As the Ogilvy & Mather Digital guru, Jan Leth is a man of few words.   But he makes them count.  On Monday night (Feb. 4th) at the Fine Line Music Cafe, he got pithy with the state of interactive.

His summary: “Dada. Data. Alpha. Beta.”

DADA: Interactive is a revolutionary mash-up just like the art movement.

DATA: User-generated content is re-shaping applications and authority.

ALPHA: Word of mouth now spreads so easily. Marketers need the alpha (males and females) on their side.
BETA: Everything is in flux. Accept imperfection. Stay in the flow.

He answered audience questions similarly. Minimum verbosity, maximum  insight.

Google’s Jim Lecinski closed the MIMA Summit with an excellent session on the 10 Trends Shaping the Digital Landscape.

#1 Be always on
Since your consumer can be online 24/7, so should you.

#2 Be ready online for what’s happening offline
Offline is driving online searches so you need to anticipate the type of information that your prospect is going to be looking for. Today, when consumers want information, they go online.

#3 Don’t build it and hope they come
Think about how people will get to your web site and the types of promotions you can leverage.

#4 Don’t discount niche sites for advertising
People’s favorite sites tend to be niche sites. For example, a site like seatguru.com tells you about any seat on a given airplane. Due to the nature of niche sites, the deeper you go in the site, the more engaged the user.

#5 Make video the centerpiece of your online strategy
YouTube is the 8th largest site on the Internet. Enough said.

#6 Give the consumer the opportunity to choose you
In addition to effective search engine marketing, make sure your content is available via RSS so that your consumers can keep coming back to your site when they want to.

#7 Tap into the “Wisdom of the Crowds”
User-generated content is becoming more and more prevalent. Invite users to submit content in a creative way. For example, Mastercard’s “Priceless” campaign asked users to submit their “priceless” moments online.

#8 Be where consumers are at the moment of relevance
Leverage computer and contextual targeting tools to automatically place your ad at the moment of most relevance for your consumer.

#9 Keep an eye on how computer architecture is changing
Once upon a time, data was stored on computer hard drives and floppy disks. Nowadays, there is a tendency to email files to yourself to store them in that “cloud” that lives somewhere on the Web. Photo sites such as Picasa are taking advantage of this trend.

#10 Digital is no longer a sideshow
There were over 600 attendees at this year’s MIMA Summit. Digital is definitely not a sideshow.

Jim Lecinski is a Director for Google, leading the advertising business for Google’s Midwest clients and media agency partners.

This past summer, three MIMA board members (Jason Kleckner, Julie Vollenweider and I) joined 25 other interactive marketing association board members from across the U.S. to discuss best practices, membership benefits, programming, organizational structure and operations. We’re not talking about starting a national interactive marketing association, but we wanted to compare notes and see how we can offer members more and strengthen the interactive community in each region. In addition to sharing some innovative ideas, the associations agreed to keep the conversation going via a message board and teleconferencing, and we’re also establishing a speakers bureau to share resources.

So…are you curious about what’s happening with interactive marketing in other parts of the country? Check out these IMA websites. Sign up for their email newsletters or just see what they’re up to. And if you’re traveling to these cities, why not attend one of their events? We’re reaching out to these organizations to make MIMA even better, but we encourage you to network with them, too. Other IMAs can be great resources for job searches, recruiting, making connections and building your business.

Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Dallas-Fort Worth
Houston
NY
Philadelphia
Portland
North Carolina
San Francisco

These IMAs weren’t able to join us in Atlanta, but they are going strong in their regions:
Milwaukee
South Florida

If you’re aware of others, let us know. Email Jason Kleckner, our National Partnerships Chair.

As a side note, did you know that MIMA is the only interactive marketing association in the country to hold a full-day interactive marketing conference? If you haven’t registered for the MIMA Summit yet, don’t miss it. It’s your chance to hear amazing speakers, find out what’s hot in interactive marketing and network with over 400 MIMA friends! Sign up today.

When is a website like an advertisement? When is it like a software application? How do creative directors, user experience advocates, graphic designers and information architects work together to craft a creative solution? Who owns the “big idea” – especially when there are a million small ideas? Who gets to be “The Decider?”

Join Karen McGrane from Avenue A Razorfish as she shares possible answers to these questions (plus any you might bring along). She’ll share examples and war stories from client projects like Mercedes AMG, Kodak and The New York Public Library.

Details on: “Building Interactive Creative Solutions”

WHEN:
Wednesday, July 26

5:15 pm
Registration & cash bar

6 pm
Presentation

7 pm
Networking, food & cash bar

WHERE:
New Minneapolis Central Library
300 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis

COST:
Members $20
Non-members $40

Register Online.

Note: In order to register online you will need to login with your MIMA account. If you do not have a MIMA account, you can create one (hey, they’re free).