This morning IAB Ireland, the trade association for digital advertising in Ireland held their IAB Connect Conference. Our very own MD Julian Lynch was part of the great lineup of speakers at the event. This lineup featured Joanne Looby (Guiness Global Senior Digital Manager), Ciaran Quilty (SMB Regional Director EMEA, Facebook), Steven Pimsoll (Chief Technology Officer for Mindshare worldwide), Amit Kotecha (Head of Marketing, Quantcast UK), The IAB Search Council (Julian Lynch, iProspect Ireland MD & Ollie Smith, Mindshare Search Account Director), Marius Symth (MD, EMEA AdRoll) and Don O’Leary (Senior Sales Manager, Twitter UK & Ireland). Despite going to support one of iProspect’s own, I headed along to the event since the theme of the event ‘Digital Branding: the power of storytelling’ was one really not to missed (and I got to spend a morning out of the office!). The many attendees were given the fantastic opportunity to hear how great these brands and companies utilise and embrace digital storytelling to build their brands and client’s brands online.
So on the topic of storytelling, here is my story containing the key story lines and exciting plots from today’s event. I finished the event with sore thumbs and hardly any battery left on my phone but I tweeted throughout capturing as many key points presented by each of the speakers. If you missed out on the event, here is a collection of tweets from through the event.
Suzanne McElligott, CEO, IAB Ireland
Suzanne kicked off the event with some great insights and statements.
Irish consumers are never more connected, 4 digital devices on average per adult at home. Multiscreen=multiple branding opps. #iabconnect
— iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Qualities of a good digital storyteller? Know and respect your audience, entertain/engage, surprise and listen. #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Qualities of a good digital storyteller? Know and respect your audience, entertain/engage, surprise and listen. #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Joanne Looby ( Guiness Global Senior Manager)
Joanne was the first of the speakers and what a great presnetation to start the event. Joanne spoke about Storytelling from the Traditional to the Multi-Channel.
First up-Joanne Looby from Diageo speaking about Storytelling from the traditional to the multi channel. #iabconnect pic.twitter.com/v3Haw67dup — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Today consumers are part of Generation C: curation, connection, creation, community. #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
There is no code to crack great storytelling but their are principles Guinness follow! #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Great brands start with a clear and powerful purpose and need to express that brand idea through consumer expression. #iabconnect #guinness — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Guinness and Diageo recognise that search is the discovery platform for their stories now more than ever. #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Amit Kotecha (Head of Marketing, EMEA, Quantcast)
Amit flew in from the UK and spoke about how Only Data has the Answer.. and other geeky stuff!
Up now we have Amit Kotecha head of Marketing EMEA at @Quantcast on how only data has the answer or ‘geeky’ stuff as he says! #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Now for some stats. The programmatic/RTA market is worth €12bn. #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Everybody wants to be the striker to gain all the glory but we need teams to give attribution. #iabconnect pic.twitter.com/haEK34wCw8 — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Key takeaways from Amit of Quantcast. Very insightful talk on display. #iabconnect pic.twitter.com/MzVcDVXaaB — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
‘Prospecting’ advertising partners should not be measured on last touch metrics: Amit Kotecha #iabconnect — AMAS (@AMASinternet) February 20, 2014
Steve Pimsoll (Chief Technology Officer, Mindshare Worldwide)
Steve gave a very insightful and interesting presentation
and backed everything up with some mind blowing case studies. Steve spoke about How Data can Transform your Business.
Up now we have Steve Pimsoll of Mindshare on how data can transform your business. #iabconnect #bigdata — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
And he starts off with how big data is like teenage sex..! Nobody knows how to do it but everyone is talking about it. #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Marketing today is like ping pong! We have the ability to respond to consumers in real time. #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Changes in data sources. Trad to owned activity monitoring to social monitoring to media intelligence. #iabconnect pic.twitter.com/ZVSOIgnuHG — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Data is the new black! The nerds of marketing are now cool. Some may agree that’s the overall key takeaway of today! #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Data is becoming Consumer attributable – Steve Plimsoll, Mindshare global #IABConnect — IrishTimesSales (@IrishTimesSales) February 20, 2014
By 2017, CMOs will spend more on IT than CIOs ! Data is the new black !! Steve Plimsoll #iabconnect — IAB Ireland (@iabireland) February 20, 2014
“Data is fantastic is we can work with it in the correct time frame.” Steve Pimsoll #iabconnect — Carat Ireland (@CaratIreland) February 20, 2014
IAB Ireland Search Council – iProspect MD Julian Lynch & Mindshare Search Account Director Ollie Smith
After the break the IAB Ireland Search Council featuring our own MD Julian Lynch shared their experience on Ensuring that Search is the Hardest Working Online Tool for Turning Your Stories into Business. Julian used UPC as a case study and Ollie used Hellmans as a case study.
