Through an unexpected, yet sadly not surprising, turn of events, I had the good fortune to spend last week in New York City representing Wpromote at the most recent ad:Tech conference.  While it may at first seem foolish to place me in front of potential partners and clients, I assure you all that I clean up good, and of course, please keep in mind that I was not the company’s first choice.  I also had to promise not to wear my Cobra Kai costume or try to sweep anyone’s leg while working the booth, heartbreaking sacrifices indeed.

Now, this conference signified a farewell to our booth of old, and one of our primary assignments was to explore the floor and for inspiration select our favorite booths from among the competition.   Mine was a two-floor monstrosity with plush couches, TVs, lounge areas and some impressive company reps.  Close runner-ups though included a booth offering free massages from hired help and another populated by people wearing faux-Affliction t-shirts.  My request for a Men’s Large was denied.

Moving on, it was a very busy and productive few days.  Sometimes, it is a burden to be so popular and in-demand.  The Wpromote booth is always a destination as our airplane bottles of Jack and Smirnoff generally are regarded as tops among the various tchotchkes.  Inevitably, there are those who have attended one too many conferences and make one too many stops to pick up a bottle, but these individuals are well outnumbered by the many interesting and valuable companies attracted by our offerings.  In attendance were a plethora of reputable ad agencies looking to expand their service offerings, new technology companies breaking ground in advertising models for the video and gaming mediums, and of course the big hitters who I find always have something interesting to say.  Among the speakers, Dean Carnigan, the Director of Microsoft Advertising, and Jay Akkad, a Product Manager at YouTube, were some of the more interesting characters, but really, there were too many to mention them all here.  ad:Tech remains one of the more reliable conferences for good content and a variety of good companies.  I’m always somewhat taken aback by the number of affiliate marketers and ad networks in attendance (no, we don’t want to manage a campaign for Kitten Mittens, and no, we don’t want to buy traffic).  All in all though, I anticipate some great relationships and new clients to come out of New York this year.

Of course, as Wpromote’s reputation spreads across the land, we found ourselves fully booked in the evenings as well.  Tuesday began with a Yahoo!-sponsored mixer where we discussed the efficacy of Yahooooo’s latest ad campaign at length, and let me just say, the search/content goliath’s employees were not entertained.  Yet, we did somehow manage to escape intact and find our way to SoHo House (yes, THE SoHo House) for a wildly pleasant evening with our friends at MediaTrust and Intimate Interactive, who then whisked us away to Greenhouse for some dancing.  However, just as the music moved me and the spirit soothed me, I realized it was time to call it a night, a very good decision in retrospect.  Wednesday evening, the team attended a Heaven-and-Hell party hosted by Wpromote’s BFF, Epic Advertising, at the institution of New York nightlife, Marquee.  I unfortunately consider myself in purgatory and could not attend, but anyway, somebody had to be on time to man the booth in the morning.  Thursday evening, we had dinner at Samba 7 to celebrate yet another successful conference, and the meal was followed by an impressive photo shoot in Times Square and a final farewell to NYC.  Friday saw us travel back to the paradise that is Los Angeles, but we departed only looking forward to next year’s conference all the more.

The entire Wpromote team thanks ad:Tech and the city of New York for being such wonderful hosts, and we can’t wait to see you again in twenty-ten.

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