The second panel of the day at ARF's re:think conference was "The
Agency of the Future" including R/GA, Avenue A|Razorfish, Nitro and
Digitas.

Continuing on the one-of-these-outfits-is-not-like-the-other theme,
Nick Law, Chief Creative Officer from R/GA shows up in short sleeve
shirt, jeans, and swooshes in stark contrast to other panelists in
standard business casual.  Interactive is the new traditional and its
agency executives appear to have followed suit, so to speak.

Get it?

Followed suit?

Ok moving on, Rance Crain of Ad Age
did a nice job of moderating and stirring up the pot.  He suggested an
alternative title for his panel as well:  "Digital:  Just Another
Silo?"  BTW, I'm guessing he's not a big fan of subservient chicken,
either.

I'll admit.  I had my money on Microsoft taking DC as a technology solution to their ad serving need.  And I think if the deal were only about technology, Microsoft would have made a solid suitor.  But DoubleClick brings Google much more than an ad serving solution.  What's my take on this deal?

*Google wins.  We've been watching Yahoo! and MSN chase Google since paid search marketing exploded as a marketing channel and major revenue source for the three portals.  This deal ends the race.  With its DoubleClick purchase Google extends its capabilities into online display advertising and completes its set of online services.

*Its not about the technology.  Google already had ad serving.  This deal gives Google access to publishers outside of its current AdSense network and to behavioral data that will help them with ad targeting.

*Now Google can move offline.  I agree with Charlene Li on this one.  With the online space locked up, Google can focus on maturing its current offline efforts and on defining its next moves into traditional channels.

Mobile marketing.  It's new.  Some marketers are happy to experiment while others look on with skepticism until the channel matures.  Christine Overby and Charlie Golvin helped Forum participants navigate this new channel:  they're like peanut butter and jelly - Christine comes at mobile from the marketing side and Charlie approaches marketing from the mobile side.  Both believe that mobile is a viable marketing channel, but marketers need to embrace the warts in the mobile experience as features not shortcomings.

The crowd at the Forum, not surprisingly, is ahead of the curve in their use of mobile:  texting, mobile Internet, and applications.  But, Forrester data shows that only a third of mobile phone owners send or receive a text message, and only 11% use the mobile Internet.  What do early adopters look like? No surprise:  they're younger (almost 80% of 18-24 year olds use any form of messaging). Surprisingly and related to what I wrote earlier that the US was behind in their use of QR codes, use of the mobile Internet in the US and Europe is equivalent. 

Ian Bevis explained Kia's incredible growth in the auto industry and shared some humorous ads, but the more interesting story is the way they treat their relationship with dealers.  Kia needs to understand their dealers in addition to understanding their end customers because if the dealers don't sell their products, neither the Kia nor the dealers make money.  How do they build their relationships with dealers?  First, they understand dealers' primary motivation:  they're smart business people who want to make money.  Second, they leverage Kia's Web site:  e-leads are up, total traffic is up, and no surprise, sales are up, too.  Third, they shift employees around between the sales and marketing groups.  B2B marketing, like B2C marketing, needs to be an emotional proposition and needs grounding in knowledge of the customer.