Chicago – July 9, 2008 – ad:tech expositions, LLC (www.ad-tech.com), the leading conferences and exhibitions organizer for the global marketing community, today announced its fourth annual show in Chicago, which focuses on mastering brand performance and effective marketing solutions. The event will take place from August 5-6, 2008 at Chicago Navy Pier.
During the 2-day conference, ad:tech Chicago will explore new and emerging technologies on the social media, video and mobile fronts while sharing best practices for audience acquisition, engagement and retention in an age of earned media. The Chicago conference brings together top brands, award-winning agencies and leaders in metrics, publishing and search, offering attendees a great networking opportunity and a chance to explore the trends shaping today’s market.
“ad:tech Chicago provides a multi-faceted platform to learn, listen and understand the opportunities and challenges in the ever evolving branding landscape,” said Drew Ianni, Chairman, Programming & Senior Global Analyst for ad:tech. “The digital space is an uncontrolled environment that requires marketers to interact with consumers rather than just deliver static messaging.”
The conference will kick off with a keynote address by Kevin Kells, CPG Industry Director for Google, titled “Welcome to the Age of Performance Branding,” discussing a new branding technique that encourages open dialogue with consumers to position brands positively and achieve desired results. Day one will close with a keynote address delivered by Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, titled “Here Comes Every Customer: The Former Audience is Talking Around You,” touching on how the former audience, the customer, is now driving user generated content (UGC) on the Internet. And, it’s the advertiser who better be listening.
Social networking and UGC sites have experienced extraordinary growth in recent years. As numbers on these sites have risen, so has user engagement, with 83 million users creating and sharing content on the Internet.1 UGC has changed the rules of the game as the existing lines between advertisement and consumer are often blurred. In 2006, UGC sites attracted 69 million users in the United States alone, and in 2007, UGC generated $1 billion in advertising revenue. By 2011, UGC sites are projected to attract 101 million users nationwide and earn $4.3 billion in ad revenue.2
“Today’s business climate requires more precision in our marketing and advertising than ever before. Leading marketers must be creative and obsessive. Creative in developing consumer experiences that enable connections with our brands and obsessive about choosing the place and time when consumers are most receptive for delivery of experiences,” said Kevin Doohan, Director of Interactive Marketing at ConAgra Foods and speaker at ad:tech Chicago in the Power Panel: Master Class CPG Roundtable — Growing Online Brand Advertising Dollars.
ad:tech Chicago will offer attendees unbridled access to more than 120 speakers and 23 breakout sessions with the industry’s biggest names including Amtrak, ConAgra Foods, Dell, Inc., FTD Floral, FOX News, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft Foods, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Walt Disney and many more.
The exhibit hall will showcase key exhibitors from companies such as Casale Media, DoubleClick, Google, Hitwise, Moniker and Yahoo! to name a few. The Navy Pier will also house multiple meeting and business presentation rooms for domestic and international organizations along with ample room for networking. For a list of current exhibitors, please visit www.ad-tech.com/chicago/adtech_chicago_exhibitors.aspx.
Gold Sponsor includes: AdShuffle Silver Sponsors include: Avenue A | Razorfish; Casale Media Bronze Sponsors include: AdECN; Google; iContact; Leapfrog Online; Singer Direct Premiere Media Partners include: Advertising Age; Fast Company; Forbes.com; iMedia Connection; Revenue Magazine Media Partners include: BtoB; DIRECT; Digital Moses Confidential; DM News; eMarketer; MarketingSherpa; Mobile Marketer; Personal Life Media; PRWeb; Search Marketing Standard; SmartBrief; Target Marketing; Webmaster Radio; Website Magazine Association Partners include: AIMA; CIMA; MMA; OPA; WOMMA
For public information, please visit www.ad-tech.com.
About ad:tech: ad:tech expositions, LLC is the leading organizer of conferences and exhibitions for the interactive marketing community worldwide. ad:tech produces the world’s largest interactive marketing events held in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, London, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore and Sydney. ad:tech is produced by dmg world media; based out of the company’s headquarters in Larkspur, California. For listings of exhibitors, speakers, events and upcoming conference offerings, visit www.ad-tech.com.
About dmg world media: An international exhibition and publishing company, dmg world media produces over 250 market-leading trade exhibitions, consumer shows and fairs each year and publishes 45 related magazines, newspapers, directories and market reports. dmg world media employs 900 people and maintains a worldwide presence through more than 40 offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, the United Arab Emirates, China, India, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. dmg world media is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT), one of the largest and most successful media companies in the United Kingdom. Additional information on dmg world media can be found at www.dmgworldmedia.com.
1 eMarketer, April 2008.
2 eMarketer, “User Generated Content: Will Web 2.0 Pay its Way?” June 2007.
