Attending dmexco, the World's Largest Digital Marketing Conference (Part 1)

The world's largest digital marketing conference, "dmexco," was held in Cologne, Germany, on September 16 and 17. This festival, where industry VIPs like platform media, mega-agencies, and global corporations gather, is positioned by international trade publications as comparable to Cannes Lions. Yet its recognition in Japan remains low. One reason for the sparse coverage is that its focus isn't awards or exhibitions, but primarily business negotiations and networking. Here is a report from Tetsu Kono of Dentsu Inc.'s Media Convergence Promotion Office, who visited the event.

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I attended "dmexco," an ad tech (advertising technology) event. Heads of German digital companies and people from London had been telling me for about a year that it was an event I absolutely should see. However, since it doesn't get much coverage in Japanese media, I didn't know much about the details. This time, I only participated for half a day out of the two-day event, but I'd like to share the interesting and surprising things I encountered in a ranked list from 10th to 1st place.

10th: Is this Mexico?

The name sounds like "Do Mexico" and is easier to remember if you picture it that way, but it has absolutely nothing to do with Mexico. It's actually an abbreviation forDigital Marketing Exposition & Conference, hence "dmexco." Jokes like "Wait, is this Mexico City?" were a common refrain from many speakers. But no, it's Cologne, Germany.

9th Place: The Rapidly Growing Ad Tech Event

dmexco is an event held in Cologne, Germany—famous for the world's largest Gothic cathedral—in September. This year marks its seventh iteration. It has grown rapidly in recent years, boasting massive exhibition and conference spaces—probably the largest of its kind globally. Numerous keynotes, panel discussions, and private seminars ran concurrently. This year saw a total of 43,384 attendees over two days (one-third from outside Germany).

Content-wise, it's essentially a scaled-up European version of New York's "AdTech" (originally New York-based but now global, with events also held in Kansai, Japan in September and Tokyo in December). For those familiar with digital, it's like taking AdTech's "Chaos Map" and spreading it out across the entire exhibition hall. It seems to be a valuable opportunity where AdTech-related companies (ranging from startups to IBM, Oracle, Adobe, Salesforce, Accenture, etc.), advertising agencies, media (including traditional outlets), and top-level executives (CEOs, CMOs, etc.) from advertisers all gather in one place.

8th: The Big Four Events

According to people in London and Germany, it seems that in recent years,

January: CES (Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas, USA),

February: MWC (Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain),

June: Cannes Lions (Cannes, France),

September: dmexco (Cologne, Germany),

have come to be regarded as the four major events in the digital marketing, media, and technology fields in Europe and the US. While each event has its own history and focus, perhaps due to timing and location factors, they have each undergone unique changes and developments. It is said that the overlap between these four events has also become significant.

7th: The Booths Are Empty

Hearing about a cutting-edge ad tech event, one might expect movie-like displays and demos. But visiting the dmexco exhibition floor was a surprise. Most booths had almost no displays to speak of. Only about 10% of booths featured slightly novel attractions. For example, there were Oculus demos, cooking class demos showcasing video content, and a service in a corner of Google's booth that used high-definition cameras to film videos in a studio within the booth and upload them to YouTube on the spot. However, the vast majority of booths were just spaces with chairs, tables, food, and drinks. They seemed to serve as meeting spots for business talks at times, or as gathering places for the company's own staff at others.

6th Place: All of Cologne partied until dawn

Unfortunately, I couldn't attend on the first day, so I didn't experience it firsthand. But apparently, on the first day, starting in the evening, various company-hosted parties kick off simultaneously all over Cologne, starting at the exhibition venue. The energetic folks hop from one party venue to another until morning, mingling with all sorts of people – that's how you spend your nights at dmexco. I even had a friend who came from London primarily for this "nighttime dmexco." While this Western party/conference culture can be a bit daunting for the average Japanese person, I definitely want to experience it next time.

5th Place: "What is GRP?"

