New media business models are continually evolving, with the future heralding more targeted media driven by context, community and data. Nokia’s Anssi Vanjoki said young people now are “digital natives”, born with DNA that makes technology seem intuitive to them, irrespective of access device. They will drive the future of mobile. “Context awareness will be added to mobile, and consumers will put a completely new value on advertising than they do today,” he said.

Brett Brewer, co-founder of MySpace and now with Adknowledge, dismissed the notion of the drive for targeting bringing more regulation. “Relatively speaking, people are fine with anonymous cookie tracking and would prefer to see more targeted ads,” he said.
Greg Nelson of MSN said the digital advertising of the future would see advertisers harness social media. “You create content, which creates audiences,” he said. “That audience online can interact, and becomes a community of their own.

They then produce social media, which has thousands of variations. You can’t predict what will happen in a social media environment.
 

John Partilla, President, Time Warner Global Media Group
Michael Kassan, Principal, MediaLink LLP
Nick Brien, Worldwide CEO, Universal McCann
Jack Klues, Chairman, Publicis Groupe Media
Mike Cooper, CEO, PHD Worldwide
Steve King, Worldwide CEO, ZenithOptimedia
Mainardo de Nardis, CEO, Aegis Media Global
Alexander Schmidt-Vogel, CEO, MediaCom Worldwide
Maria Luisa Francoli, CEO, MPG
Dominic Proctor, CEO, MindShare Worldwide

Media chiefs insist they can – and will – lead the comms relationship for clients in future, but it will take fresh blood and agility.

A silo mentality and scepticism about new media have been as much a part of the client world as within media agencies, some of the world’s biggest brand managers said.

They agreed, however, that internal inertia can be overcome. Unilever’s Laura Klauberg described how the company that for decades has spent the vast majority of its ad budget on TV spots has come to understand the value of new media – and the necessity of change.

“How could we, as one of the world’s biggest global advertisers, continue as if it’s business as usual? Media and creative could not continue to live in separate silos and we couldn’t continue to produce 30-second ads,” she said. The transformation – despite the high-profile success of Axe and Dove – was not without pain.

Internal evangelists within the company helped spread the word, along with a culture that accepted there’d be some failures along the way.

At Coca-Cola, Pio Schunker said the change in approach there, to really integrate digital, came with the launch in the US of Coke Zero, and Coke’s mock legal action against the new brand for “taste infringement”. “It’s baby steps for us … but it’s important nonetheless,” he said.

Procter & Gamble’s Bernhard Glock said media agencies had a crucial role to play in the transformation of client communication, and that both sides of the relationship had to be prepared to take some risks. Agencies need to provide not just accountability and true collaboration, but also consumer and shopper insights, big ideas, and the ability to have a bit of fun. “We need strategy first, based on consumer insights, then the rest will follow,” he said.

Sital Banerjee of Philips warned, however, that media agencies were failing to invest sufficiently in staff development outside their main offices.
 

Katherine Pope, President, NBC Universal Television Studio

The advertiser can say that audiences aren’t what they were on TV. But it’s about getting back to content and closeness... we can help each other through these turbulent times,” said Pope. Whilst Murphy admitted that business models were still developing, he said that brands could not opt out of social media and should embrace it, despite the risks

Mike Murphy, Vice President, Global Sales, Facebook

Risk and reward in content

The advertiser can say that audiences aren’t what they were on TV. But it’s about getting back to content and closeness... we can help each other through these turbulent times,” said Pope. Whilst Murphy admitted that business models were still developing, he said that brands could not opt out of social media and should embrace it, despite the risks

Chuck Porter, Chairman, Crispin, Porter + Bogusky
Sir John Hegarty, Chairman & Worldwide Creative Director, Bartle Bogle Hegarty

Split was ‘crazy’ industry error

Charlie Crowe, CEO, C Squared

Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information, Society and Media

Advertising finds a friend

The advertising and marketing profession has been under pressure for years - pressure groups hold it up as at least partially responsbile for a number of social ills. However, the business now appears to have a friend in power. Speaking at the Venice Festival of Media, the EU's media regulation commissioner pledged that Brussels was not preparing a succession of new restrictions on marketing messages. "For as long as I'm Commissioner, there will be no supplementary advertisement bans," said Viviane Reding.

Media captains well placed to steer clients through choppy waters

Media agencies should be the great navigators of new media, in the way that 16th century Spanish explorers opened up new frontiers.

“What clients are looking for is people who can guide them through the changing consumer relationship with media and brands,” said Malcolm Hunter of Carat Global Management. Agencies need, however, to see campaigns begin with a core brand idea, and recruit creative talent.

Sport does not need digital, but it can extend the opportunities

The aggregating factor of “the big game" makes sport resistant to fragmentation, but sports marketing does not escape its challenges. In particular, the live audience for events such as the Olympics is ageing. According to the ESPN panel debate, which included ex-footballer Gianluca Vialli, digital should be used to reach a younger audience, as well as to create a one-to-one relationship with an otherwise mass audience.

Conversational marketing can’t be planned like traditional campaigns

Conversational marketing needs to be an on-going process and cannot be planned in traditional campaign periods, according to Go Viral’s Jimmy Maymann. Brands can make predictions about how long a campaign will take to gain traction, but ultimately it is user-driven so, like political campaigns, they need to be planned over longer periods, and tested with influencers before they reach a tipping point.

