Earlier this week I dropped in on ad:tech in San Francisco.  ad:tech is an interactive advertising and technology conference and exhibition that happens in different cities around the world through out the year..  This past week it was happening in San Francisco and I borrowed a badge from a friend to take a look at the exhibit floor.

This conference was focused around online advertising.  The most surprising, maybe I should say annoying, thing to me was the overload of all the advertising.  Unfortunately, what you encountered the most was the overloaded, poor messaging that is typical of technology trade shows.  I walked thru the entire exhibit floor and all the vendors and booths blended together after about 15 seconds.  I was annoyed by the large percentage of vendor’s booths who failed the 15 second test…after 15 seconds of reading their signage, I didn’t understand what they provided or why I should care.

Of all the vendors exhibiting at the show, there were only two that really stood out from the crowd: Casale Media and Hydra.  And the reason they stood out was their booth design.  Both utilized the concept of empty space to draw you into them.  A concept that you would expect more companies who would attend an advertising based trade show to understand.

I almost hate to say it, but I think ad:tech needs more ad people and less tech people.

Unfortunately, there were a number of great sessions on social media, advertising, and the building of brands in the digital age that I wish I could have attended.  Maybe next year…