Ah, ad:tech. It's one of the industry's early shows that still gets a lot of attention, and for good reason. This morning's opening keynote covered how brands will change the world.
Walmart.com's Vice President of Marketing, Brian Monahan, joined the panel and addressed a common buzzword: innovation.
When questioned if Walmart.com is innovating versus doing what the marketplace demands, he answered, "Be committed to staying close to your customer, and you'll find new ways in." Too many companies and businesses lose sight of that point. You need to always put your target customer in the center of your activities, especially for your PR efforts. Develop and distribute messages for your users, not for the media.
Unilever's Babs Rangaiah, Vice President of Global Media Innovation & Ventures, was also on the panel. I love his takeaway tip to focus on MVP. He noted, "If your are a brand or a platform and you want to be successful, focus on MVP: Made for Mobile, Visually Social, and Personalized." The company's Dove 'Real Beauty' ad campaign is a great example that embodies all of these points.
Beyond campaign and brand specific thoughts, panelists also weighed in on the next big trends to watch. I agree with Rangaiah. Programmatic is a huge ad tech trend to watch, as today it is still in the early stages. We're developing a system for serving and targeting ads that will become more centralized.
That's a big discussion at #adtechNY and here at Kite Hill PR. There's no denying that programmatic will play a big role in the advertising industry's future.