14,000 Attendees at AdTech Tokyo

Bonin Baw, who delivered the final keynote address

The international digital marketing conference "AdTech Tokyo 2013" (organized by DMG Events Japan) was held on September 18 and 19 at the Tokyo International Forum in Marunouchi. This marked the fifth time the event was held in Tokyo. Alongside six keynote speeches and 36 official sessions, 26 sponsoring companies and approximately 120 exhibiting companies held their own seminars and workshops. The event drew around 14,000 attendees over the two days.

The first keynote on the 18th featured a presentation titled "The Social Soundtrack" by Deb Roy, Chief Media Scientist at Twitter Inc. (U.S.). Focusing on the phenomenon of large numbers of people conversing about TV programs on Twitter while watching, he projected that "Twitter's three characteristics—its public nature, immediacy, and conversational format—have enabled it to become an 'amplifier' that increases television's influence. The integration of TV and Twitter not only expands programming possibilities but also enables advertisers to reach customers in new ways."

The keynote address on the 19th featured Mitsushi Iwashita, Representative Director of Facebook Japan, and Brad Smallwood, Head of Research and Measurement at Facebook Inc. in the U.S. Iwashita, who assumed the role of Representative Director in May this year after stints at Dentsu Inc., Boston Consulting Group, and McDonald's Japan, cited three reasons for the stagnant growth of advertising spending relative to Japanese users' internet engagement: "a habit of resisting major change," "organizational structures that force tracking KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) separately by media," and "effect measurement that cannot handle media cross-platform." He stated Facebook aims to lead the development of effect measurement metrics that also cover traditional media.

The final keynote address concluding the conference featured Bonin Baw, Vice President of Global Media/Consumer Engagement at Mondelez International (formerly Kraft Foods). Having built digital communications for Kraft products worldwide, he introduced the keyword "Hackonomy" (Hacking Economy). "It's not the 'black hat hackers' who cause trouble, but the 'white hat hackers' who boldly tackle challenges without being bound by established rules or traditional processes, creating new value, who are thriving in the business world," she stated. Using examples like the campaign commemorating the 100th anniversary of their product "Oreo," she urged attendees to rise to the challenge.

Meanwhile, the official sessions covered nine themes (Brand, Display, Direct Marketing, Content Marketing, Big Data, Business Management, Social Media, Performance, Creative) plus an open-theme session called "AdTech Interactive." Nine representatives from the Dentsu Group participated, presenting the latest case studies and solutions.