Day One at DMEXCO

Truth be told, not a lot. But we think that’s a good thing for Altair, as we’ve been doing and talking about all of these things for years, so there were no eureka moments.

It’s also a good thing, as it forces us to really look for things. Things that can be actioned, things that can make a difference.

In that theme, here are two topics to take from today:

Blockchain.

It’s a massive buzzword. Advertising people, like us, love this type of thing. It’s cutting-edge, it’s new, it could change the world, it can be relevant to us and it seems massively complicated, so we can use that to make ourselves look intelligent.

Fact is, if you’re in marketing or advertising, you’ll need to understand it and understand the impact it is likely to have on you personally and your industry. Because it will change your world, probably in the next 12-18 months. You may not know about it now, but you’ll have to know about it soon. That’s the good news, as it will change things for the better and it will be good for you if you know what it’s all about.

The other good news is that it is all pretty straightforward. It may sound epically complicated, but it isn’t. So do some reading and get on with it.

Blockchain was discussed a lot today. The challenge at the moment in the industry is striking the right balance between the tech detail and use cases. We personally don’t want to hear the why. In our heads it’s straightforward, but that’s only because a few of us have been studying heavily in this area for a while. For anyone that hasn’t, this is what we think:

The why = transparency + value. Transparency as you can see all stakeholders and each step. Value, because you can see each step, you can see the cost of each step and you can see the value exchanged for that cost. Therefore, you can clear out those that are taking more than they are giving pretty quickly.

We also think the who isn’t that valuable, as at the moment they are massive brands and we know the benefits (as above transparency and value), so the case studies are quite straightforward.

What we want to know is how are we going to do it, how quickly and the structure. Why are brands and new blockchain players making the presentations rather than the industry bodies, who should be driving it forward? Blockchain is where the next generation of trading desks will sit. Blockchain will fundamentally change influencer marketing. Blockchain will move the power and the value of personal data to the individual.

Let’s just get on with and make it happen.

Voice and image search.

Yes, it is massively increasing.

The interesting bit is the statistics.

Siri is on half a billion devices https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/01/homepod-arrives-february-9-available-to-order-this-friday/

Google Assistant is on 400m devices https://www.blog.google/products/assistant/how-google-home-and-google-assistant-helped-you-get-more-done-in-2017/

If you think about that in the context of smart speaker growth:

https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/research/smart-speakers-take-off

Voice search is going to be massive.

What to do about it though? Well, there’s another talk tomorrow on that. But in the meantime, think about all of those questions your audiences are going to be asking:

Hey Siri, when will my new jeans be delivered?

Alexa, how much is my gas bill?

Hey Cortana, what times are the trains to Manchester tomorrow?

OK, Google, how much is a flight to Milan?

Alexa, what is a Blockchain anyway?

Then ask yourself, does your site cater for these questions? You need snappy answers that can be pulled from your content and is your content structured to do that?

Image search, on the other hand, is interesting for the use of AI in working out what the image is. Being able to analyse the images that influencers are sharing online will enable brands to forecast demand for products and analyse consumer trends. This is a massively interesting topic for social listening and analytics. It is also one we will be spending more time on in the future.

Bring on tomorrow.

About Altair Media

We are Altair Media and we are an independent media agency that is here to make our clients famous to the people that matter.

We believe…

Independent agencies are the lifeblood of the creative industries.

We are the antidote to the large agency networks, we will challenge you and we want you to challenge us. We are nimble and flexible to ensure we can keep up with your consumers or clients.

We believe in transparency; every decision we make will be in the best interests of your brand.

We believe that quality of work should never come second to income. Regardless of your scale, you deserve amazing work.

Altair is privileged to work on some of the world’s greatest brands and some of the most exciting start-ups out there.

You should never stop, never settle, always improve. Be amazing