Advertising Week Europe 2018: The Highlights

The Advertising Week Europe (AWE) came to an end last night, with 39,304 attendees and 963 speakers in 4 days. Every year AWE gives professionals deep-dives and insights into the industry’s most important topics. Today we highlighted some essential topics of this year’s AWE that you need to know.

Each year, Advertising Week Europe is a gathering of marketing, advertising, technology, and brand professionals based in London. Delegates come from all over the world with most of them from the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States for four days of panels and workshops for marketers to hone their skills from 19th-22nd March.

Partnering with Adobe, Google, Facebook, The Guardian… and lots of other industry-leading names, this year’s AWE gathered professionals working in five main sectors: Marketing, Advertising, Media, Technology, and Design.

While there’s no particular theme assigned to the AWE, five topics dominated the conversation: emerging technologies, data protection, Gen Z, the dominance of mobile, and the increasing power of audio.

Emerging Technologies: AI and VR

The world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is booming; everyone in the marketing industry is talking about it and is eager to know how can it improve our businesses. Huawei Shared its experience in reframing the narrative of AI as a way of unlocking human potential and how it used it as a tool for empowerment rather than subjugation. FCB Inferno analyzed AI thinking and the philosophy behind this brand’s products, services, and communications.

Besides AI, Virtual Reality (VR) was also highlighted at AWE. Since the launch of Lenses 2.5 years ago, Snapchat has grown to become one of the world's largest platforms for AR. Snapchat has aired more than 3,000 AR experiences, resulting in more than 250,000 years of playtime - and 40% of users play with AR experiences each day.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Last November, IAB Europe launched a new industry-wide consent solution: an open-source consent standard to help advertisers comply with key elements of GDPR.

With the implementation of GDPR, consumers will have greater control over their data in the digital world than ever before. With GDPR just around the corner, marketers have to make sure that they are prepared and help support their business with the challenge of staying compliant.

New Generation——Gen Z

Following millennials, the new generation Z has become a huge focus of marketers. With preferences and behaviours evolving quickly, it’s essential for brands to understand these new consumers: what they like, love and loathe. In addition, brands are seeking inventive ways to engage this next generation of consumers

AWE enabled professionals to get a glimpse into the consumers of tomorrow and guidance of what brads can do to create exciting, engaging and effective content to win over Gen Z.

The Coming of Mobile-First World

We've passed the digital world and are well into our way of the mobile-first era. Yet many brands and publishers struggle with how to make sense of this new world order.

David Duffield, VP of Strategy of Minute Media and John Walker, Head of Partnerships of Drum Agency, pointed out that the mobile-first mentality helps brands to be successful in a mobile-first world.

In an era when a mobile feed can easily grab people’s attention, marketers are expected to pay more attention to the quality of mobile content, especially mobile video. Amelia Rossi, the EMEA Regional Partner Training Lead of Facebook, said crafting mobile video on Facebook and Instagram will gain increasing importance and will require new thinking for video creative.

Voice-first Marketing is Calling

Audio is on the rise with podcasts becoming a favourite pastime among consumers of all ages. From 15-second credits and endorsements to short-form brand audio and branded shows, voice-first marketing shows the increasing power of audio.

In addition, voice-first A.I. platforms like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are enhancing audio interactivity and on-demand, giving brands an unprecedented opportunity to connect directly with their customers.

It's the next frontier for marketing, opening up personalized communication and direct commerce with audiences at scale.

Source: Advertising Week Europe, The Guardian, ZDNet, BBC, EUGDPR, The New York Times