This year’s European Advertising Week took place in London on March 20^th – 24^th. It was the fifth-time London has held this prestigious event which is tailored to bring the best international creative minds and global brands together to talk about the future of the industry. The experience was a tremendous one with over 175 programmed speeches and seminars scheduled during the past week.

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„Art has always been shaped by technology“ – David Hockney

During the past week, the event focused on nine specific tracks to enhance career growth and leadership:

Agency

Agency CEOs and CMOs discussed how to tackle the media and creative perspectives, discussing the future of the Agency model, and creating disruption in the virtual world. One that really resonated with me was a speech held by Steven Overman, Global Chief Marketing Officer of Kodak. He’s been working on reviving the iconic brand through collaboration and creation, for example Kodak’s Super8 and apparel collaboration with Opening Ceremony.

Date & Analytics

Global leaders stated that focusing on the audience, what it wants, feels and does, is key. Empowering data and analytics increases the creativity quotient, and most importantly, reflecting on how to use this to understand consumers and their emotions can bring a lot of value.

Leadership

Companies should have a vision that inspires employees to want to be part of something greater. Exposing leadership styles and the power of diversity for an organization through the proper leadership can truly be optimal for workplace productivity and bring the best out in their employees.

Marketer’s innovation

In today’s industry, new tech and data comes in abundance, increasing risks to innovate. However, looking towards the future for what is likely to be the key in reaching consumers is very important to stay relevant in the business.

Mar Tech

So much of what goes into successful marketing is reliant on accurate data, ad format, and programmatic – all of which is done through the tools and technology available today. Marketing tech uncovers the next era of programmatic, including the creative digital content which is leading the market as well as targeting efforts from click bait to fake news to headline stories.

Mobile

People today use their mobile devices more than any other screen and yet, mobile advertising is still playing catch up.  Getting mobile advertising up-to-date requires monetization through programmatic advertising, mobile messaging strategies, emotional expression on mobile and the growth of the in-app economy.

Sports & Entertainment

For hundreds of years, people have gathered to be entertained at events, but until recently, fan experience has not changed all that much. This is why agencies and brands are now diving into evolutionary ways to engage fans. Being through events, sports media elites, and how marketers can best monetize audience to enhance overall experiences.

Storytelling

Humans are hardwired to understand the world through stories. For brands, distinctive stories are important to connect people across the world and to ignite action. However, in today’s connected world, a distinctive story is just not enough if no one sees it. Identifying where to tell your story and how to monetize content and content marketing can turn your story into a memorable one. During EU Advertising Week, representatives from social platforms like Snapchat, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Spotify explained how utilizing their tools and platforms can be the best way to reach Gen Y and Gen Z.

Video

Immersing an audience in the middle of a story is potent – letting them lead the way is transformative. VR may be a revolutionary tool to get us there but for now it might lack components to make it truly immersive. However, it’s exciting to see were tech like VR can take us as well as digital content, and how the general public shares video across social media.

In today’s world, deep-rooted beliefs, norms and standards are under attack from right to left and it’s clearly affecting the way we think, communicate, and the responsibility we may feel and hold. Change is on the verge and it’s been the core of our industry since its inception – which is why turning human insights into a business or social benefit is something brands and agencies should collaborate on.

In 2016, we witnessed tumultuous change in our sector; be it in metric, transparency, diversity, automation, creative challenges, fake news or news we wished were fake. Surely, this pace of change will continue to shape businesses throughout 2017.

European Advertising Week in London has reminded me that there are many possibilities of our wider industry to influence the world for a positive effect. With that being said, continue to feed your curious brain, your creative heart, your cynical wonder, and your hopeful soul.