While introducing himself during the opening "buyer's panel" at OMMA Audience Targeting, RPA's Mike Margolin disclosed that the Los Angeles-based agency "reimagined" its media department a year ago into an "audience strategy and investment group." Why not, Southern California has long been the the land of imagineers, whether they work in Anaheim or Hollywood. Now we can include Santa Monica.

The measurement portion of the "Radio Revenge" panel discussion at OMMA Display turned toward an unusual display -- one of the panelist's "packages." Maybe it was because it was the last panel of the day, or maybe it was because the panelists were discussing some fairly wonky research issues surrounding audience measurement, but that's when a member of the audience blurted out an observation about a panelist's member.

If you think the issues associated with developing -- and optimizing -- creative advertising formats or mobile is challenging, think about the implications or a jacuzzi. Okay so you don't really think about advertising on jacuzzis, but you will, according to Lizzie Widhelm. Not surprisingly, Widhelm is involved with a medium that distributes via jacuzzis -- and refrigerators and washing machines, and, well, almost anything.

Agencies (and some clients) may be moving toward a "holistic" approach to audio -- you know, what we used to call radio -- but there are still some legacy issues holding it back. That was the way Lizzie Widhelm, vice president of digital at Pandora seemed to indicate on the "Radio Revenge" panel wrapping up OMMA Display in Los Angeles today.

That's what Tarot Insights Founder Maude Standish seemed to suggest during the mobile panel at OMMA Premium in Los Angeles today. She sparked one of the most emotionally charged discussions, bashing ads that unimaginatively "follow" consumers across their Web surfing sessions. "By the end of it they hate the advertiser," she said, suggesting that such strategies likely produce the opposite effect of what the brand's intended. She said the problem is that brands and their agencies focus too much on the "how" to get the ads to follow the consumers around, and not enough on the "why." She predicted that …

In presenting research at OMMA Premium Display, a Millward Brown Digital study said a brand's value vis a vis its web area offers specific opportunities for marketers. Among other factors, Millward Brown Digital looked relevance, engagement, depth, personality, as well as “visit catalyst” value, that is, how users got to a site -- for example from a search engine or going to a site directly. The study also looked at distinct brand comparisons of specific categories. One example focused on two sports sites -- ESPN, a well known sports media platform, and Yardbarker, a niche player in …

Ad-blocking technology has never been a bigger problem for online publishers and advertisers. In particular, Evolve Media -- publisher of such lifestyle properties as CraveOnline and TotallyHer -- sees a staggering 38% effective ad-block rate among men, and an 18% rate among women. So David Denton, SVP Product Management at Evolve, told attendees of OMMA's Premium Display conference, on Tuesday. With ad partners to please, what's a publisher to do? Among other tricks of the trade, many of the ad-blockers offer what Denton calls an "acceptable ad program," which, for a fee, let certain ads reach consumers. Not a huge …

Online or on TV, Tom Peyton, AVP of Advertising at American Honda Motor Co., sets a high bar for advertising and branded content. "It should be as entertaining as the content [consumers are] going to see," Peyton told attendees of OMMA's Premium Display conference, on Tuesday. To be more specific, advertising should rival accompanying content in key areas like "passion" and "emotion," Peyton stressed. "It's finding those pieces of emotion ... and trying to mix that in so that [an ad] is acceptable to consumers," Peyton added. "That's the magic component."

Creative hurdles for display advertising still persist, with digital story-telling having new hurdles.What is one creative key to avoid this? “Putting the users at the center of it -- not for mass [audiences],” says Aaron Howe, senior creative director of Possible, speaking at OMMA Premium Display on a panel about the creative process. He says his company looks for more of a one-on-one approach. Howe, who once said display is “the outdoor of the internet”, says creative gone from bland to great. But he adds: “Creatives are not pushing hard enough.” Jerome Austria, digital executive creative …