Perhaps because dmexco originated as an ad tech event, during a panel discussion in the main hall titled "The Broadcast Future," when the conversation turned to GRP (Gross Rating Point), the moderator carefully explained what GRP meant in a way anyone could understand. This was very impressive. Meanwhile, terms like RTB, DSP, and Ad Exchange were thrown around without anyone explaining them...

4th: Automotive Industry Presence

Similar to CES in January, the automotive industry had a strong presence at the ad tech event dmexco. Prototypes were exhibited that linked smartphone and tablet apps with car dashboards and door operations. Perhaps because it was Germany, BMW held a pre-launch preview of the BMW 7 Series during the keynote on the second day. Adjacent to the keynote hall, three new cars were lined up, intensely bathed in flashes from the press. The function that will be standard equipment in the new 7 Series, which allows the car to be parked automatically using a key after the driver has exited the vehicle, was demonstrated in person and attracted a great deal of attention.

3rd place: Martin Sorrell's keynote speech

Martin Sorrell, head of the world's leading mega-agency WPP, took the stage for the keynote speech. In his 30-minute speech, he very clearly explained WPP's current situation and future prospects. It is a must-see for industry professionals who have not yet seen it. Here is a brief introduction

・WPP's future strategy can be summed up in one sentence: "Growth markets, digital, data management, and horizontality" (horizontality is a WPP term meaning providing clients with the best teams and talent across the group's brands).

- Consumer engagement with traditional media such as newspapers and television is greater than engagement with consumers in the internet sphere. We must strike the right balance.

2nd Place: DAN's Outstanding Performance

This might sound a bit self-congratulatory, but the team at Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), the Dentsu Group's overseas network, was exceptionally active at various levels—from executives to the field—and had a very noticeable presence at dmexco. Their initiatives, such as the digital signage campaign in Cologne timed for dmexco by PosterScope Germany (an outdoor advertising specialist) and the introduction of a new project in Hamburg featuring a building entirely covered in LED displays, reportedly generated significant buzz. At the DAN booth, a prototype utilizing brainwave technology, planned and produced by Isobar, was hugely popular, drawing long lines.

On the main stage, speakers including Doug Ray, Global President of Carat, and Lars Bo Jæbensen of DAN engaged in lively exchanges with clients, media, and agencies. What impressed me most was the panel discussion moderated by Nigel Morris, CEO of DAN Europe and Americas: The Women’s Leadership Table: Diversity, New Leadership & New Talents. The panelists were three female executives from Unilever, Facebook, and OMD. I couldn't attend on the first day, but I heard from many people on-site that it was excellent. I later watched it online and found it to be a truly remarkable discussion. This is where I feel the cultural difference between Europe/America and Japan most keenly – discussing such sensitive topics in front of a large audience with media companies and clients. In Japan, I think you'd need someone like Kume or Furutachi as the moderator for that to work.

1st Place: "Data" and What Lies Beyond

I repeatedly asked people connected to DAN or those I met, "If you had to sum up this year's dmexco in one word, what would it be?" The most common answer was "Data." The fact that so many people saw discussions around data as the foundation of the two-day event was deeply satisfying. It reaffirmed that what we experience daily in Japan isn't that far off from the global cutting edge, and it helped us reconfirm the direction we should be heading.

Here are a few key points from the data-focused panel discussion I attended on the second day:

* We've moved beyond the era demanding "more data" to one seeking "the right data." In reality, less than 5% of the data in the world is actually being utilized.

・Over the past few years, the industry has been fiercely focused on improving targeting accuracy through advancements in ad tech. However, when targeting precision increases and we gain a once-in-a-lifetime communication opportunity with the target individual, what we're actually doing is sending communication methods and content that are guaranteed to be disliked by everyone (like a stalker, repeatedly sending the wrong content, or using immature creative).

・What we must focus on next is developing effective, data-driven, personalized creative approaches for highly targeted audiences—not mass-market creative.

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Next, we introduce DAN's activities, which stood out with an exceptionally high

Next, we introduce DAN's activities, which demonstrated a particularly high presence across diverse areas including participation in dmexco booths, conferences, sponsorships, and event operations.