This year, according to a good tradition, one of the largest IT conferences was held in the most suitable city for it – Istanbul. Located at the crossroads of two continents, where Asian and European cultures mix together, Istanbul is a very good place of destination for a variety of speakers and participants from all over the world.
Like it was a year earlier, the conference program was divided into several sections, the most notable among them being Digital Marketing and Innovations (the marketing world trends), E-Commerce conference and Leaders of the Future (startups and venture capital). The grand event was accompanies by large-scale exhibition and the Startup Alley, where one could get acquainted with the projects that will likely stand firmly on the ground in the nearest future and occupy an important place on the market. Now they huddle in small stands and are more concerned with “burning” of operating capital.
Since most of the time I spent in the Digital Marketing and Innovations section, so below I will talk about it mostly.
In spite the fact that organizers were not too scrupulous in selecting presentations content, downright sales pitches were only few. In the end, it was possible to single out the following trends:
1. Mobile. In 2013 75% of gadgets sold were smartphones, their share, as well as the proportion of tablets, is growing at an alarming rate and in the near future will wash away those who ignore this segment. I will quote Stefanie Hospital, the top manager of telecommunication giant Orange:”If you have no mobile strategy, you won’t be in business in 5-10 years”. Right now 14,2% of world marketing budgets is already spent on mobile segment (comparing to 8,5% in 2012). Future belongs to mobile traffic!
2. Resurrection of classical digital. After RTB technologies appear on the stage, the demand for display ads has grown. The segment has shown 70% increase this year. The main publishers’ problem, mentioned by one of BBC leaders from the stage, is continuous elongation of the chain from media companies to end content users: agencies, sales houses, various technological platforms consume the lion’s share of the margin.
3. The marketing paradigm has changed completely and irrevocably. We should not create another message and impose it on our consumers’ and push in their consciousness. It is expensive and inefficient. If you compare advertisement of Dove, which wraps consciousness of housewives between the episodes of a popular series and an inspiring video of Dove collecting 38 million views in the UK, it is crystal clear what strategy should be chosen. The new approach is to make user’s experience in his interaction with the brand as easy as possible. It also includes influencing the user during customer journey with the brand at the contact points belonging to the brand, acquired and paid for. That is why it is crucial for the brand to develop its channels on Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, etc.
4. Content shift to digital. This trend comes from the previous one. The winners of the battle for user will be those who can create content and interact with the users in real time. Content migrates from radio, TV and magazines to blogs, You Tube and Spotify. Radio stations have lost the war already, 56% of users in the USA go to listen to music on Pandora instead of turning on a local radio station (16%). 40,3 minutes of online video for user per day – these are the figures in the USA. All the content goes to online slowly but surely, other usage is increasingly loses the share.
5. Big data and automation. 30% of ad budgets of the USA are spent using various automated systems. Companies, which have the possibility to use arrays of user data (such as a purchase history, socio-demographic layer or corporate information), are in more advantageous position than those who are deprived from this opportunity.
To sum up, we can say that the event has once again reached its goal successfully. Webit is definitely worth a visit for those who want to see what a world of internet marketing is going to be in a few years and meet interesting people. This is what the event is for!
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