DMEXCO 2016, after day 1

The first day of DMEXCO (Digital Marketing Exposition & Conference, one of the industry's top events in 2016) is now over. For my part, this day was full of thought-provoking keynotes, debates, and speeches. Here are my observations from the expo so far.

The customer is at the centre of everything.

It is all about the customer. And that is of course how it should be! Customer centricity was approached from multiple angles by speakers. Every keynote or speech somehow incorporated customer experience or customer journey into the topic at hand. In Adobe’s keynote Suresh Vittal emphasised the importance of creating great experiences for the client by encouraging executives to consider if they are actually in the experience business.

The whole marketing industry is on the verge of something new.

It is like everyone is waiting for that next big thing that will change everything (again). Whether it is Internet of Things (IoT), wearable tech, augmented and/or virtual reality (by the way, no mention of Pokemon Go), or some other innovative new technology. Throughout the day, one could feel the tension in the air when brand-new technologies were discussed (and this happened constantly!)

It's all about data, data, and data.

Like customer centricity, use of data was repeatedly addressed. The day at DMEXCO was full of different use cases for data and algorithms. The topics varied from pondering if artificial intelligence can become a creative genius to Spotify recognising how you feel based on the music you listen. Actually, they already know how you feel now AND in the near future. Amazing isn't it?

DMEXCO is huge (over 1000 exhibitors!). Throughout the day exciting keynotes and speeches overlap. The highlighted three themes are just my top pics. DMEXCO is full of topics such as creativity, disruption, and use cases for video. So there is no question if I missed something. What were your highlights and/or picks from the day 1?