The advertising world has been in dire need of some positive vibes. Industry headlines have been dominated by doomsaying for agencies and a scandal involving shoe marketers and college basketball coaches. But Advertising Week New York, which wrapped on Friday, provided some seeds of optimism.

“It is an exciting time for advertising and this is such a massive platform to tell the story,” Advertising Week president Mari Kim Novak told us. “We have the ability to shine a light and move the conversation forward on what is happening in so many aspects of the industry, including innovation, data, diversity, women’s empowerment and so much more.”

Here are the conversations from the week that had marketers perking up.

Nomophobia — Nomophobia (as in no-mobile-phone anxiety) has entered the public lexicon—and for good reason. The average person touches their mobile phone 2,000 times a day, said Facebook’s Carolyn Everson, VP of global marketing. A significant part of that contact is with Instagram (which Facebook owns). Its app now has 800 million active monthly users. Everson’s view—shared by many others—is that the mobile ad market is still being underestimated.

Zeitguide CEO Brad Grossman proposes that marketers need to think beyond mobile ads. “Don’t just think of ways to keep your consumers on their phones,” he said at last week’s Mobile Marketing Association Innovation Summit, “but how to keep them human, empowered and connected to the world we loved before the smartphone became part of our lives.”

Political polarization — Mistrustful consumers. Daily crises in the news media. Vitriolic public discourse. “All [this] contributes to an environment that threatens to engulf brands in social controversies they never anticipated,” marketing strategist Peter Horst told Zeitguide. But our heightened political moment may present organic opportunities for brands on issues that are meaningful to their business and their leaders. “Be sure to walk the walk,” Horst advises, “and don’t limit your engagement to ad campaigns, as consumers will quickly sniff out an insincere hop onto a bandwagon.”

Ground floor of getting high — Legal cannabis products, projected to be a $50 billion industry by 2025, represent a new industry-wide branding opportunity. Advertising Week worked with PRØHBTD, an online pot-centric media and brand building company, on a seminar titled “Cannabis Crossover” covering how the marijuana industry is moving towards mainstream acceptance with consumers. This was the first time an ad conference covered the branded content opportunity in the nascent cannabis business. Says PRØHBTD co-founder Drake Sutton-Shearer, “People who embrace these brands of today and tomorrow are not just like us, they are us.”

Agency vs Consultancy — AdWeek summed up the conundrum here: “Creatives want to offer more consulting services while consultancies want to grow more creative.” Advertising agencies certainly feel like their services have grown beyond making ads and media buying—but can they keep up with consulting companies like Accenture that have a global reach and a broad problem-solving orientation? Step one, said Winston Binch, chief digital officer at Deutsch North American: “Let’s stop calling ourselves ad agencies … Maybe I’ll just tell my mom’s friends that I’m a marketer.”

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