Last night's NextMedia mixer was… in a word… fabulous.
Great venue -- Bar Italia. A good collection of people. And fantastic content.
If you were at #mdm07 in Toronto, you know the big disappointment (besides the fact there was no heat) was the fact that the ad world was missing. All the talk was about branding, yet virtually no one representing that side of things was there.
Besides drinks and raw veggies, last night's event featured a Q&A with three reps from strategic media agencyPHd. They talked a lot about how they bring brand messages to the digital space and what's important to them.
If you're asking the monetizing questions, this was a great discussion to be part of.
In a nutshell, Caroline Moul and her co-workers are very interested in bringing their clients into the digital space. In fact, if they had their way, it would be part of every campaign. In the current economy, they expect spending to drop off in every other area. But digital? They expect that to grow.
They think it's the best way to reach an 18 to 34 demographic.
They love video, mobile, product integration and leveraging local talent.
They say they're always looking for new ideas and that they'd like to be involved as early as possible.
It was a nuts and bolts discussion and the PHd folk were open, frank and offered incredible insight into how they work and think.
If this is just the tease for NextMedia 08: Monetizing Digital Media, I can't wait for the real meal deal. See you at Circa, November 18-19.
