Lisbon Web Summit tickets, a waste of 700 euros?
or impostor syndrome, what to expect in the coming months and years in marketing and business, and the down-to-earth but practical lessons learned.
I didn’t go into Websummit with excessive expectations, but with a mindset to gain inspiration and knowledge in the areas that are closest to my heart: Business Strategy, Innovation, Product Management, future of work, business communication in and out, etc.
„What did I get besides 6 halls, 70,000 people and so many presentations that it is impossible to fit them all in?
Impostor syndrome and Web Summit in a nutshell
“You know how you often have the impression that you don’t actually know anything, that everyone around you knows so much more and that your success is actually just an undeserved coincidence? That’s called Impostor Syndrome and you’ll enjoy it a lot at the Summit.”
At first, I got an unprecedented feeling. With the first few items on the agenda, my impostor syndrome was drastically reduced, but only until I discovered that it was the Keynotes that were worthwhile, not the panel discussions and other formats that, while promising interesting topics, didn’t quite deliver.
At the same time, along with a few individual keynote presentations, I soon made time for some natural networking at the Web Summit, which in turn brought my impostor syndrome to an even higher level than it was when I arrived at the conference.
The initial conflicting feelings about the lectures were forgotten. Because everyone I met at the conference had an incredible passion for what they do. Huge overlap beyond their core domain and above all they were incredibly interesting people who will leave you full of inspiration.
So what I take away from WebSummit is more of a synthesis of ideas from great keynotes and “small talks” with attendees and exhibitors.
I divide it into several areas:
I. What to expect from the following period
II. Communication and business strategy
III. Vision of a better world
IV. Random thoughts
V. Not my domain, but worth watching
VI. Projects that have appealed to me
VII. A few data
VIII. Wrap up and good to know
Important note. Throughout the topics and lectures on communication, business strategy, product management, branding, search campaigns, etc., etc., there was the classic: „If we don’t set business goals for what we want to achieve in business and customer behaviour, then any activity will fail.” Think about it.
I. What to expect from the coming months and years
Firms are preparing to turn the corner they expect, and whether the recession is real or self-fulfilling, it looks like it will be here to some degree.
What I see as even more important, and only fully voiced by Martin Sorrell, former CEO of WPP, is that the biggest challenge for brands will be coping with the business risk from not only an already warring Russia but also the big threat from China, where many brands now have major operations that are being intensely reassessed.
I have to mention that I have to agree with Martin that he didn’t let him be interrupted by the moderator, with the note. that this is not a topic for a Marketing 2023 discussion. This is in fact exactly what business/sales/marketing (everything that communication fits into, or vice versa) will be addressed as a key agenda in the biggest companies in the coming periods).
At the same time, we need to remember that even though we all effectively forget about covid, it will still leave us with something (the fact that we won’t know covid accelerated it anymore won’t matter).
- There are no non-technology companies any more (all have to a greater or lesser extent undergone at least some form of digital transformation and with that will face the challenges of deepening digitalization, and pressure on efficiency, but also with changing processes and new types of employees and operations in companies.
- Although phrases like quiet quitting among employees etc. are tossed around, we will be left with online modes of interaction as an automatic way of functioning (hopefully at least at status meetings :)), while at the same time there will be significantly more pressure on employers and companies in the form of hybrid functioning, better fulfilling the personal visions of employees who are looking for purposeful employers and not just employers, as well described by LinkedIn COO Dan Shapero.
V kontextu Quite Quitting a odvedení „nutného minima” bychom to měli vnímat jako vymezování osobních hranic jako zaměstnavatelé a pracovat se zaměstnanci tak, aby se zaprvé chtěli podílet na vizi firmy, ale za druhé, že bychom měli potenciálního zaměstnance, který se při pohovoru na první pozici ptá rovnou na svoji budoucnoust ve firmě a možnost postupu, brát spíše pozitivně, jelikož ví, že je to běh na dlouhou trať a ne na 2 roky..
- Let’s not look at the next generation ( Z or any other) through our fingers, but with the understanding that we can also learn something from them (whether colleagues or customers)
- Let’s keep in mind that it may be ok to do the bare minimum at work, but in the end, we often move the furthest humanly and professionally where we go the extra mile beyond our “job description”
- it is during the crisis that those companies that want and solve real problems of people will survive and grow
- Top people usually want to move every 2–3 years, if we don’t allow them to do so, they will leave. Let’s get the company set up for that.
II. Communication and business strategy
The issue of communication of companies and brands, in general, can be divided into 3–4 topics. Customers →Product →Brand →Budget
Customers-negative sentiment
Limited time. Inflation. Growing Generation Z. Millennials are already at “peak” productivity. Expensive energy. Energy crisis. Global warming. Environmental problems…. That's it.
At this time, it is even harder to retain customers, and the numbers prove declining customer loyalty across the industries. We expect customers to be price sensitive, but equally sensitive in terms of quality of service and Customer Experience, where customers have become accustomed, through “unpaid” services, that they should get a lot for their money from brands and companies, at least on digital touchpoints.
