I spent most of last week at industry events around Advertising Week. The venue choices alone were wild all by themselves and spanned the full spectrum.
Advertising Week New York was held inside the now defunct Manhattan Mall on 33rd Street. It has not had functioning HVAC or a reason to exist in some time. Uncomfortably packed rooms, stagnant air, vaguely post-apocalyptic vibes, and endless waiting in lines.
The 4A's StratFest was kind of the opposite. It was held at standard-fare Convene space, intimate and well-run. Michael Fanuele took the first content slot and made everyone forget the schedule. He stole the show, in my opinion. I could listen to him for hours.
Then there was Zeta Live. A different category entirely.
Lincoln Center's Geffen Hall for the main event, then a VIP dinner under the blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History, thennnnn Steve Aoki DJing under the planetarium dome.
The amount of marketing investment Zeta made in the event was breathtaking.
So there were wildly different rooms, different audiences, different agendas. However, there was a single (thin) thread through all of it: The leaders who are figuring AI out are making people decisions, not technology decisions.