 1876 Western Union memo proclaiming the telephone would never really take off as a media device, or Microsoft chief Steve Balmer's quip that it's modern day equivalent, the iPhone, would never get much market share. "We overestimate what the real effect is, but in the long-term these things take off and really change the marketplace," Milner said, adding, "And I think that's where we are with RTB and the …

"Sex, drugs, and RTB," baby. That's how MediaPost editor-in-chief Joe Mandese pitched OMMA RTB on Thursday, referring to an earlier reference to the conference as OMMA's "Woodstock." Not Woodstock '69, though... More like Woodstock '94, Mandese said, "because of all the advertisers in the room."

As vice president of strategy of Edmunds.com, George Kang may know a lot about using data to market cars online, but he learned something new about moderating panels about data-driven marketing. While on vacation a couple of weeks ago, Kang received a call from his PR person asking him if he could moderate OMMA DDM's panel on the "state of attribution." No problem, he told OMMA DDM attendees, "I've been following attribution for a while." Then he took a call with OMMA DDM programming chair Steve Smith, who began to grilll him on his credentials and qualifications. "I had no …

Excellent analogy at OMMA Data Driven Marketing: Each piece of data adds to the resolution (similar to multiple pixels) of the customer. When you put it all together it increases the clarity of the picture.

More than any other sector, big pharma equals big real time personalization and multichannel attribution. Yes, the pharmaceutical industry is clearly leading the way in both areas, according to Andy Fisher, Chief Analytics Officer at Merkle, a customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm. Why? First, they've got a "ton of money," Fisher told attendees of the OMMA DDM conference on Wednesday. Second, they're "spending a ton of money." Translation? "Pharma is showing the most [data-driven marketing] leadership."

Big data and new metric tools are increasing helping big entertainment brands -- but old-school video/still images are still big drivers. “Big data doesn’t perform miracles,” says Brian Dalessandro, vp of data science for Media6Degrees. You still need the right creative. Doug Neil, executive vp of digital marketing for Universal Pictures, says movie marketing still starts with the creative -- the video, the in-theater trailer, the TV commercial. “We put a lot of effort in video; it’s what establishes the brand,”  says Neil. "Tons of research goes into it. I can’t emphasize it enough.”   Some movies are easier …

Speaking at OMMA DDM in LA today, Andy Terentjev, senior director, comScore, said that when it comes to efficiencies in data-driven marketing, real-time bidding (RTB) is where it will happen first.

Consolidation among the digital advertising technology companies is on the horizon. Dan Chen, managing director, Siemer and Associates, LLC, at the OMMA Data Driven Marketing event, says “investors are getting exhaustive and fatigued in the space.” The number of venture capital investments has declined to around 56 during the second quarter this year from 109 in second quarter 2011. At the same time mergers and acquisition activity is up --34 deals in the first half of 2013 versus 17 for the same time period a year ago. “Businesses are profit-challenged,” he says. Chen adds too many in the space …

What are the threats to big data moving foward? Consumers and company protection of their data. Speaking at OMMA Data Driven Marketing, Nishat Mehta, executive vp of global partnerships for dunnhumby, said a big threat comes with mobile collection of data. “Consumer owning data will be first party data.” That can include location, diet and fitness data that are own by consumers mobile devices. Another threat: Andy Leinicke, senior marketing manager of Intuit, believes that “entities being super protective of the data they own." His recommendation: “Don’t boil the ocaean. Focus on something that makes an impact.” …