Dominique von Matt on the gfm Trend Conference: "The unthinkable has become the norm"

To kick off the presentations, Prof. Dr. Thomas Rudolf explained the "High Five" model for business model transformation, which is based on five central elements: Service offering, service creation, cost model, revenue model and value proposition. These elements must be coordinated in order to achieve a successful transformation. Rudolf also discusses the importance of disruption and how companies can protect themselves from it by paying attention to disruptive processes in different industries.

Tobias Zehnder from Webrepublic explains that AI marketing offers many opportunities, but also requires a return to proven strategies. It means a change in collaboration and opens up a great adventure. With AI, processes become faster, but human expertise and content curation remain crucial. Although AI tools could replace agencies, the need for human operation and strategy remains. Agencies must prove their added value through innovation and consulting to remain profitable.

Prof. Dr. Marc Gruber presents the "Market Opportunity Navigator", a tool that helps companies to systematically identify and evaluate new market opportunities and focus on the best ones. In the face of technological progress, it is crucial for companies to think outside the box and tap into new products and market categories. The tool offers structured guidance in three steps and makes it possible to systematically develop ideas that might previously have only arisen spontaneously. Using Logitech as an example, Gruber shows how the tool was applied in a workshop.

Emmanuel Wandji Tchatat, Head of Operations Zeam, talks about his experience as a TikTok admin for the amateur football club Delay Sports Berlin in Germany. Despite being an amateur club, the club has more followers on TikTok and Instagram than most German professional teams. This shows that entertainment and the presence of well-known influencers are more important than sporting performance for the younger generation.

At the end of the gfm Trend Conference, Dominique von Matt, GfM President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Jung von Matt/Limmat agency, reflects on the fact that society is in a state in which the unthinkable is becoming the norm and people are increasingly looking for anchors of trust. They are increasingly finding these trust anchors in trusted brands, which is why the concept of the love brand is being overtaken in favor of the trust brand. He emphasizes the importance of trust for the future of brand management. Von Matt also announces that the next award ceremony will take place on March 25, 2025.

The afternoon of the 33rd gfm Trend Conference was opened by Tyler Brûlé, editor-in-chief of the premium lifestyle magazine Monocle. His presentation was entitled "How to stand out in a standardized world". He referred not only to the media environment, but also to advertising, which, according to him, has become very interchangeable these days: "Every commercial looks the same". Brûlé blamed this on the advertising industry's self-imposed guidelines aimed at correctly reflecting social developments. He also emphasized the importance of not overlooking older target groups, as they are still numerous and have purchasing power, despite the hype surrounding younger generations.

Later in the afternoon, Nathalie Wappler, Director of SRF, and Michael Hermann, Managing Director of Sotomo, made an appearance. Wappler firmly contradicted the opinion that TV and radio are dead and presented current figures that prove the opposite. However, she conceded that SRF's programs do not reach 27 percent of the German-speaking Swiss population and that it is therefore necessary to work on new offerings.