It's that time of year when many a digital marketing professional will soon be boarding a train, plane or automobile bound for Cologne for the Digital Marketing Expo & Conference. I will again be among the 38,000 attendees excited to immerse myself in all things digital marketing for a few days but, this year it feels a little different....where once you could count the OOH contingent on one hand, this year I will be joined by a slew of industry colleagues including but, not limited to VIOOH, ECN, Displayce, Framen, Vistar, Billups, WallDecaux, Stoer and that's not even to mention the OOH buying community. So why is DMEXCO becoming such a draw for the OOH world? It can't just me the Kölsch can it?
The recent VIOOH State of the Nation report tells us that 32% of respondents have included prOOH in their media plans pointing to prOOH becoming a mainstay of the digital marketing mix. No longer is this channel specialist and nascent. The behemoth DSPs DV360 and The Trade Desk are now years into their OOH journey as are a vast panoply of other buying platforms. In fact the Displayce* DSP will have a large presence at their DOOH cafe during the event and are making an exciting announcement around the latest OOH tech...Definitely one to watch.
So I guess that's why it feels different; This year I won't be going as an outsider looking into the world of Digital marketing but, as a fully fledged member of the ecosystem. Yes the OOH contingent will be there to take meetings, represent our individual business' & learn about what's next but, now, we are also their to teach about what prOOH can offer beyond just screens. Whether it's how media can be used as a force for good, how brand and performance can work together through the power of the public screen or even how fixed point programmatic can supersede the cookie & identity solutions; This year the student becomes the master.
I'm just there for the Kölsch or course
* Majority shareholding JCDecaux
Comments