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Share on XHow digital industries continue to look forward
Over the years, Advertising Week Europe (AWE) has cemented itself as a renowned platform in the events calendar, showcasing celebrity guests, a central London location, and VIP hospitality.
But even in a virtual environment, this year’s AWE truly did deliver. The content variety and quality in 2021 was among the best in recent years. Whether it’s the rise of CTV, importance of green advertising, or strategies such as contextual targeting, innovation was at the forefront of the agenda.
Targeting ‘New’ Audiences
There was significant discussion around marketing to younger audiences. From sessions about ‘Gen Z’, to talking about the power of TikTok, influencer marketing and gaming, it’s clear that as young adults and teenagers become brands’ newest customers, brands must now think about how they target these audiences who are more acute to privacy within the ad experience. As the third party cookie takes its final bow later this year, that means these brands have to find alternatives to reach such audiences.
Towards a Cookieless Future
IAS added to this conversation at AWE with a session, ‘Why the Cookieless Future Isn’t Half Baked’. Nick Morley, EMEA Managing Director at IAS was joined by Tina Beuchler, Global Head of Media & Agency Operations at Nestlé to discuss why the cookieless future is a huge opportunity for advertisers, and how privacy doesn’t mean sacrificing accuracy when it comes to digital spend.
Inclusion & Diversity
The past twelve months have spotlighted inequalities in the world , and so IAS was immensely proud that as part of AWE, Katie Grosevnor, Head of Sales for Northern Europe sat on a speed mentoring panel with women’s network Bloom. This session offered the next generation of female talent the chance to engage with leading women in the industry to get insights into their own career paths and opportunities.
It was crucial that the event provided a thought provoking environment to host important conversations as an industry – about collective diversity, and ethos. AWE achieved that this year with sessions aimed at challenging all areas of professional lives, from mental wellbeing and work/life balance to diversity and inclusion.
Looking Ahead
It was empowering to witness that around 9% of sessions at AWE mentioned the pandemic in their synopses. That compares to 36% of sessions talking about the future. This just goes to show that rather than looking back and exploring hindsight, digital industries are doing what they’ve always done – looking forward.
The past year has been a significant challenge, but AWE helped reaffirm the transformative changes and innovations that are happening already, and yet to come.
