Millennium marketing: Media Lab provides corporate giants with glimpse of advertising's future.

AFTER passing through the door, visitors to the Interpublic Group Emerging Media Lab find themselves on what seems like the set of a science-fiction movie.

On one side of the doorway are retro-style displays of "obsolete technology"--posters of the film "Metropolis" and an assortment of toy robots. On the other side, high-definition TV screens flash video feeds, representing the future.

The lab functions as a portal to take marketers from the past into the digital future. The Interpublic Group of Cos., a conglomerate that owns ad agencies such as Universal McCann, DraftFCB and Campbell-Ewald, brings clients here to educate them about cutting-edge marketing techniques.

Inside, visitors find a "smart" kitchen with an Internet-enabled refrigerator, a pavilion stocked with the latest mobile devices ready for use, a model living room where contemporary consumers might program their TV or play video games, and a conference room equipped with touch-screen presentation technology.

"Clients and agencies can come here and get their hands on the latest consumer channels," said Loft Schwartz, director of emerging media at the lab, which is in an office building on the Miracle Mile. "There's not a huge focus on technology, but on how consumers are interacting with content and brands, and how they will experience brand messaging through technology."

The clientele come in groups ranging from a few executives up to 100 people. The lab provides time for them to actually handle mobile phones or game controllers. There also are traditional presentations, guest speakers and brainstorming sessions. A lab visit might last half a day or as long as three full days.

For IPG clients, the lab is a value-added service at no charge. Schwartz declined to discuss which clients had attended the lab, but said the list was nearly identical to IPG's client roster. Coca-Cola Co., MasterCard Inc., Sony Corp., Microsoft Corp., L'Oreal USA Inc. and Johnson & Johnson are all clients.

Non-clients can access the lab's expertise on a fee basis. "You're hiring us to educate you on the space, just like any other agency," Schwartz said.

Five people staff the lab regularly, but it draws on the expertise of thousands of IPG employees around the world. In fact, the company describes the lab as a dual concept--"both a real, physical space in which new marketing solutions can be tested, and a digital hub that binds together a thriving community of connected content creators and consumers."

The lab's Web site acts as an archive of case studies and research and its electronic newsletter communicates new media developments and carries opinions and columns written by various ad gurus throughout the IPG network.

For the most part the lab functions on the strategic and conceptual level, but sometimes it gets down to the business of selling products. Clients can bring what Schwartz calls "pilots" in for review. Pilots might include a viral marketing campaign, a new broadband application, a twist on search-engine marketing, or an experiment in user-generated content. However, all the innovation deals with emerging media, especially the Internet.

While taking clients to L.A. for a few days might sound like the New Age equivalent of flying them to Hawaii for a week--a typical practice of a past generation of ad agency managers--the lab serves a real educational need, according to Joe Cappo, an adjunct professor of communications at DePaul University and a former publisher of Advertising Age. A day session in Los Angeles shouldn't be compared to the times when big advertisers received free trips to the Super Bowl or the Olympics.

"I wouldn't look at this as entertainment as much as bringing clients up-to-date," said Cappo. "The advertising agency business is maybe 10 years behind the curve. When the Internet came along, the agencies ignored it and the clients ignored it. Only now do we see ad agencies really getting serious about use of the Interact."

Cappo isn't too impressed with the futuristic interior design, pointing out that ad agencies have always tried to portray themselves as forward-thinking.

"That's not a matter of substance, that's how they're trying to sell services to their clients," said Cappo, who has written two books about the future of advertising.

Future angst

Creation of the Emerging Media Lab just one year ago represents one attempt to grapple with the future angst of brand marketers, but Los Angeles hosts several other private think tanks with the same mission. In June 2006, TBWA\ChiatkDay in Marina del Rey announced the formation of a Media Arts Lab, sponsored by client Apple Inc. Also, Publicis Groupe, a France-based marketing conglomerate, maintains a "futures consultancy" called Denuo with offices in L.A.

President James Vincent calls the TBWA lab "an experiment with the future." Publicis describes Denuo as "a 'plug-and-play' unit" that can "anticipate, react and drive changes in traditional marketing and media models."

But Cappo sees these institutions as the latest evolution of boutique agencies, often with a strategic or creative focus. Such boutiques have a long history in advertising, but their number has multiplied in the last I0 years, Cappo said.

Schwartz believes a clear purpose of her lab is to separate reality from mythology concerning the Internet. "Because people read a lot of hype, getting real information is difficult. We interpret hype and bring it to their business so it makes sense. They start to think about how to invest their budget and to get their hands wet," said Schwartz. "I hope they leave thinking this isn't a crazy fluffy world here, because there are real opportunities."

Her own experience confirms the value of teaching executives about the future. "My favorite is people who walk in with no expectations and by the end of the day they're invigorated," she said. "You can see it on their face. The apprehension and fear gets broken down to strategic and tactical concepts so they feel like they're in the game."