e-volution: At the IAA in Frankfurt, we can currently observe how the small „e” dimposes acceleration on the automotive industry. Manufacturers of all kinds are accelerating to keep the front bumper ahead in this future technology. With its billion-dollar “Roadmap E” strategy, VW, according to its own statements, is planning the most comprehensive electric offensive in the global automotive industry… But it is not only the motorists who are driven by the small „e”. For a long time now, it has also been speeding up the staff in the marketing departments – as can be seen at the same time 150 km northwest of Cologne at dmexco, the „digital marketing exposition & conference“.
The trade fair confidently calls itself a “hotspot of the Digiconomy” with the bulky (very marketing-aversive) name. It’s all about artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality (AR), data economy, connectivity and digital transformation. The mission is ambitious:”Lightening the Age of Transformation”.
The dynamics of the market for digital marketing are gigantic. And the opportunities that arise from the new technologies for communication are invaluable: from triggering the desire to travel via VR glasses and connected car concepts to Lufthansa’s flying Lab.
The trade fair reflects what both large corporations as well as medium-sized companies and every ambitious start-up company have long recognized: Paper may be patient, but as the sole marketing instrument it is a bitless tiger. The ravages of the zeitgeist want digital channels to complement the classic media mix as obligatory today as the market crier complements Hamburg’s famous transshipment centre for edible sea creatures. But eloquence and success of the m-e-dial buzz are not always given. Quite often the message goes unheard of in the digital nirvana of the www.
The battle cry “Lightening the Age of Transformation” from dmexco suggests the crux: the latent need for information. The subject matter is by no means as translucent as an average Internet user for Google. Finding the truth somewhere in the middle between addressability and YouTube is arbitrarily complicated.
What we know: Content is King – still. Content is king – still. And of course, digital concepts must offer customers not only virtual but also tangible added value. But which means are suitable for which goals? Social media, moving image, app, webcast, e-learning, online shop, VR…?
The very personal e-volution of digital marketing is not banal for companies. Attention is worthwhile. So that navigation on the corporate data highway – to come back to the IAA at least in terms of terminology – is more than trial and e-rror.
