Embracing Disruption: Key Takeaways from this year’s Global Conference

As the industry faces a year of disruption and change, the top 400 leaders across Dentsu Aegis Network gathered in Singapore to share how we’re #embracingdisruption and to position ourselves to win in the digital economy. Read on for our key takeaways from this year’s Global Conference…

1. In a world of change and disruption, we are one step ahead

Jerry Buhlmann, CEO Dentsu Aegis Network, opened the conference with powerful messages around our winning position in the industry and digital economy, with clear momentum, direction and talent.

Indeed, despite what proved to be a challenging year for organic growth across the industry, we witnessed high levels of growth in new business wins, with Dentsu Aegis Network topping the RECMA ranking for media billings in 2017 at £1.68bn.

According to Peter Huijboom, CEO Media Brands & Global Clients, we expect to return to outperforming the peer group in 2018 driven by our strong new business performance in 2017.

It’s not just our industry that’s being disrupted; the world of work is also changing at a rapid pace, with new technology, new generations and a shift towards city-living rendering the workplace more diverse, more connected and more entrepreneurial. Teams now span time zones, cultures and traditional organisational boundaries.

Anna Moulton, Global HR Director, shared how the network is investing in digital skills and innovation learning, creating new opportunities for our people and our business. The key to transforming the business and embracing disruption is to drive agility, collaboration and a culture of empowerment.

Given Dentsu Aegis Network’s core values (agile, ambitious, pioneering, collaborative, responsible) sit at the heart of the business and influence the way we work already, the future of work was made for a business like ours.

2. Using data & technology to create meaningful user experiences

The array of solutions we offer as a network is ultimately fueled by technology and data. Nick Waters, CEO Dentsu Aegis Network APAC, Jane Lin-Baden, CEO Isobar APAC, Vivek Bhargava, CEO Dentsu Aegis Network Performance Group and Masaya Nakamura, Executive Officer Dentsu Inc., led a session on how technology is unlocking the potential of creativity with meaningful user experiences in the Asia Pacific region.

“An experience is created when technology meets the heart” — Jane Lin-Baden, CEO Isobar APAC

We see technology empowering smart retail and creating meaningful online to offline shopping experiences, as demonstrated by Isobar China’s work with KFC.

While the best work combines data, technology and creativity to create meaningful user experiences, the two features of Asia’s rate of disruption are speed and scale, as reiterated by Nick Waters. Clearly, technology has a role in driving automation and efficiency, while enabling more creativity through better insight.

By leveraging these insights, brands are better positioned to win and, as emphasised by Founder & Global Chairman mcgarrybowen, Gordon Bowen, truly connect with customers through understanding the basic but fundamentally powerful human emotion — Love.

3. Craft with purpose matters now more than ever

In an omni-channel world where content meets transaction and innovation empowers brand experiences, advertising, activation, utilities and entertainment are all content now. This complexity requires simple, strategic design with the ability to travel across both screens and physical spaces.

Telling a good story enabled by data and technology is one of the most important crafts in the digital economy. That’s where Dentsu Aegis Network comes in, with the powerful combination of data, technology, media, performance and creativity.

Jean Lin, Global CEO Isobar, joined by Global Chief Strategic Officer mcgarrybowen, Jennifer Zimmerman, talked about the power of Craft in communicating and elevating ideas in today’s complex creative landscape.

As an industry, we need to create consumer experiences that transcend screens and channels, that are enabled by data and technology and that have real purpose at the heart.

It’s about connecting people to the soul of any great story.

It’s about the skill and process of originating, executing and sequencing ideas that matter.

It’s about creating the journeys and interfaces that enable real connection to evocative ideas — that makes people smile, laugh or cry.

This is what enables us to create work that augments the human experience, while driving true business value.

4. People-based marketing isn’t the future, it’s here now

To support our Craft, knowing our customer is key. David Williams, Chairman & CEO Merkle, shared the power of People-Based Marketing through highly personalised experiences, enabled by analytics.

As we move into an age of identity, David Williams emphasised the power of data-driven ideation and optimisation working together to drive better customer experience. As the market continues to change so fundamentally, we need to shift mindsets and talk about how we market to people, not proxies.

Ultimately, building a business that is fit for the digital economy is the best way of embracing the potential of disruption with resilience and optimism.

The clear overarching message from this year’s conference was that where others see uncertainty, we see opportunity, as we look to create personalised brand experiences that engage consumers in ways that are different and better than before.