Promax Clinton-ized.

Some 3,500 marketing, promotions and design executives crowded the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan to hear a keynote speech delivered by former president Bill Clinton. It was the highlight of the whole 52nd annual Promax/BDA convention, but not an auspicious one. Promax is the Los Angeles-based association of media marketing executives that now includes the Association of Electronic Interactive Marketers.

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Clinton delivered a low-key speech in an undertone that was certainly not worth the $150,000 price tag--in addition to the $50,000 for his Secret Service entourage--that the association paid. The thunderous applause that welcomed the 42nd U.S. President clearly indicated that expectations were high, but the sparse applause sprinkled throughout the talk showed some disappointment. The speech sounded like it was recycled from another event and dressed up for the occasion with a "branding theme." Basically, the former president, a Democrat, blamed himself for not having better branded his universal health plan and other proposals that failed. "The Republicans were so much better at branding than us," he commented, giving as an example what the Republicans nicknamed his proposal to tax very large inheritances the "death tax." "With that tag, even the people who benefited the most--and they were the overwhelming majority--became afraid of the death tax!"

The former President also used the Promax platform to exculpate his candidate wife, Hillary, from the accusation now haunting her that she approved of the war in Iraq. According to the ex-President, his wife, a Senator from the State of New York, did indeed sign a resolution calling for diplomatic actions.

Lee Hunt, Promax vice chairman, assumed the interim managing director post for the mid-June conference in New York, replacing president Jim Chabin who departed the association for the second time. Since then, Jill Lindeman has taken over as permanent managing director. Lindeman stepped in as a consultant for the organization earlier this year to run both the MI6 and Promax/BDA conferences.