The digital innovations presented at the 12th Weekend Media Festival have taken hold on the global market, but it remains to be seen how successfully they will be integrated into domestic campaigns and content.
VERN's public relations and journalism students visited the largest regional festival of the communications industry, the Weekend Media Festival, which was held for the 12th time this year, where they listened to a series of interesting lectures, workshops and discussions, as well as predictions from communications experts about digital trends and innovations in the field of public relations. In order to share their newly acquired knowledge with other colleagues, they summarized five innovations that they believe will be useful for communication students, both in their academic development and in the realization of their personal aspirations.
- Addressable advertising
It is about one of the most important trends in the world of advertising, which is coming to our region via the most modern ad tech platform. User targeting and advertising will be available on linear television, large screens and TV viewing devices. This means that different viewers will be shown different advertisements while watching the same content on television. As their habits change and evolve, so will advertising, and switching programs during commercials will become a thing of the past.
- Audience growth on the example of Vogue magazine
Sarah Marshall, EMEA Audience Development Editor at The Wall Street Journal, emphasized in her presentation that content strategy is key to shaping stories and spreading them, and good stories keep audiences coming back. Also important is expanding the community on social media and regularly engaging with the audience. This is all done using four strategies: content strategy, distribution strategy, product strategy , and community strategy.
- Data driven creativity
Jörg Riommi, Chief Creative Officer of Publicis for the CEE region, explained how to find creative using big data through examples of his successful campaigns. Riommi does not agree that data has eaten away at the central role of creative, but claims the opposite, that data strengthens creative. He concluded his lecture with the quote: "Creativity is the most valuable asset in business today. Ideas are business critical power" .
- Do we believe the ads?
Representatives of companies and creative and communication agencies stated at the panel "#agencylife - the profession in the eyes of the public?" that sponsored content is present on all channels and almost inevitable in everyday life. This raises the question of how much ad creators trust the ads they create and how to be innovative and different from the competition. One of the panelists, Davor Bruketa, mentioned that the public is increasingly sensitive to advertising and that quality agency experts are key to quality work.
- Digital wellbeing
The number of hours we spend looking at screens is increasing more and more, but this is in line with the progress of technology and the fact that we can do almost all tasks with smartphones. Digital detox appeared as a need for people to move away from the constant connection with the world and to use the time they spend with technological devices for themselves. Conclusion - it is necessary to find a balance between the digital and the real world and to be aware of the amount of time spent in front of the screen.
(prepared by: Marta Jerković and Luka Lajić)
