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Impressions from ad:tech Chicago

An economic slowdown and summer vacations make a tough environment for any business event. Yet the ad:tech Chicago conference last week largely held its own in the face of such challenges.

Does that mean the advertising industry can rest easy? Or that the interactive side of it -- online and mobile advertising -- is immune from the vagaries of a weak economy?

The answer is No.

Traditional advertising budgets are down for the past couple of quarters, indicating marketer concern over consumer spending.

But budgets for online and mobile advertising are growing simply because consumers are migrating to those channels for their information and marketing needs.

So the Internet and mobile will get attention by sheer dint of market momentum. That isn't enough, though, to float on a rising tide.

In mobile's case, what it needs to take it to the next level is not a cut from experimental budgets but a dedicated allocation from the marketer's interactive spending.

Richard Trumble, a senior digital marketing executive at The Wall Street Journal, told ad:tech Chicago delegates last week that 5 percent of the interactive marketing budget was a good place to start for marketers who have never dabbled in mobile advertising.

That seems like a reasonable amount for first-timers.

Walking through the ad:tech Chicago show floor and sitting through some sessions were proof enough that mobile's on everyone's lips.

When asked what's next for that session's discipline -- particularly online video -- panelists and speakers invariably pointed to mobile. Ditto for many exhibitors on the show floor, though they admitted that they had done little to extend into mobile.

Traffic at ad:tech Chicago's Mobile Marketing Pavilion was brisk, although curmudgeonly feedback was heard from some exhibitors. That, however, is a function of expectations.

Exhibitors expect to see marketers and ad agencies at tradeshows. This class of attendees did register for the Chicago ad:tech, as they do for other ad:tech shows nationwide. But they were not visible enough.

Nothing makes an exhibitor happier than a visit from an agency executive or a marketer. That's the lead they want. Trouble is, agencies and marketers know it. So begins a game of coy mating.

Agencies, though, must take more responsibility in ensuring that their staff is up-to-speed on the latest interactive technologies. It helps to spend a couple of days on the road, unencumbered by the daily to-do of office life, to explore new marketing and technology for branding or customer acquisition or customer retention.

Tradeshows are part of an executive's continuing education and networking efforts. They should not be considered a waste of time. Nor is it beneath a marketer's station to sit through sessions, ask simple questions and walk the show floor to interact with vendors.

Overall, mobile garnered considerable attention at ad:tech Chicago.

The next ad:tech, in New York, will boast an even bigger Mobile Marketing Pavilion. That big tent must and should attract the right mix for any interactive medium such as mobile to succeed: marketers, agencies, publishers and service providers.