On July 19, 2017, the annual OMMA Los Angeles conference organized by MediaPost, returned to LA with the topic “Human Learning Meets Machine Learning”, and we have the coverage (with video streams) below.
LA AdTech will be hosting the evening reception too with generous support from GumGum.
Panel: Can Robots Fix Programmatic Creative?
The technology behind programmatic advertising is improving all the time. Add bots to the stack and suddenly campaigns are learning how to target, test and optimize on the fly, at scale, and in real-time. While advancements automated marketing should be game-changers for brands, the fact remains that technology can’t do everything. Only humans can turn stacks of laser-targeted tech into a conduit for richer customer relationships by creating stories that appeal to real people. After all, humans still interpret context better than robots—at least for now.
MODERATOR:
Jim Sterne, Co-Founder, Digital Analytics Association @jimsterne
PANELISTS
Zach Glass, VP of Digital Advertising & Social, RED Interactive Agency
Matthew Nally, Founder & Managing Partner, Labmatik
Zachary Soreff, President, Sawyer Studios
Steven Wong, Co-founder and CMO, Ready State @stevenhtwong
Keynote: Data and Tech Drive TechStyle’s Historic Growth
Sujay Kar, Head of Data Science, TechStyle Fashion Group
Discussion: How to Evaluate Influencer Campaigns
If content really is king, then the future may belong to influencers, the 3 percent or so of social media users who move 90 percent of the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, et al. According to eMarketer, half of marketers will increase spending with influencers in 2017, but the question of how to evaluate these relationships still looms, as brands struggle to measure impact and ROI. What are these partnerships worth today, how are brands determining what success really means? What aspects of influencer data collection and analysis can be amplified by AI/machine learning to eventually solve the ROI puzzle?
MODERATOR:
Ross Fadner, Director, Event Programming, MediaPost
PANELISTS
Steve Abraham, EVP, Managing Director, MediaCom LA
Travis Hawley, VP, Business Development, Viral Nation Inc
Maria Sipka, Co-founder and Chief Evangelist, Linqia
Jeff Suhy, President and Partner, Mod op
Discussion: Inverted Influence: Reach vs Accessibility
Some industry watchers think influencer marketing needs a dramatic rethink, away from social media stars that deliver massive reach towards smaller micro-influencers, claiming the Web’s biggest stars are now just as inaccessible to regular people as Hollywood celebrities, making them (ironically) less influential. Is there really an inverse relationship between reach and accessibility when it comes to celebrity in America, and is that something you can measure? Are there any new models out there that move beyond social data to hone in on what really drives influence? How does a brand figure out what the right mix of reach and accessibility is when choosing an influencer partner?
MODERATOR:
Jessica Clifton, U.S. Managing Director, Strategic Growth and Development, Edelman
PANELISTS:
Josh Beane, Founder and CEO, Idea Farmer
Lily Kunin, Founder, Clean Food Dirty CIty
Brian Salzman, Founder and CEO, RQ @LAsalzman
Keynote: Cosabella’s Astonishing AI Transformation
When Cosabella hit a plateau with its sales growth in 2016, the global lingerie brand decided to partner with an artificial intelligence company capable of autonomously powering its marketing and media buying operations. Three months into its AI experiment, Cosabella achieved an astonishing 336 percent return on ad spend. Join CEO Guido Campello as he takes us through the company’s incredible marketing transformation.
Panel: This is Not a Fad: AI and Your Agency
As brands experiment with the bot offerings of IBM, Facebook and Google, media agencies and marketing cloud providers are investing in AI-driven capabilities of their own to streamline clients’ marketing and advertising operations. While few brands have handed their buying operations over to these AI-powered platforms entirely, the early results are absolutely astounding. This is not a fad; so, what does the rapid evolution of AI herald for media agencies? Will it force them to compete more directly with big consultancies, marketing tech cloud providers and other third party vendors? What’s really at stake here, and who is best positioned to win the arms race?
MODERATOR:
Wayne Friedman, West Coast Editor, MediaPost
PANELISTS:
Russ Cohn, VP, Creative Marketing + Innovation, Quigley-Simpson
Alastair Green, Executive Creative Director, Team One
Thomas Prommer, Managing Director, Technology, Huge
Anne-Marie Schaffer, President, PHD
Keynote: AI Deep Dive and FOX Case Study
- KEYNOTES
- Vince Lynch, CEO, IV.AI.
Harry Wu, VP, Creative Technology & Digital Production Design, FOX Broadcasting Company
Panel: Voice Computing and the Rise of Service
Though Apple’s virtual assistant Siri may be approaching its sixth birthday, innovation in voice computing in 2017 has been driven by Amazon’s two-year-old Echo, and its voice operating system Alexa, for which brands, agencies and other third parties can create “Skills” to engage this rapidly growing user base. And with the recent debuts of the Echo Look and Echo Show, Alexa’s scope now includes the camera, too, as well as the microphone. How are early adopters innovating on the Alexa platform? What have they learned from trials with Alexa Skills? How does camera functionality enhance what third parties can do? Further afield, does the rise of virtual assistants come at the expense of other media? Why search for products and services when virtual assistants can provide service based on preferences?
MODERATOR:
Pam Scheideler, Chief Digital Officer, Deutsch Los Angeles
PANELISTS:
John Creson, Principal, DesignStudio
Kobie Fuller, Partner, Upfront Ventures
Tim Leake, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer, RPA @tim_leake
Panel: Choosing the Right AI Partner for Your Brand
AI is everywhere these days, and your brand doesn’t want to be left behind, but the options are also overwhelming. How do you go about getting involved? How do you know which AI company will make the best partner for your brand? What’s the difference between this and that offering or platform? Our panel of agencies and AI brands will help you navigate the morass of AI partner options.
MODERATOR:
John Deschner, Chief Innovation Officer, Managing Director, TBWA\CHIAT\DAY
PANELISTS:
Jeremy Fain, Co-founder and CEO, Cognitiv Labs
Ben Kartzman, Co-Founder and CEO, Spongecell @benkartzman
Craig Osika, Cognitive Product and Data Partnerships Leader, The Weather Company, an IBM Business
Daniel Smith, Technical Architect, Cordial
Ophir Tanz, Founder and CEO, GumGum @OphirTanz