Privacy to play central role in the future of targeting

The possible ramifications of the Google-Doubleclick deal, questions of consumer privacy and the transparency of ad networks were the concerns of the audience at AdEurope’s session. Michael Kelly, from PWC’s entertainment division, said that brands were more scared of breaching privacy rules than consumers. Pilot 1/0’s Ulrich Kramer suggested that the industry needs to harmonise the data that it uses from different sources to improve efficiency.

Creativity born of reincarnation,not just inspiration

Creative thinking is not just for creatives but lies at the heart of media solutions too. Adam Morgan of eatbigfish said what mattered was not necessarily having new ideas but placing existing ideas in very different contexts. The success of Eric Asche of the American Legacy Foundation and PHD’s Ed Castillo, in challenging the might of the tobacco industry with their anti-smoking message, showed the effectivenss of this approach.

Planets align to make compelling case for the third screen

High-speed connections, flat-rate tariffs and user-friendly technology are, finally, combining to make mobile phones a convincing and effective ad platform. “After many, many false dawns, we feel at last the planets have aligned,” said Geraldine Wilson of Yahoo Europe. Mobile online usage figures have reached a critical mass, and the ability to target by demography and, potentially, by location is leading more clients to try it.

'Unstoppable trend’ puts pressure on trust and transparency

Trust is a huge issue in marketing procurement. Planning for Results’ Douglas McArthur argued that the discipline is maturing from an amateur past to a professional future, but discussion between the panel and the audience showed agencies and procurement directors don’t see eye to eye.
Procurement is an “unstoppable trend”, said McArthur, and media agencies must become more transparent.

Less obvious places can bring a bigger bang for your buck

Internet search is as influential as TV – and even more so for those over the age of 50 – according to ZenithOptimedia’s Touchpoint ROI Tracker. ZenithOptimedia’s Frank Harrison warned planners to extend their arsenal, as mass media is only 20% of the average person’s experience of any brand – the most important being point of sale – and recommendation is far more influential.

Huge investment is generating excitement - and results

The burgeoning world of digital Out Of Home is growing as fast as online, Posterscope’s Annie Rickard said. Contractor investment was at least $250m a year globally, adding a “completely new dimension to out of home”, she said. Marc Mendoza of MPG UK said returns of £5 on every £1 invested had been made by lottery operator Camelot, by putting 85% of its OOH budget in digital environments.

Stevie Spring, CEO, Future Publishing

Publishers might be low-profile, but they’re certainly not dead

The US print industry is “seriously lacking in vitality at the moment”, according to Charlie Rutman of MPG North America. Metro International’s Per Mikael Jensen said the proliferation of free newspapers proved the medium was not dying, though some consolidation of freesheets could be expected. The conclusion was that print had been underrepresented at the festival, and was still alive and kicking.

Not all screens are made equal, so use them differently

Marketers need to use the three screens of TV, PC and mobile in different ways to get maximum value. Ed Erhardt of ESPN said: “We think about content neutrality and use content horizontally. Some of the most successful content is fantasy football that’s viewed on PC or mobile alongside TV.” Christophe Brossard of PHD France warned that agencies must work together more closely: “We’re in a good position, but no organisation can do everything.”

Fun for everyone: in-game ads form lasting relationships

Gaming is attracting big audiences, with 300 million gamers online, 80% of whom notice marketing messages, OMG’s Damien Blackden said. Advertising is actually welcomed as adding realism to games, explained Massive’s Cory Van Arsdale . The ads, he added, delivered enduring brand experiences. The challenge is to make ads a bigger revenue stream for game publishers, OMD Digital’s Dario Raciti said.

The time to act is now: start small and make a difference

Greenwashing has driven sustainability backwards, said Isobar’s Nigel Morris. The media industry is still unsure of how it can make a difference, but the advice was simple: start small and encourage measurable actions from within a company, while agencies and clients should consider the impact of their marketing mix. “Behavioural change must be right at the heart of the bullseye,” said Reebok’s Richard Prenderville.

Paul Bay, Founder, citizensound
Maarten Steinkamp, CEO, Continental Europe, Sony BMG
Martin Stiksel, Co-Founder, Last.fm
Jon Webster, CEO, Music Managers Forum
John Ingham, Chief Experience Officer, ESP

Insights would be music to marketers ears

The music industry must fill a huge gap in consumer insight if it is to court brands, said Maarten Steinkamp of Sony BMG. “We have no contact with consumers. The live industry is growing and the ticketing companies have all the information about consumers,” he said. Brand ties with music are usually built on event sponsorship, but consensus was that there must be a smarter matching of the sounds of brands with bands.

Wayne Arnold, CEO, Profero
Richard Dunmall, SVP & MD EMEA, Microsoft Advertiser & Publisher Solutions
Mark Palmer, Founder, Maverick Planet
Rich Riley, SVP Advertiser & Publisher Group Europe, Yahoo!
Michael Steckler, MD, AOL UK

Consumers need reasurance on privacy if demand is to grow

It’s the role of media owners and agencies to reassure consumers that the drive for data that underpins behavioural targeting will not invade their privacy. “If there is consumer fear then advertisers and brands won’t want to buy into it,” said Michael Steckler of AOL. The industry also needs to better use the benefits of behavioural targeting. “There’s little or no planning in digital media, only implementation planning,” said Profero’s Wayne Arnold.