double POSITIVE Marketing Group, Inc.

This past week, DoublePositive exhibited for the second year in a row at the DMA Annual Conference. 

www.the-dma.org/conferences/dma07

I attended, but the credit goes Chris Beauchamp, Brian Ocheltree, and Joey Liner for getting DoublePositive there, and for making or starting great deals while we were there.

The DMA is a gigantic organization spanning many galaxies, so it is no surprise that many describe their annual conferences as the biggest they’ve ever attended.

We had great meetings and conversations with many co-exhibitors and attendees, including:
TARGUSinfo
www.targusinfo.com

LiveOps
www.liveops.com

eBureau
www.ebureau.com

Leapfrog
www.leapfrogonline.com

We also enjoyed reinforcing existing relationships by interacting live with companies such as:

Novo1
www.novo1.com

PossibleNOW
www.possiblenow.com

Google
www.google.com/adwords

Advertising.com
www.advertising.com

The story of the DMA Conferences recently have essentially become split into two camps – Internet-related companies and non-Internet-related companies.  Last year at the Moscone Center, the two groups were separated via a 5-minute fast-walk down the main corridor.  This year, however, all the companies exhibited in the same hall.  

That said, Internet-related marketing and non-Internet-related are still night-and-day in terms of business models.  Internet companies tend to be built around performance measurements – a concept many marketing and advertising companies avoid altogether.

My primary takeaway this year is a simple one…

It’s all about RISK.

Companies that sell products or services in the marketing and advertising ecosystem must acknowledge that MARKETING AND ADVERTISING IS RISKY!  However, companies that sell products or services in the marketing and advertising ecosystem that can consistently manage the risk better than their customers can do on their own will ALWAYS be handsomely rewarded.

It’s like golf – it’s a simple game. ;-)

SPF