The end of October saw the Performance Marketing Insights conference descend on London. With over 40 different sessions discussing everything from new innovations in performance marketing to the challenges faced in the industry, it was the ideal place for Displaying Ads employees to explore.
We had a number of our team join the event to take full advantage of the learning opportunities, with some taking part in a speed dating style of networking in the ‘Meet The Agencies’ session on 29th October. Meeting with both existing and new partners in 20 minute slots we were able to discuss everything from optimisation techniques to new technologies coming onto the market that could help benefit our clients.
Later in the day Displaying Ads’s Chief Performance Officer, Ben Sutherland, took to the stage to discuss ‘The Changing Face of the Network Agency’ with moderator Jon Myers. Joined by James Cooper, Global Performance Director at Ecselis, and Chris Wallace, Managing Director, Head of Digital for EMEA at Mindshare, together they explored the changing consumer behaviour and advancements in technology that have seen a huge shift in the way that some of the world’s biggest companies operate. One area of discussion concerned the integration of digital teams and channels within a network agency. This included the belief that for teams to truly integrate there has to be both a technological (automated) and a hands on (manual) solution, as well as having the will and desire from the clients to do so.
The second day at the conference saw our Head of Programmatic, Wayne Blodwell, join a lively debate on the issue of transparency in programmatic advertising. One of the most common difficulties faced in this area is the issue of privacy when it comes to user data. From a publisher’s perspective, fellow panellist Dora Michail, Senior Director, Audiences Solutions at Yahoo! EMEA explained there was a fine balance between sharing their user’s data and protecting it. Moderator Dominic Grounsell, Global Marketing Director at Travelex, then steered the conversation onto trying to find a resolution to the problem to which James Maley, Hilton Worldwide’s Senior International Marketing Manager, responded with a solution of consolidating all media inventory. Ben Tice, Sales Lead, Data Management Platforms from Oracle, believed it was down to the advertisers and marketers to put pressure on media owners and publishers to really encourage change.
With so many sessions just like this to cover we asked some of our team who attended the two day conference to share their thoughts and insights with us. We’ll be posting their stories in the next couple of days so stay tuned!
