OMR 2023: Lots of rock stars, little marketing

Data protection-compliant tracking was also an important topic this year. For many marketers who rely too heavily on performance and tracking data, a return to classic marketing skills is likely to become increasingly urgent. Cookie-less data tracking in particular was a hotly debated topic. With the increasing prevalence of privacy regulations, browser blocking, and ad blockers, it is becoming more and more difficult to collect and use user data (as readers of this blog have long been aware). Setting first-party cookies is also becoming more difficult and requires intensive examination of the new browser requirements as well as increased technical effort for setup.

This poses a challenge for marketers, as they now have to rely more on classic marketing skills such as strategic thinking, psychology, empathy, and creative imagination, and have fewer tangible figures to work with. The focus is shifting away from completely calculable and predictable campaign success through performance marketing to a more holistic approach that also puts the client at the center. Companies and agencies must now learn to use these and actively shape the change. It is technically impossible to shut out, sit out, or ignore this development: with the exception of Chrome, all major browsers now offer browser blocking. This means that you will probably not learn anything about over 51% of your website users anyway. If you add to this the users of tracking block plugins and those who click “Reject” on a legally compliant cookie banner, you are left with data on only a fraction of your users. It goes without saying that this should not be a meaningful basis for marketing decisions (not even as an indication!).

As alarming as this may sound to some, the issue itself is already well known in marketing. Hopefully, even the last few people at OMR have realized the urgency of this issue.

An important topic discussed at OMR was sustainability in marketing. It is encouraging that this topic is becoming increasingly important and has also reached the online marketing industry. Some of the presentations and discussions focused on how websites can be made more CO₂-friendly and what role this topic will play in the future. Good point, as this was still somewhat neglected last year and did not receive the attention that the climate crisis, Last Generation, and Fridays for Future should have expected. There is still a lot of room for improvement here, especially since many supposedly green and sustainable brands operate “dirty” websites. Anyone who wants to test and optimize the CO₂ emissions of their own websites should definitely work with experienced agencies, as this can be very challenging from a technical and conceptual standpoint. There are already many tools and approaches that can be used to make websites more sustainable. This is not just about technical aspects such as server energy efficiency, but also about the content presented on the website.

As important as the topic is, it also seemed unreal at OMR. Sustainability and many of the advertising practices at OMR, such as the many free promotional gifts at the entrance, often did not fit together. It seemed almost satirical to receive a free portion of YFood in plastic bottles at the luggage drop-off and then walk past overflowing trash cans filled with those same bottles on the way to a talk about sustainability! Trade fair and conference organizers should make sure that they don't just talk about sustainability, but also implement it in their actions and decisions. Otherwise, it just comes across as unbelievable.

Another frequently discussed OMR topic: influencer marketing! This is hardly surprising at a trade fair where you seem to bump into Fynn Kliemann or Knossi every 100 meters. Long since no longer a new phenomenon, influencer marketing remains a promising tool for brands to reach their target audience. Especially in times of ad blockers and banner blindness, influencers can play an important role in social networks in attracting the attention of the target group. By working with influencers, brands can not only generate reach, but also increase the trust and credibility of the target group. The possibilities of influencer marketing are now diverse and affordable even for smaller companies. There are tools that make it easier to find and work with suitable influencers and enable the tracking of campaign success. We have also been involved in influencer marketing for some time and advise our clients on this topic. Influencer marketing has become essential, especially in the B2C sector.

However, those who already have experience in this area or regularly attend training courses will not necessarily learn anything groundbreaking at OMR. Only a few of the smaller exhibitors and their tools really offered clear added value and showed how the new standard will look and how success can be made significantly more measurable. In addition, many will smile at the fact that OMR itself has sometimes lacked a certain degree of caution when selecting influencers for the stage. Anyone who was not aware of the relevance of the selection can catch up on the extremely unpleasant and rightly criticized talk by perfume influencer Jeremy Fragrance at OMR in the many posts on LinkedIn and YouTube, among other places.

