Industry Comments: Key Takeaways from DMEXCO 2019

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With numerous debates on possibilities and difficulties gripping the digital marketing sector, we complement some of the industry experts ‘ ideas on important takeaways from DMEXCO 2019 – from duopoly, GDPR and programmatic marketing transparency to the future of cookie monitoring, speech technology and the exciting possibilities of Connected TV.

Steffen Svartberg, CEO and founder of Cavia: “The duopoly is forecast to boost ad revenue by $176.4 billion in 2019 by 22% and the combined share of the worldwide internet ad industry by Google and Facebook by 61% in 2019, up from 56% in 2018 (WARC 2019). This causes the remainder of the advertising sector to be squeezed for cash and talent, especially ad tech firms that match advertisers with online audiences but do not have access to the vast information pools that the duopoly has accumulated. The platforms still want more pie and the editors want their slices to claw back. How will they accomplish this?

Mattias Spetz, Channel Factory’s EMEA Managing Director: “If DMEXCO is anything to go through, then innovative, responsive creative ad solutions are the only way to go. In a 1-2-1 discussion, brands must participate and communicate with customers through contextual or conversational ad placements.

This year at DMEXCO, companies are speaking more than any other year about brand suitability and sensitivity to politically and culturally hot problems in their areas. Political, racist and sexist content was particularly vulnerable in the present geopolitical climate; creating an interesting stance on brand suitability and purchasing truisms. They addressed how brand safety is an element of a greater attempt to regulate ad positioning at the TAG panel on DMEXCO Day 2 that a few digital advertising buyers and vendors are now beginning to label as brand suitability.

Anna Forbes, General Manager of the UK, The Trade Desk: “This year at DMEXCO the one thing on everyone’s lips? Connected TV’s exciting potential. It’s not surprising–TV has long been one of the advertisers ‘ most strong media, and technology injection will only make it more so. It will be transformative for both advertisers and customers to combine the intrinsic effect and scale of the channel with programmatic accuracy. But while we can all recognize CTV’s exciting future, there are still issues.

Of course, without a little healthy industry debate, it wouldn’t be DMEXCO and one thing we could agree on was the cookie’s future. Cookies have created a poor rep as synonymous with irritating advertisements and constant retargeting–resulting in many claiming the cookie’s death is imminent. However, what is simple to forget is that the cookie is essential for the free internet. The internet would cost customers or have to be operated privately without cookie-driven advertising.

Nick Beck, CEO & Tug’s founder: “The decreasing status of third-party cookies was a main discussion on the floor, and what effect it has on buyers and vendors as we move away from this type of legacy monitoring scheme. The amount of potential alternatives to be discussed is vast, but the ultimate award is still a lot to be played for

Given this year’s slightly lower meeting room at DMEXCO, the profusion–perhaps over-saturation–of information analytics systems also hit me. Too much noise is not a good thing, and if many didn’t come back next year, I wouldn’t be amazed–or disappointed. In order to get to where we need to be, we need to concentrate on moving from just fresh bells and whistles and information to better and faster application of current tech.

From noise to sound, the discussion about audio was perhaps the most interesting development. It was especially interesting to discuss’ sound logos’ and’ sound brand vocabulary.’ Voice technology and marketing are just in its infancy, so we’re enthusiastic about working in this room with brands. This space, however, will generate fresh customer issues to be addressed by marketers. It may well be that, to quote a spokesman, “Big brother is not watching–he is listening.”

Mike Klinkhammer, EU Director of Advertising Sales at eBay: “While this year’s VR and Augmented Reality sparked discussions at DMEXCO, the real reality was that those bells and whistles were there to mask some of the larger, more concrete issues facing brands and marketers.

The one apparently absent subject was the significance of optimizing the supply route. Marketers require their providers to be more transparent, and this should be the front and center of these discussions. For marketers to understand and maximize the importance of their spending, more information about the supply chain and the infrastructure about how providers buy advertisements is essential. These things are technical–and maybe not as glamorous as VR head-sets, but as publicity becomes more digitally activated it is essential.

Gavin Stirrat, VP Europe, OpenX Partner Services: “The continuing growth of OTT / CTV was one of the themes that emerged constantly in our discussions at DMEXCO. There’s a true buzz around the subject–we’re in the middle of the streaming wars, with player after player entering the fray–from Amazon to Disney to Apple.

It’s interesting times for both tech suppliers and advertisers, and it’s simple to see why – with OTT providing top-notch consumer content and a wealth of actionable information for marketers, it’s not just a precious platform on its own, but the cornerstone of a cross-platform approach.