Product — Efficiency and real-world problem solutions
We should look at product creation and development, even in a crisis, from 2 perspectives. Firstly, from the perspective of the market, market fit, and customers, i.e. whether we are solving real problems, have a good solution, and whether customers are willing to pay for the solution (Willingness to Pay). Second, from the perspective of development effectiveness.
Programmer workload and lack of capacity do not necessarily mean that we are developing the right solution and key features. Let’s have clear goals of what we want to achieve and think that the main thing we should do with products is to know the customer and their needs.
So ask the customer. Whether it’s feedback through Social Media, App Store, questionnaire, Value Proposition, customer interviews, or customer testing.
But… among other things, I’ll take some advice from Hubert Palan of Productboard
- Let’s be efficient with customer involvement in development. It is not necessary everywhere as it is also capacity intensive.
- Let’s take shortcuts where possible. If we’re tackling something, it’s possible that someone has iterated before, there’s a historical needs analysis and job to-dos, or there’s simply someone more senior who has been through a similar challenge.
- In the Product Road Map, let’s keep the priorities in terms of key things for the customer and the business. While it’s nice to have a polished screen with general terms and conditions, the customer and our business might benefit from this effort more elsewhere.
Brand and Content — More people want Nike than are looking for shoes
Best Practices of Communication — You can do marketing stunts as you want, but without best practices, n the end you still won’t be successful. So a quick reminder on how to do Terrible Brand Content —I mean how not to do it 🙃:
- Start Without Defined Goals
- Ignore the Value Venn
- Treat It like an Ad
- Forget to Tell a Story
- Position the Brand as a Hero
- Quantity over Quality
- Decide on the format first
- Go Too Brand Heavy with the Design
- Sacrifice Best Practices to Stand Out
- Give the Audience to Leave Early
In the US, the search term Nike is searched more than the entire generic keyword „shoes”. Branding and what brand means matters. Whether it’s because of the customer focus on “eco”, “sustainable” or the cost/benefit promise to the customer. I always remember once every X years when picking out new tires, or anything “commodity” but relatively expensive, how brand matters because what I haven’t heard of I usually won’t purchase, even despite positive reviews (because reviews on the internet, right.. 🙂).
Budget
During the last major crisis, according to Branch.io, the breakdown of firms by their marketing spend was highly correlated with how well the firms fared in the market share after the crisis “subsided”. After the recession, the most successful companies and brands were those that increased their marketing spending. Of course, it is a matter of distinguishing industry from industry and the health of the firms, and the quality of the brand they went into the crisis with.
At the same time, the number 65% rotated several times. That’s the proportion of marketing investment that currently goes into digital marketing (with a prediction of 75% in 2025). An ever-increasing proportion is for influencer marketing at around 4%. Please, let’s think about the marketing budget holistically and work with a different attribution. Ideally, let’s introduce simple Customer Experience metrics into the business, be it simple NPS, CLTV, or whatever else that will diminish silos between departments and all pull towards one goal and not their sub-goals that often go against each other. In a recession, efficiency is more important than ever.
III. Vision of a better world:
When else to start a new product or business than in a recession? It will always be difficult, but now there is the possibility of even more growth in the future — I don’t know which of the speakers said that, but it stuck in my mind. :)
It’s good to see that both small businesses and large corporations are thinking about the real problems of today’s world, with environmentalism getting most of the glory today (yes, of course, we have plenty of other problems, but I take it that we are at least addressing the best next step).
From “small” projects and companies starting to do offsetting (i.e. offsetting the carbon footprint of production) for companies, to companies offering direct investments in renewables, to “startups” making the electric grid more efficient.
It’s great to hear from Apple that they’re thinking about where to go next after achieving their 2030 carbon neutrality goal, having already mastered many real milestones in office buildings and supply chains.
At the same time, I was intrigued by Brad Smith’s keynote. Innovating our way out of the Carbon Crisis, which was very close to Bill Gates’ views on the direction of humanity’s problems — i.e. innovation. A basic overview of projects that Microsoft believes could help us in the future, caught my eye.
- Planet — In order to make the right decisions, we need to have the right data on emissions in the atmosphere. With real-time screening of the planet using small satellites, we can achieve this.
- Terrapraxis —Restructuring coal plants into emission-free electricity producers using small nuclear reactors, etc. Because much of the equipment is already installed.
- Climeworks — Capturing carbon dioxide from the air.
IV. A few thoughts that caught my eye, or I sorted better
Limited time and connection
Of course, people have a limited amount of time — Although there are millions of apps, the most downloaded apps are generally those that share community features — primarily Social Media Platforms. Even though we have all these connecting platforms, the research says that:
- 22% of millennials feel they have no friends (27% feel they have no close friends)
- For Gen X, this feels like 16%
- About 10% of boomers feel this way
Products and brands should think about how to not only create content within a given amount of time but also how to create real communities that have a shared interest.
Marketing cost Inflation
The rising cost of advertising (fulfillment, competition, streamlining processes — let’s do unique things and not commodity things) — I hear every year at all the conferences. Maybe it’s a supply and demand message that we should be exploring new markets and solving real problems that give us a competitive advantage in the “chase” for profit and livelihood rather than staying in a commodity environment.