As the most important B2B platform, LinkedIn was naturally also a key focus. Experts such as Britta Behrens from LinkedIn specialists NERDS spoke here and could have provided deep insights, but had to limit themselves to more basic information due to time constraints and presumably concerns about overcomplicating matters. This was a shame, especially since she provides much better and more in-depth input in her podcasts. If you already have experience with LinkedIn marketing and ads and have the relevant certifications, most of the talk was unfortunately already familiar. Precisely because XING now functions purely as a job board, LinkedIn offers an ideal, if not the only, opportunity of its kind for direct customer contact, brand building, and networking in B2B. The platform offers numerous features for presenting your company and generating qualified leads.

The use of podcasts as a marketing tool is also becoming increasingly important. The versatile audio format allows content to be conveyed in a personal and emotional way, thereby strengthening audience engagement. Numerous examples and best practices were presented at OMR that show how podcasts can be successfully used as part of a marketing strategy. In the coming weeks, we will take a closer look at these topics and provide detailed insights into the use of LinkedIn and podcasts in marketing.

And then there was AI! Many speakers and discussions focused on the use of artificial intelligence in marketing. However, many presentations remained vague and imprecise, with only a few practical examples. Overall, there was a lack of real news and deeper insights into the topic. Even Frank Thelen, who made no secret of his fondness for AI and clearly called for more integration of AI into our everyday lives without making any concrete suggestions regarding the risks – at least he mentioned them – was unable to help. Presentations by Google and others also remained rather vague, showing abstract examples such as the use of AI for tagging vacation rentals and demonstrating that even the big players still don't know how they want to/can/must use AI to its full extent.

Nevertheless, the use of AI in marketing remains a promising field. The possibilities for automating and personalizing marketing activities can bring enormous benefits. However, when applying AI, companies should always consider the ethical aspects and critically question whether its use really makes sense and increases customer value. If you find the topic exciting, it's best to find a few interested employees and offer them the opportunity to regularly and strategically engage with the integration of AI. Your competition, as OMR showed, is doing the same.

Unlike this blog post, however, the technical and content-related aspects of the various marketing disciplines were not really the focus of this OMR. There was plenty of evidence of this: advertising monitors on which all the music acts and celebrities (whose sheer size was also questionable, to say the least) were displayed one after the other. Even on LinkedIn, there was little promotion of technical topics and speakers. I knew much earlier that Serena Williams and Mackelmore would be there than, for example, Britta Behrens (and even then only because I follow her). In general, it seemed that many people had come just to get into the crowded conference hall early in the morning and then watch the main celebrity presentations. With a few exceptions (lunch break?), the hall was always full, in my impression, and people were queuing even in the pouring rain.

Hall A4, which actually housed the Yellow Stage, which was much more important for marketers and featured marketing talks in particular, was relatively small and at the back, although it was no less crowded in places. The fact that the Vodafone exhibition hall and the food hall were significantly larger and more centrally located will have had other reasons. Marketing has become a side issue for many, with the focus on influencers, celebrities, and music acts. That attracts the masses, albeit at the expense of content. It seems even more like an excuse for why you “have to” go to Hamburg to experience this festival. After all, if you keep your eyes and ears open throughout the year, are willing to learn more, and – well – enjoy marketing, you will learn more than in many masterclasses and certainly more than in most talks. Of course, those who want to can network and make contacts, provided they can get into the various side events. Otherwise, however, even networking is hardly possible in the sometimes overcrowded halls and outdoor areas. My highlight was the small exhibition stands with tool providers. Here I saw how influencer marketing, chatbots, etc. already work (also with AI) and could guess how these areas will change. But there was too little of this – just like there was too little in-depth input.

Believe it or not, I still enjoyed it. I had a similar impression of the trade fair last year, but wanted to see for myself, especially when it came to the masterclasses. That meant I didn't go in too deep and was able to see it for what it is: a big industry festival for the industry itself, under the guise of professional development. Next year, I'll probably just go for one day and focus more on networking and masterclasses. But if you really want to develop your skills in these disciplines, you might be better off visiting one of the smaller trade fairs instead of the Online Marketing Rockstars Festival.