Southampton, Bermuda

HERE is a look at some of the highlights, lowlights and sidelights of the 2005 management conference of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, which was held here Wednesday through Friday.

BERLIN CALLING Perhaps the most provocative presentation of the conference, which received robust applause from attendees, was made Friday by Andy Berlin, the co-chief executive of Red Cell, part of the WPP Group.

Mr. Berlin, who is also chairman of Berlin Cameron/Red Cell in New York, proposed a radical overhaul of advertising rates by adopting "price flexibility" so that "good advertising would cost less and bad advertising would cost more."

For instance, television commercials that viewers like or watch more often would be cheaper to run than those they zip past or zap.

"Why not reward the client and agency that create advertising that holds the audience by reducing the price?" Mr. Berlin asked. "After all, the networks want to keep viewers."

After Mr. Berlin's presentation, Chris Theodoros, director for industry relations at Google, told a reporter that his company was already charging marketers less for ads that computer users demonstrate they like more.

MUST SELL NOW? The MSN unit of the Microsoft Corporation wanted to make sure attendees knew that it sponsored the reception and dinner on Thursday. A day earlier, attendees found reminder cards in their hotel rooms. At the event, the cocktail napkins bore the words "MSN Bermuda 2005." Two people dressed as the MSN butterfly brand symbol mingled on the hotel lawn during the reception and appeared during the dinner.

And at each place setting at dinner was a box of mints bearing the MSN logo and the Web address advertising.msn.com.

After all that, when O. Burtch Drake, president and chief executive of the association, known as the Four A's, came on stage during dinner to acknowledge the sponsor, he thanked "MSG."

Eric Hadley, director for MSN brand communication at Microsoft, followed Mr. Drake onstage. "Thanks, Burtch," Mr. Hadley said. "It's great to be here at the A.N.A. conference." His deliberate misreference was to the Association of National Advertisers, the trade organization representing those on the other side of the table from the agencies.

FRIENDLY RIVALS Mr. Hadley remained onstage to award prizes to attendees, who entered a drawing by giving MSN employees their business cards. The card drawn for one prize - a party for 50 employees at a beach house MSN will rent this summer in Westhampton, N.Y. - belonged to Chris LaSala, who works for a MSN competitor, Google.

Oops. "It's a growing space, online advertising," Mr. Hadley said diplomatically. He decided on the spot to give away a second party, which was won by Julie Thompson, who works for an advertising agency, Leo Burnett in Chicago, part of the Publicis Groupe.

IT ONLY HURTS... MSN also sponsored the dinner entertainment, the comedian Richard Jeni, who also worked references to MSN into his routine. "MSN told me, 'Don't use any profanity,' " Mr. Jeni said. "So, good night." One word MSN told him he could not use begins with "A," he added: "AOL."

'PRESS' YOUR LUCK After Mr. Jeni's performance, Mr. Drake returned onstage, asking the audience members that if they saw the trade press later, to "tell them how much fun they missed."

What was that about? Editors of the trade publications Advertising Age and Adweek invited about 30 attendees, including senior managers of large Four A's member agencies, to skip the dinner and join them at outside restaurants. There is usually a night for what is called "dinner on your own" at the conference, when it lasts three days and nights. But this time it lasted only for two, and the association leaders wanted all members at both dinners.

'DIRTY DANCING' REDUX? The Fairmont Southampton Hotel here, where the conference was held, was also where the event was held the last time the association met in Bermuda, in 2000. Although the hotel has a new owner, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, which has extensively renovated it and improved its menus, the hotel evoked very un-Bermuda-like memories in Ron Berger, the 2004-6 chairman of the association.

"There's something about this room," Mr. Berger said as he presided over the opening general session on Wednesday in a room called the Mid-Ocean Amphitheater, "that reminds me of the Nevele Hotel," a reference was to a Catskills resort popular with New York City residents after World War II.

DON'T CALL US... When Anne E. Bélec, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars North America, owned by the Ford Motor Company, ended her speech Wednesday, she concluded by asking her audience to share their ideas with her.

While that invitation may not raise eyebrows at the end of a speech to, say, Volvo dealers, it drew titters in a roomful of advertising executives - particularly when executives of the Volvo agency, Euro RSCG Worldwide, part of Havas, were present, including Mr. Berger, who is chief executive and chief creative officer of its New York and San Francisco offices. (But could anyone blame her for seeking free advice from hundreds of idea people?)

"Those of you who think that account just went into review, that's not what happened," Mr. Berger said, laughing, as he retook the stage after her speech. That did not stop Adage.com, the Web site of Advertising Age, from suggesting just that on its home page on Thursday: "Volvo Chief Sparks Buzz with Four A's Remarks."

So Mr. Berger, during the closing general session Friday, said, "Despite what Adage.com would suggest, Volvo did not just put the account up for review."

HONOR THE PAST At a conference where so many speakers addressed the industry's anxieties about the future of advertising, there was also time to look back at its past.

Mr. Berger, in describing plans for a second annual series of events known as Advertising Week, to be held in New York Sept. 26-30, disclosed that there had been preliminary discussions about "beginning to fund a permanent advertising museum" there.

After all, Mr. Berger said, "there is a museum for everything in New York City, including sex."

While the Museum of Television and Radio has a collection of commercials, most agencies have either donated their archives to institutions across the country or have discarded the materials for lack of storage space. There are plans for an advertising museum in Kansas City, Mo.; one that operated for many years in Portland, Ore., has closed.

HONOR THE PAST II As no agency conference would be complete without the presentation of awards, the O'Toole Awards for Creative Excellence in 2004 were presented during the general session Friday.

For general excellence, Crispin Porter & Bogusky in Miami won for agencies with billings above $300 million. Eisner Communications in Baltimore won for agencies with billings of $30 million to $300 million. Clarity Coverdale Fury in Minneapolis won for agencies with billings under $30 million.

The O'Toole Award for multicultural advertising went to Bromley Communications in San Antonio, which is part of Publicis. The awards for public service advertising went to Lowe Worldwide in New York, owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies, for print, and Wong Doody in Seattle, for broadcast.