As one of the leaders in the Israeli developer community, Kontera was proud to both sponsor and speak at the inaugural International Ruby On Rails Conference in Tel Aviv. The one day event was a chance for Ruby developers from all over the world to share their insights and experiences working within the Ruby ecosystem.

Among the speakers was Kontera’s own Eran Barak Levi who gave a talk on Agile DevOps.

Kontera’s platform is distributed, very dynamic, large scale and composed of diverse state-of-the-art technologies. Such characteristics impose operating challenges that couldn’t be solved with “off-the-shelf” solutions. Eran presented an in-depth technical talk, sharing Kontera’s holistic approach for solving these operative challenges.

The presentation covered the full development life cycle: from the development stage through deployment up to real-time monitoring in the production environment. The technologies mentioned included Ruby, Rails, MCollective, Graphite, and many more.

The conference was a lot of fun, and proved a great opportunity to both exchange ideas and to show off all the fantastic work Kontera R&D does behind the scenes.

For programmers who speak Hebrew, you can watch Eran’s entire presentation here.

Over 1,200 digital automotive marketers were at this year’s J.D. Power Automotive Marketing Roundtable in Las Vegas, Nevada; including Kontera’s Kristin Socha, Cat Davenport, Tracy Hughes, Hal Muchnick and Ammiel Kamon. With technology developing at such a rapid pace, we were proud to be a sponsor of this event where attendees were invited to take a deeper look at how the latest digital advertising trends are affecting the automotive industry.

J.D. Power Research showed that 4 in 5 new vehicle buyers use the internet during shopping, millennials are using social twice as actively in shopping for a new vehicle, and that 20% of in-market shoppers are using multiple platforms. These insights are crucial to take into consideration when developing a successful marketing campaign for an automotive client. The advertising industry is changing and the top automotive brands are quick to adjust.

Industry leaders took the stage to discuss exactly how to best capitalize on the latest digital trends to ultimately engage better with consumers and sell more vehicles. The agenda included sessions involving segments on engaging consumers, multi-screen consumption, the consumer path to purchase, and big data. Ryan Mocan, Group Search Director at Mediacom (and a client of Kontera’s) participated in “Deconstructing the Mobile Sound Byte”.  As mobile remains the fastest growing platform in digital advertising, he discussed the 121% growth in mobile consumption since 2010 and how important it is for automotive marketers to take advantage of that growth.

Some successful industry leaders are clearly learning and improving from these new digital trends. For example, VW was a Stevie Award Gold Winner for Mobile Marketing Campaign of the Year, a campaign that Kontera is proud to have been part of. Additionally, Cadillac was also was recently awarded “Most Improved Luxury Brand”. Successful automotive brands are keeping up with developing trends in technology by integrating more digital and mobile advertising into their campaign strategies…and it’s working.

Overall it was an extremely informative event and a great opportunity to exchange ideas with other leaders in the growing digital automotive field.

See everyone again in the desert next year!

The following is a special dispatch from Kontera’s Senior Business Development Manager, Laura Rodziewicz. The article first appeared on the Savvy Blogging website. 

For the second consecutive year, Kontera was a proud sponsor of the Savvy Blogging Summit, held October 4-6  2012 in Atlanta. While Kontera was at last year’s Summit, personally it was my first time, and from the moment Alice and I arrived at the hotel and met the Savvy Blogging Team, we knew we were in for something special. The community is full of courageous and smart entrepreneurs, women who have figured out how to turn their blogging into a business.  I was really inspired listening to their stories, and learning how these “savvy” professionals built their audience.

The Flash Mob was also a real treat! I wish Alice and I could dance as synchronized as you ladies! What a wonderful performance. I loved the FB video recap.

Alice and I had a fantastic time and want to give a big thank you to the Savvy Blogging Summit organizers – Crystal, Erin, Andrea and Toni. Also a big congratulation to Laura of Wheel n Deal Mama who won our iPad raffle!

It was a super fun and productive weekend, and we look forward to keeping in touch with our Savvy blogger friends and to helping them monetize their sites with Kontera!

Is it possible that Kontera San Francisco has too much to celebrate? For the second time in three years, the hometown Giants won the World Series right around Halloween. However, unlike the previous instance, the championship parade in downtown San Francisco was on the same day as Kontera’s annual Halloween party, leading to a problematic conflict.

Luckily, the party was quickly rescheduled for two days later landing on Day of the Dead, “Dia de Los Muertos” in Spanish. The Mexican holiday is about honoring the spirit of our ancestors, and Rinchen Lama, our Ad Production Manager, helped get everyone into the newly expanded theme by painting her face to resemble the decorated sugar skulls traditionally prepared for the celebration.

Other costumes at the party included the Mighty Thor, a slice of pepperoni pizza, one Highlander outfit (there can be only one), Gilligan, a prima ballerina, a Battlestar Galactica officer, and World Series MVP Pablo “Kung Fu Panda” Sandoval. Unlike past years there was no costume contest, it was strictly an exhibition; but there are some standouts that need to be mentioned.

Here’s Iana Iasiello, Director of Product Operations as the Neil Gaiman interpretation of Death, the most cheerful Goth in all of literature.

Meanwhile, Mathew Haugen, Senior VP of Publisher Network and Delivery didn’t need to leave the ad industry for his costume of Don Draper from Mad Men. Improving publisher eCPM… that’s what the money’s for.

Finally, Catherine Higgins, a Sr. Account Manager, channeled her inner Tippi Hedren for this killer costume paying tribute to Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

Those are some great costumes guys!

Big thanks to Penny Howie for organizing the party, and to Brian Duffy for helping with beverage selection. Let’s do it all over again next year, including another San Francisco Giants Championship

What do you do if the hottest ticket in town is completely sold out? If you’re Kontera Chicago, you improvise. Taking advantage of Senior Account Executive Kameran Bender living in a building adjacent to Wrigley Field, we threw a rooftop party, giving our clients from Starcom, OMD, Digitas and Mindshare a bird’s eye view of Bruce Springsteen on his Wrecking Ball tour.

About 60 guests turned out in honor of The Boss and everyone in attendance sampled a delicious array of food and drinks. The food, especially, was a huge hit. Guests cited Lobster Rolls, Mini Kobe Beef Burgers, Deep Fried Mac and Cheese and Grilled Peaches as their favorite appetizers.

At midnight, the final encore of “Twist and Shout” brought Eddie Vedder and Tom Morello back on stage as Twist and Shout was meant to “send you home dancing,” as Bruce said. And yes, everyone went home dancing since Springsteen delivered quite simply one of the greatest concerts Wrigley has ever witnessed.

The great food and drinks, and especially the company added to an unforgettable evening with Kontera.