The lowest benefit is a differentiator as the market grows progressively crowded–so players should be well conscious of what distinguishes their proposal. Content is king, but it is becoming increasingly essential to concentrate on who owns the castle with fights raging over initial and proprietary content.

Marc Fanelli, GM, Forensiq, and Altitude at Impact: On the second day of DMEXCO’s TAG panel, Smaato declared that you can bring down ad fraud by working with the correct tech partners, leading to a debate–and eventually a basic issue–why are two-thirds of companies still not protecting themselves? The issue is, there are so many of the brands missing events like DMEXCO that would be ideally positioned to use the event to know about tech products that can overcome the many difficulties they face around ad fraud and confidence. However, with packed audiences and engaging discussions, the brands that were present this year that took the stage were compensated. As a worldwide company, DMEXCO is still worth the air miles for our US, EMEA and APAC teams that come together in Cologne to satisfy our worldwide customers like Facebook and build fresh relationships and alliances, but more brands need to get on board to learn how to win the battle against ad fraud.

Damon Reeve, CEO of The Ozone Project: “DMEXCO 2019 was much lower than in past years. Where it had earlier felt like the meeting was growing, almost all ad-tech could fit into Hall Six this year with plenty of room to move around.

Another thing I noticed was that it seemed worried to everyone. There seemed to be a lack of deal-making fever. Large partnerships and interesting announcements were missing. By the end of Day 1, the beer time conversations saw more references to the ICO and CMA than ever before. It seemed profuse to repeatedly speak about the moment consumed by regulatory inquiries.

I also discovered that the ad-tech community still does not address the future of browser-based identity and monitoring correctly. The conference theme was heavy to highlight problems but very light on any material alternatives, where the issue lies. The browsers (including Google) made it clear that monitoring is going to be a thing of the past, as we understand it in terms of programmatic advertising.

What we need is a true change from finding methods to duplicate browsers on cross-domain monitoring to how programmatic marketing works in a cookie-less globe and how to assess its efficiency. Matt Brittin (Google) spoke with Emily Henderson about some of their thinking on stage micro-segmentation.
It’s a pity other people don’t have comparable conversations.

Grant Munro, SVP Shutterstock Custom: “This year’s DMEXCO conference’s word on everyone’s lips was’ confidence.’ How do we keep and construct it in an age defined by its decrease as a sector? Ad campaigns are under more scrutiny than ever, with norms at an all-time high for providing frank, appropriate campaigns parallel to consumer expectations.

A slightly distinct discussion that took place examined how marketers can reinforce client relationships for a fast-paced world by adjusting to deliver fast-paced marketing. Reflecting present cultural trends and major problems in the campaign of your brand is essential to demonstrate your clients that you know them as well as what matters to them. Marketers must be aware of the industries and cultures in which they operate and reflect this process of thinking in marketing products while keeping the brand real and coherent. We address this by enabling brands to leverage our vast resource of worldwide contributors from all over the world and produce genuine marketing products that can be located on any market.

Quick-turnaround, high-quality visual advertising materials are one of the most important ways companies can maintain precious client relationships and continue to flourish.

Ben Walmsley, Commercial Director-Publishing, News UK: “In the early days DMEXCO was a niche, German ad tech gathering, but word spread and the event grew on an global scale as rapidly and erratically as digital advertising itself. However, DMEXCO 2019 hit a more sober tone. The halls were quieter for a beginning.

We are on the highway at a fork. We need to rapidly reconsider our company, develop a user-first and privacy-first environment that promotes a free information economy, or face a very uncertain future. I would suggest that the correct response will be more difficult to discover for all the adblockers under a distinct guise. That’s all about identity, the fresh battlefield. As one ad tech CEO said, “identity is the worst thing that has ever occurred to publishers” (the loss of it via the chip).There’s some reality in that when you think about how it makes context more convenient. But we won’t turn the clock back on that night. As browsers switch off the lights of the internet in 2019, we need to discover a way to turn them on while protecting the consumer’s freedoms, our most significant component.

Of course, not all ad tech depends on the cookie and some active campaign against it, but we can be sure that future DMEXCOs will be much smaller if we don’t come together to discover a solid, privacy-first option. And, apart from a few last displays of cocky exuberance and excess, the down-to-business stance as ad tech faces its first existential threat, for the most part, had the air of quiet, mature trust.

We’ll be updating this page with further commentary from DMEXCO 2019 as they come through. Check out the full highlights of the conference on the event website.

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