NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> Wrap-up - Forrester Forum Coverage by ClickZ
ONLINE-ADS>> Wrap-up - Forrester Forum Coverage by ClickZ
richard_at_tenagra.com
Wed, 7 Oct 1998 17:24:19 -0500 (CDT)
Below is a special mailing to The Online Advertising Discussion
List about the Forrester Forum, written by Andy Bourland,
Publisher of The ClickZ Network. You will receive these
reports in addition to your normal Online Ads posts/digests.
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Wrapping Up The Forrester Forum
Tuesday, October 6, 1998
Andy Bourland
Publisher
ClickZ Network
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I go to lots of conferences. Over the past year, I've
attended Web Advertising '98, Web Marketing '98, _at_d:Tech,
AdWeek Forum, Camp Interactive, and of course, the Jupiter
Online Advertising Conference.
Having just come off the two-day Forrester Forum, in
exactly the same conference center (Sheraton NYC)
where only three months earlier, Jupiter hosted its
own advertising forum, I can't help but offer a comparison
of the two.
The organizations themselves are quite different. Jupiter is
so New York. Forrester is, so, well ... Cambridge!
Jupiter's conference was primarily panel discussions.
Forrester's show was exclusively individual presentations.
When you heard Jupiter's analysts say something, it was in a
panel or three or more. When you heard a Forrester analyst
offer up something, it was during an individual
presentation.
Jupiter let its guest speakers run wild, making the
occasional sales pitch under the guise of "panel
presentations and keynotes." Forrester kept its speakers on
a tight leash - no presentation came close to a sales pitch.
Jupiter let the audience members ask their own questions.
Forrester managed questions by having its analysts read
collected questions from the audience.
Jupiter's show had an undertone of "wildness" to it, where
anything could happen. Forrester's had a tone of quiet
professionalism, attendees received exactly what was laid
out in the binder.
Jupiter's analysts didn't always agree, nor did they use the
same terminology. Forrester's analysts used consistent
terminology and spoke from a "Forrester" point of view.
Jupiter's vendor display area was packed, and half the fun
of the conference was in cruising the vendor area. All the
players were there. That was the place to pick up the inside
scoop.
Forrester's vendor display area was far less compelling.
They had a dozen vendors at most. Nothing very interesting
happened there.
Jupiter had sponsors galore. Every session, it seemed,
offered up a notepad sponsor. Every coffee break and lunch
was sponsored. Boston.com sponsored the darned RESTROOMS at
Jupiter!
Forrester? No sponsors that I could discern. Perhaps
Forrester subscribes to a certain religion about that kind
of thing. I happen to think strong sponsors can really make
a show.
Jupiter handed out a packet with a daily agenda and speaker
bios. Forrester handed out a huge binder with nearly every
speaker's presentation in "notes" view.
At Jupiter, I came home with a bag overflowing with
tchotchkes. After Forrester, I didn't even have a ball point
pen.
At Jupiter, the opportunity seemed to exist at every
presentation/panel discussion that there could be some
explosive development - perhaps a key announcement, a new
development, a verbal sparring match or a fistfight. Of
course, it never actually happened. The presenters were too
busy pitching their wares.
At Forrester, there was never a sense of pending
controversy, a tackling of tough issues, or disagreement in
the air. Nor was there any. They were too busy dishing out
good information.
Jupiter was relatively friendly to the press in giving out
press passes. But it relegated the press to a stuffy little
room at lunch time. They couldn't eat with the paid
audience.
It was a nightmare getting a press pass for Forrester. But
once you're in, you are treated like royalty. Forrester
checked in to make sure all was well often throughout the
dayand let us eat with everybody else.
Jupiter addressed stats and trends in more of a cerebral
way. Forrester took their stats and applied them in a way
that you could take to work with you and put to use the next
day.
About the only thing the two conferences had in common? No
conference is complete without Bob Pittman of AOL giving his
consumer spin on the 'net.
My bottom line?
Jupiter was more fun and attracted more of the online
advertising types that I enjoy being around. But I was
terribly disappointed in the content due to their failure -
if not refusal - to manage their guest speakers. I'd give
Jupiter a C- overall.
Forrester was far more interesting, had great speakers, and
was much more professionally managed. I came away feeling I
had really learned something. I'll give Forrester a well
deserved A... And I don't give out A's easily!
Worth mentioning...
DoubleClick is rolling out a customized version of their
DART ad management solution for advertisers called the
"Closed Loop Solutions suite"... While DART was designed for
site publishers, Closed Loop is designed with advertisers in
mind...
Check out info on their other new services: DataBank and
Boomerang.
So No One Is Perfect
Correction: The following quote attributed to Dan Okrent of
Time New Media in yesterday's ClickZ Alert was actually a
paraphrase of what Okrent said, and not a direct quote. The
paragraph should have read:
It's one thing, for example, for an alternative medicine
health site to recommend a cure-all stinging nettle
supplement and link to a vitamin shop that sells the stuff.
It's quite another to recommend a specific brand of stinging
nettle and suggest that users buy early and often and...
Now!
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