“Data is fantastic is we can work with it in the correct time frame.” Steve Pimsoll #iabconnect — Carat Ireland (@CaratIreland) February 20, 2014
And they’re speaking about ensuring search is the hardest working tool for turning your stories into business. pic.twitter.com/ntBX1jkF7w — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Above the line media is fantastic as putting the first message out there as getting the consumer on their path. ##iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
The original consumer path now contains endless choices along the way. Now we can help the user along the way #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
How Search fits into storytelling displayed in this diagram. #iabconnect pic.twitter.com/zND9TCt6Kd — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Consumers make the decision to choose their own adventure through search; landing pages, phone numbers, mobile apps, site listings & maps. — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Julian from iProspect is now explaining how search fitted into the launch of the UPC Horizon campaign! #iabconnect pic.twitter.com/lRbH90LYGc — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Key search features from search queries showed how iProspect tailored the search message pre and post launch of UPC Horizon. #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Now Ollie is speaking about how search fed into storytelling for Hellmans. #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
They used RT weather data to change ad copy and creative through using weather based bidding to improve click through rate. #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Final takeaways? Use search to facilitate the user adventures and use search joins the dots in the consumer journey. #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Ciaran Quilty (Ciaran Quilty, SMB Media Directore EMEA, Facebook)
Facebook’s Ciaran Quilty was up next with a presentation about storytelling on mobile and more specifically how powerful mobile is for storytelling on Facebook.
Up next is Facebook’s SMB Media Director Ciaran Quilty speaking about storytelling on mobile. #iabconnect pic.twitter.com/5xLpn7Yrt6 — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Facebook admits they were incredibly slow to adapt to mobile and now the majority of Facebook is used on mobile! #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Top mobile fact of the day from Facebook: There’s more mobile devices than their are toothbrushes in the world! #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Facebook were naturally part of the fact that in 2013 web usage surpassed television usage. Makes sense! #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Some common themes about what stories work on Facebook? Authenticity, entertainment, be timely and relevant and listening to customers. — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Facebook in the future??More mobile! Especially with the launch of FB paper & more independent apps, Instagram for example. #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
+90% of 15-24 year olds in Ireland connected to Facebook in 2013. #iabconnect — Digital Times (@digital_times) February 20, 2014
Don O’Leary (Senior Sales Manager, UK and Ireland, Twitter)
Following Facebook, Twitter was up with Don O’Leary bringing some Irish into the day with the topic of Scéal Your Brand With Twitter (that’s story for those non Irish speakers!).
Up now is Don O Leary Senior Sales Manager of UK/Ireland from @TwitterDublin on the topic of sceal with your brand on Twitter. #iabconnect
— iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
People are drawn to stories. People are drawn together by stories. @donoleary #Twitter #iabconnect pic.twitter.com/aMsp5PqCcR
— iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Brands on Twitter? They have the opportunity to tell their stories and weave themselves into their audiences stories. #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
The use of the eld hashtags being used successfully by Irish brands around the All Ireland Final! #iabconnect pic.twitter.com/4npdlEYO6V — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Don points out that even a Shepard, @herdyshepard1 can create extremely interesting and engaging content on Twitter! #iabconnect — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
So Twitter cards really go beyond the 140 characters(one of my biggest challenges!) #iabconnect pic.twitter.com/ot2tX0vDy0 — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Twitter activity when Taken was being shown on TV on 2 different channels on separate dates. Almost identical! pic.twitter.com/d8BjiIxTy4 — iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Brian Brady (AdRoll)
And lastly Brian Brady filling in for Marius Smith. He was up sharing his enthusiasm for data through his presentation on A Data Gold-Diggers Dream.
An lastly we have Marius Smith MD at AdRoll discussing a data gold-diggers dream! #iabconnect
— iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
(I got the name wrong!)
The magical Google search box where so many of us live in! But what it really shows is customer intent for marketers. #iabconnect
— iProspect Ireland (@iProspectIRL) February 20, 2014
Impressive RT @irishanorak: #IABconnect @AdRoll @nitropdf benefits of re targeting for b2b tech pic.twitter.com/XPpOLEPfse — AMAS (@AMASinternet) February 20, 2014
Brian Brady from @AdRoll talking about how to track and act on a persons digital body language #iabconnect
— Eoin Ó Súilleabháin (@eoinos) February 20, 2014
So there’s a Twitter snapshot of today’s event with lots of great facts and insights shared from across the lineup. If you were at the event, let us know what you’re favourite key takeaway was and make sure to follow us on Twitter.