Advertising, ad campaigns, ad agencies, and the people that make it happen

I had to laugh when I read that at today’s AdTech conference in New York there was much chat about all the user-generated content we are increasingly being subjected to. Not only were people concerned about the fact that most of it junk, what was getting most peoples attention was just how the heck can you make money off of it, particularly if you’re an ad agency? Most of the panelists were addressing consumer-generated media and "engagement." Which I guess is the new variation on “Stickiness.” The idea being that sites with high levels of "engagement" were more valuable to advertisers. The panelists answers, however, were not particularly helpful. "Engagement is not a well-defined word at all," one said, adding that the concept of "valuation" was similarly fuzzy. Until those metrics are better defined, he said, it doesn't make sense to talk about which sites are most valuable. Mmmm… Which leaves you, exactly where? Or, as another panelist put it “It’s a lot easier to create engaging work that will spread virally, if you’re not trying to sell something!” Mmmm… That makes sense. I think!   

Is that engaging, sticky, or just badly done?