Ad Management: Do Humans Matter? - SES San Jose 2005

Cue soundtrack from The Terminator. Cue voice over:

With search marketers handling hundreds or thousands of terms, it was only a matter of time until the machines took over. In 2006, following the launch of MSN's new multifaceted search ads system, they made their move. Calculating ROI through ruthless closed loop systems, they eliminated bid gaps, inefficiencies and eventually the search marketers themselves.

The coming reality? I don't think anyone believes we're looking at an entirely machine-run future for search ads, but just how much of a role will humans continue to play? And what happens when you get "irrational" humans going after non-ROI goals? How do the machines compensate?

Our Ad Management: Do Humans Matter? session at SES San Jose 2005 aims to explore these and other issues. Chris Zaharias from Efficient Frontier will kick things off with a more machine-centric view, while David Berkowitz from icrossing will look at the human aspect.

Our other panelists --  Kevin Lee from Did-it.com, Mike Sack from Inceptor and Joshua Stylman from Reprise Media will add their thoughts, then we'll dive into discussion among the panel and involving the audience.

See also my recent Search Marketing Isn't Just Math & Machines post on the SEW Blog if you're looking for some background material on the subject.