It’s Wednesday, so congratulations. You’ve made it halfway through Advertising Week, which despite its name, is only four days long. As with any event that spans 26 venues and includes 200 panels and sessions, there is bound to be some emotional upheaval. Here are the five stages most Advertising Week attendees tend to go through.
Euphoria
It’s finally here. You’ve bought your $400 pass. You’re in New York City. You’ve got your lanyard and darn right, you’re wearing it to bed tonight. Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus says he is there: “I love when there’s a legitimate reason to get senior clients to come to New York from all over the world,” he said. “Saves a lot and gives us invaluable face time. Not to be confused with FaceTime, which isn’t the same.”
So I’m drinking a coffee at work, and I just realized I’m celebrating Advertising Week AND #NationalCoffeeDay. This is truly a party. #AWXII
— Mike Norgard (@yur_friend_Mike) September 29, 2015
Anger
The euphoric state is not sustainable. Eventually, Times Square gets the best of you. You find yourself directing your anger toward all the things that are going wrong for you.
I planned on attending the #AWXII talk w/ Google on micro moment marketing, but the line was out the door & Wifi live stream is horrible. — Marty Swant (@martyswant) September 29, 2015
Carolyn: . The wifi in here:. #AWXII pic.twitter.com/sY15TErLya
— kim yarnell (@kim_yarnell) September 28, 2015
Bargaining
“I’ll go to your panel if you’ll go to mine.” This tactic commonly deployed during bargaining, where attendees try to make it all feel worthwhile. As one Advertising Week attendee and agency PR manager put it, “this is when I tell myself that I can go home if I just sit through one more panel and tweet about it the whole time.”
Disillusionment
The faster you go up, the faster you come down. The free Facebook cookies are making you gain weight and a diet of free Sour Patch kids and coffee sponsored by an ad-tech vendor isn’t very good for you. Plus, you realize that you might not be actually learning anything.
I’m at a seminar about content creation. I really hope the content they create is not as boring as this. #AdvertisingWeek — Danilda (@danestevez) September 28, 2015
Resignation
“I accept that I’ll be in NYC for four days and rarely leave Times Square. The upshot is that if I’m bored, I can swing by the TKTS booth and grab tickets for a musical,” said Tim Leake, senior vp of growth and innovation at RPA.
More in Marketing
Hyve Group buys the Possible conference, and will add a meeting element to it in the future
Hyve Group, which owns such events as ShopTalk and FinTech Meetup, has agreed to purchase Beyond Ordinary Events, the organizing body behind Possible.
Agencies and marketers point to TikTok in the running to win ‘first real social Olympics’
The video platform is a crucial part of paid social plans this summer, say advertisers and agency execs.
Where Kamala Harris and Donald Trump stand on big tech issues
The next U.S. president is going to have a tough job of reining in social media companies’ dominance and power enough to satisfy lawmakers and users, while still encouraging free speech, privacy and innovation.