There are definitely more than six things that we learned at Web Summit 2022.
It was a whirlwind visit! I arrived on the Wednesday (official day one) with my five year old daughter in tow. Mental note, Paddy Cosgrave was great to offer Women in Tech tickets at a reduced price, but he forgot that lots of women are the main carer for children! Web Summit was on right in the middle of the kid’s midterm break! We unfortunately only stayed one night, so made a departure on the night of day two.
We did get some amazing talks in at the impressive stages at Web Summit. Here is a summary of our whistle stop tour:
The Future of Immersive Virtual Experiences:
The future of immersive virtual experiences was moderated by Newstalk’s (Irish radio station) Jess Kelly.
Jess pointed out that the future of virtual wearing will be an exciting one to watch. The panel believed that Roblox are leading the way with creators as they have 200 million active users. Watch this space for the future of virtual wearing and sound.
Building campaigns that go viral:
The panel of Caspar Lee, Sophia Smith Galer and Ben Jeffries wrapped up by pointing out the most important things. These are
- engagement,
- right fit and
- long-term relationships.
Giving F1 a tech edge:
Mercedes Formula One team’s Toto Wolff, Oliver Steil and Rosanna Tennant took to the Centre stage. They started with a pretty powerful one minute video. This completely captivated the audience.
I think my favourite quote from this talk was from Toto himself. He said “we won 8 times, but that’s in the past. We need to look into the future.”
The future of Formula One is more sustainability and environmentally focused, so I look forward to seeing what happens in the next few years here.
Marketing in 2023:
Sir Martin Sorrell made an interesting point about where to hedge your bets geographically from a business and marketing sense. We can’t ignore the three major issues in the world. These are US-China relations, Russia and Ukraine and Iran. Despite his pessimism and downbeat tone, he did say that there are opportunities ahead. But, you need to know where to choose your global market.
Inclusive means just that. And that includes women!
Lindsay Kaplan, Attica Alexis Jaques and Rosemarie Ryan discussed how brands can build a more inclusive future. Despite missing most of this talk, I still took away some interesting facts.
Do you know how many female statues there are in Central Park in New York? Admittedly, I didn’t know the answer, but was pretty shocked. Apparently there are only two female statues in Central Park. And guess what?! They are fictional characters from stories – Mother Goose and Alice in Wonderland!
Being a mum to a very strong-minded little girl, I took from this that as a marketer I have a big responsibility. Do you know what it is? I need to ensure that marketing experiences that I’m involved in are ones that people like my daughter can relate to. It is quite a powerful message to fellow marketers out there and certainly one that I’m pondering firmly.
Also, workplaces need to be inclusive in everything from the how to the who. Makes sense, right?!
Marketing in a recession:
Perhaps not the most optimistic talk to finish on for the day, but certainly worth listening to and not being ignorant about it.
Indicators are that the world economy will grow more slowly. Inflation is also with us for the foreseeable. Energy issues and costs continue to rise.
Sir Martin Sorrell stated that the pressure from CEOs and CFOs on CMOS is huge. There is a move away from brand awareness to activation and performance and ROI.
He believes that we need to invest in brand, but that won’t be the reality unfortunately.
Where should you spend marketing dollars?
60-65% is spent in digital (Google, Meta, Amazon, TikTok, etc.)
Sir Martin Sorrell believes that Microsoft and Apple will be ones to watch from an advertising perspective.
The forecast is that 75% will be on digital so analogue and linear will come under pressure.
To wrap up, we have so much more to share with you. There is definitely a longer version to follow! All SO interesting and we will certainly embrace our own learnings from the Web Summit.
As always, get in touch if you’d like to make an appointment with us to discuss your marketing needs.