Algorithms rule, obey.
Whether we like it or not, different platforms are ruled by different algorithms. If you want to be successful, it’s good to know them.
Elon Musk topic and advice from Google Analytics maker
Elon Musk was getting into too many unrelated discussions on various topics for my liking, yet I was amused by Wesley Chan now an investor, historically the creator of Google Analytics (I recommend watching him as he was very straightforward and had a great perspective on business and investing in his discussion), who when asked what lessons we can learn about crisis management and Elon Musk in relation to the Twitter takeover replied: „Do the exact opposite.” 🤣
V. Topics that are not my core interest (NFT, Web3, Metaverse)
but it’s good to broaden your horizons and keep an eye on possible future stars (yes, I know the metaverse is already everything 😩)
- NFT, Web3, Metaverse
- It will take some time, although Metaverse is here.
- In NFT, Web3, Metaverse is full of scams (quality projects are getting lost in the shuffle) — just like in the early days of the internet. Molly White gave a great insight in her keynote Is Web3 bullshit? It obviously makes sense to follow her blog https://web3isgoinggreat.com/.
- We have an idea of the space, but everyone is looking for something to fill it with so that people want to be there. There is a lack of a coherent vision for the brands.
- Big brands like Lego, which has announced a partnership with Epic, are already thinking about how to operate in the Metaverse to deliver on Brand Safety — let’s make space safe.
Despite my skepticism and negative emotional arguments, I am starting to make a wish list of the future workings of the Metaverse reality.
- it doesn’t matter if I’m online or offline. Colleagues, partners, friends are able to set the rules together and meet in a combination of real, VR or AR world naturally as needed.
- Hybrid workspace — the idea of sharing a meeting room with holograms and real people seems top to me. Plus, with the promise of different headsets capturing our facial and body expressions, whether I’m projecting myself or the Avatar brings the best of the real world into the virtual one.
- Leaving aside the gaming, which is the only absolutely 100% tangible — Fortnite already, we have.
- AR projects in the real world from augmented information, to teaching, to already working navigation I am incredibly drawn to.
VI. Projects that appealed to me:
- Lokalise — Translations and AI content generation in general (sure you have to know how to work with it, but what not :)). Speed of translations when expanding to new markets or target groups is key.
- Amity — a platform to help create community white-labeled features for brand apps. Not every company can afford to create community features from the scratch.
- Builder.AI — The platform for building applications (no code or with expert) in which Microsoft has also invested is very interesting to me, especially for the possibility of rapid deployment of applications for smaller platforms and with the possibility of rapid scaling
VII. A couple of exact data:
- Wait for them to translate Siri into your language — already more than 50% of searches in the US are done by voice.
- The younger generation searches on TikTok (among others) — it’s interesting to get non-exact results because social networks are not set up for Google-like searches :). For brands, of course, it’s all the more reason to create content and not just advertising.
- 65% of the marketing budget is in digital. Yet we still split different marketing departments (trade, digital, ATL, etc…) — my head is spinning.
VIII. At the end:
Organising
- There could have been 20–30% fewer tickets sold.
- The fact that there is no catering included I accept — however, I’ve been in Portugal for 3 months so I know the local price level, then the food prices and queues just leave me with a slight feeling of being ripped off, which diminishes the whole Customer Experience of the web summit (it doesn’t matter if it puts a strain on my wallet or not).
- The partners clearly didn’t feel like creating content, so they preferred to chat, which was ultimately about nothing. All of the roundups and Q&As did have interesting topics in their descriptions, but they were usually very general and at least seemingly not very well prepared with discussion moderators.
- The only ones that rocked were the startup presentations (where there was at least emotion and sweating) and a couple of keynotes and masterclasses, which were generally well-prepared.
- Generally, I reckon that about 1 out of 6 presentations are usually good, this was confirmed.
- I don’t know how they put the program together, but my hypothesis is that the top speakers go in the morning when people (who haven’t been drinking ) are fresh and the partners who paid for self-promo presentations are in the afternoon. I don’t have a better hypothesis for my impression.
Lessons learned:
- It’s good to go into a web summit, knowing that the people you meet will give you more than lectures, so I recommend really tuning in. They’re all super interesting and have an awful lot up their sleeve.
- You can’t catch everything, you can master the keynotes from the recording.
- After 10 am there were huge queues, come a little earlier — you can avoid waiting and catch the morning program, which was mostly great.
Web Summit Wrap UP
In the age of the internet and the availability of information, it’s hard to come up with something completely new on stage for every keynote. Nevertheless, several speakers still managed to deliver a great keynote for me even on “common” topics that had everything from strategic insight, to tactics, to examples of execution that you can really take something away from (e.g. Neil Patel’s Search Beyond Search).
But most importantly, there are 70,000 great people at WebSummit, usually with a great passion for what they do, with whom you can greatly enrich each other and come up with new ideas or inspiration.
But still… See you at the Web Summit next time? Honestly? I don’t know yet.
