For all who’ve asked, Ad:tech, New York was a huge invigorating event. More on this later.

However, the keynote by David Lubars was very disappointing. Keynotes are supposed to set the tone of the day or event, and this one didn’t. I’m a big fan of Lubars’ work, so maybe I was expecting more. The Ad:tech blog, which refers to his standard BBDO messaging (about ‘insight’) stops short of saying so much. But quite frankly it was just another chit-chat –in the Barbara Walter’s interview format– that didn’t say anything.

But Lubars almost deliberately understates the case for advertising. He came across as the kinda guy who’s vehemently on the side of the customer, not the client. "What worries me, what keeps me awake at night," he said, "is that we can piss off a lot of people." he was referring to the fact that anything can be a ‘medium’ -even a street sign. Anything can be an ‘ad.’

In the old days (when agency people rubbed their hands in glee at the possibility of putting logos on apples and people’s foreheads) getting a brand noticed was a billable opportunity. Now? It’s all about getting people involved. Or, to use the ad:tech word du jour, ‘engaged.’

But Lubars didn’t elaborate beyond showing some of the BBDO work. I threw him a trial balloon question to see if the ‘engagement’ virus had entered Mad Ave bloodstream, asking him if he saw Second Life a place where agencies would get creative.  He practically dodged it. Another audience question got a softball answer. Was there a danger in losing control of the messaging, someone asked, speaking about marketers allowing customers to create or mash up their own commercials. "I don’t know," Lubars replied. I don’t know about you, but at a seminal event like this, I expect keynoters to say things that put a time-stamp on the state of the industry.

Having said that, Ad:tech was a remarkable event, choc-full of companies doing very specialized things in tracking, knowledge gathering, video, podcasting, social networking, mobile, and reporting. Many of them are risk takers, newly emerging from the eco-system of marketing, technology and advertising. After 2 days of listening to them and interviewing them, I was glad to have been here at an event that gives a lot more respectability to all of marketing and advertising.

Here are some broad themes I culled from the conference:
"Conversations matter" "
"Engagement is a symptom, not a cause" "
"Make stuff shareable" "
"Leave digital trails" "
"We’re smart, but the community is smarter"
And, of course,
"I don’t know"