Aside from some very un-Northern California weather, ad:tech San Francisco kicked off with the expected barrage of stats, charts, case studies and digital punditry. And oh yeah…anyone heard about this recession thing that’s happening? Apparently it’s a big deal in the ad industry. Still, with over 12,000 conference pre-registrants, ad:tech remains a formidable event in digital marketing circles.

First day highlights included Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who was quick to point out that his creation wasn’t a social network…but then proceeded to describe in great detail how he and his micro-staff of 25 craft and carefully cajole their global community of information junkies into action and interaction. Best quote from Wales was his characterization of the majority of digital marketing these days as “descending into the rathole of lead generation.” It may be a rathole Jimmy, but it’s a well-lined one.

I hit a session on the Modern Agency that boasted panelists from Agency.com, Enfatico, Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Neo@Ogilvy. To call it disappointing would be a bit of understatement. The hot topics? Integration, bundling services vs. unbundling services, finding the right team structures, etc. That’s right…the modern agency is still stuck in a time warp. The multiple moments of deja vu were as familiar to me as my annual Ad Age “THIS is the year of mobile!” issue. But there were a couple of memorable nuggets here that sparked a good deal of conversation later with co-workers, all four coming from Sharon Gallacher, Neo@Ogilvy Global Media Director and Managing Director 

• “Sometimes technology IS the creative.”
• “Can we please start with the objectives and not the media?” 
• “The best media people are account planners at heart.”
• “Maybe we need to rebrand the phrase ‘online brand advertising.’ Perhaps we should call it ‘engagement advertising.” 

Social media and user-generated content is on the tip of everyone’s brain again this year, so it made sense that a session boasting Randi Zuckerberg and Mike Hoefflinger from Facebook and Andy Mitchell from CNN would pack in a crowd. The case studies were indeed incredible but a little on the lofty side: CNN‘s Presidential Election and Inauguration, Starbucks‘ (Red) efforts and Ben & Jerry’s “Free Scoop” promo. While Facebook is a robust tool for social media marketers, brand and content still carry the day. Nothing new there, but at least they didn’t reinforce the “field of dreams” mythos that seems to surround social media marketing these days.

The definite highlight of the day, however, belonged to Steve Hayden. As the Vice Chairman and Chief Creative Officer for Ogilvy Worldwide, Hayden has been responsible for some incredible work over the course of his career, including Apple’s legendary “1984″ ad. He shared a personal philosophical creation of his that he calls “Hayden’s Mandala,” a circular life cycle that can be used to chart the rise and fall of a brand, company, person, empire, etc. Starting at a state of “fear and arousal,” a brand’s rise moves through multiple states (“intelligence” to “intelligent fear” to “arrogance”) before it reaches a peak of “intelligent arrogance” and eventually cycles into decline and moves through an equal number of states (“stupidity” to “arrogant stupidity” to “cowardice”). More on this later for certain.

Day 2 is just underway…more to come.