Our AD WEEK Recommendations

The rise of media theme weeks inside New York City, be they Internet Week, Social Media Week or next month's first-ever NYC Television Week, owe a level of gratitude to Advertising Week. After all, it was this venture that, a decade ago, launched and ultimately perfected the formula for building a cohesive week of events from a variety of players in one industry, with a catchy label on top. Nobody called the formula crowdsourcing out loud at the time, but that's what it was. This coming week, the granddaddy of this media-centric theme parade marks 10 years with plenty of organizations involved. No shortage of sessions devoted to the hot ad topics of the day--big data, audience measurement, programmatic buying, content, creativity, mobile and diversity at all levels of the workplace.&#160;Most of the action, like last year, will happen near Times Square, at venues from the Hard Rock Cafe to New York Times Center and Liberty Theater (the once-Broadway stage now housed inside a Dave &amp; Busters' restaurant). For the first time in a while, there will be considerable attention given to TV and video developments. AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong gets double public exposure on the opening day. Come Monday morning, he'll be interviewed by a Fast Company editor. In the late afternoon, Armstrong holds court with the unveiling of AOL's new programmatic advertising pitch, one which could have ramifications for TV as well as online sales. On Monday, IAB Mixx dominates the day and in fact IAB seeks to dominate the week with Mixx and it's Global event. Yahoo! chief executive Marissa Meyer and acting Hulu CEO Andy Forssell are among the headliners. Amazon will hold court at the Liberty Theater Tuesday morning with a panel on children's content, in part showing off Amazon's first set of online kidvid series launching later this fall.&#160;Also on Monday the Mobile Media Summit holds forth at the New World Stages. At 2 pm Weather Company CRO Curt Hecht will be interviewed by Jack Myers.&#160;On the TV side, famed independent filmmaker Robert Rodriguez gets his first extended NY showcase for El Rey Network, the Latino-targeting service scheduled to launch in December. This late Wednesday event happens four months after he showed up at Univision's upfront event--front and center on a Broadway stage--to announce Univision's role in El Rey as strategic investor, affiliate and ad sales agent.&#160;Smart TV will get a forum of its own prior to Rodriguez' Wednesday appearance. Look for a demonstration or two on how automatic content recognition can enable TV programs to embed added content and advertising options on the TV screen. New Al Jazeera America president Kate O'Brien will participate in a Thursday morning panel on news leadership. AMC Networks leader Joshua Sapan is set to be on one of several New York Times-organized sessions throughout the week. Seperately, The Chew/Food Network personality Mario Batali and Katherine Oliver, commissioner of NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office of media and entertainment, will receive awards during Ad Week's kick-off lunch Monday.&#160;Tuesday evening features the sold-out Clear Channel/MediaLink party featuring a mini concert by John Mayer.&#160;On Wednesday Jack Myers introduces moderator Jay Sears at The Rubicon Project panel hosting senior executives from the leading agency holding company programmatic and automated buying units, focusing on one of the week's most anticipated topics.&#160;On Thursday, Havas Media hosts panels and speakers under the umbrella theme Putting the Band Back Together, at Hardrock Cafe from 4 to 7. Jack Myers interviews Sears Appliances CMO Eddie Combs. The event anticipates an industry move toward re-integration of marketing communications with media.&#160;And what would any theme week in the Big Apple, Ad Week included, be without some self-generated nightlife? Be sure there's plenty of that next Monday through Thursday, with Microsoft among them. ,&#160;Here's a candidate for hardest-working person this week apart from the organizers: Tanzina Vega, media reporter at The New York Times. She's scheduled to moderate or participate in at least four events, starting with the Advertising Women Of NY's breakfast Tuesday morning. Plus Vega gets the super get of interviewing Rodriguez the following afternoon.&#160;Let us know your feedback on Ad Week panels and events by including us in your Tweets @jackmyerscom. Simon Applebaum is producer/host of Tomorrow Will Be Televised, the radio program all about TV. Tomorrow runs live Mondays and Fridays at 3 p.m. Eastern time, noon Pacific Time on www.blogtalkradio.com, with replays available at www.blogtalkradio.com/simonapple04. A weekly TV series edition will soon premiere on the new UBC-TV network. Have a question or reaction? E-mail it to simonapple04@yahoo.com, or tweet @UBCSimonTWBT.Read all Simon&#8217;s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Tomorrow Will Be Televised.Check us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggers.comFollow our Twitter updates @MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggers.com management or associated bloggers. MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries.

Our AD WEEK Recommendations

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Simon Applebaum

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