Marketing Talks: MK and Werbewoche look to the future

Entertaining, entertaining, stimulating - that's what the marketing talks by MK Marketing&Kommunikation and Werbewoche are supposed to be. The third edition on Wednesday, September 25, showed that the innovative event format is increasingly fulfilling this maxim: A good seventy guests came to listen to futurist Georges T. Roos and digital professionals Balz Lendorff, Claudia Staub and Christian Reiter. 

Georges T. Roos, Switzerland's leading futurologist and founder of a privately funded futurology institute and the European Futurists Conference Lucerne, during his opening presentation

The event was kicked off by futurist and self-confessed future optimist Georges T. Roos. He founded a future institute in Lucerne in the early 2000s, is the author of numerous trend studies (most recently: "Megatrends 2038: Challenges for Switzerland") and an expert in scientifically based forecasts. 

In his presentation, Roos named, for example, demographic change, biomedical advances and artificial intelligence as megatrends of the near and medium-term future. With regard to automation, for example, he did not rely on scaremongering but on pragmatism: the world is changing, but people will learn to adapt. 

The musical interlude, which has already become a tradition, was provided by the Zurich band Paul (formerly Clandestine), whose lineup on stage could have easily filled a concert hall. The sound of the six guys is somewhere between folk-rock and singer-songwriter, the music written and produced with a lot of passion. 

In conversation: Balz Lendorff, CEO of Plan.Net Suisse, Johannes Hapig, Editor MK Marketing&Kommunikation and Werbewoche, Claudia Staub, Head Digital Brand Experience & Ecosystem at Allianz and Christian Reiter, CEO of Kingfluencers (from left to right).

The fireside chat covered a whole range of experts from the digital industry: Balz Lendorff, CEO of Plan.Net Suisse, represented the agency side; Claudia Staub, Head Digital Brand Experience & Ecosystem at Allianz, represented the client side. Christian Reiter, CEO of Kingfluencers, completed the panel as a social media professional. 

Balz Lendorff spoke impressively of the changes that the Swiss digital industry has undergone since 1995, when he founded his first company, Netvertising. Before the dotcom crisis, it didn't really matter how much a project cost ("Startups were already financed with 150 million. Money didn't matter!"), today's clients are getting their service providers with ever smaller budgets. Nevertheless - or precisely because of this - innovations should not be neglected: Lendorff brought along an example of how artificial intelligence helps to play out personalized car advertising at gas pumps. This is a pilot project that Plan.Net Suisse is currently experimenting with. 

Claudia Staub reported on the challenges she sees facing the digitalization of the insurance industry. A certain institutional inertia has led many companies in this area not to pay enough attention to digital development - this is a risk, but also a great opportunity. Allianz, for example, is currently testing how it can address customers individually at all digital touchpoints. But Claudia Staub warned: "Insurance is a very private and sensitive topic. That's why we have to build trust before we launch personalized advertising measures."

Finally, Christian Reiter took up the cudgels for influencer marketing: In times of automation, mass mailings and sensory overload, the micro-influencers typical of Switzerland are a trustworthy reference that can inspire potential customers for products. He didn't want to hear any more about influencer failures and black sheep in the industry, because cooperation between customers and their social media ambassadors has long since become enormously professionalized. Problems are the absolute exception. 

The guests and speakers then came together once again at the atmospheric aperitif in a club atmosphere. Until late in the evening, they exchanged their thoughts on the future - and enjoyed the present.

More pictures of the event can be found in Advertising Week 10 2019 (Text: Johannes Hapig; Photos: Thomas Häusermann, Sarah Willi)

The Zurich band Paul provided a successful musical interlude.

Lively discussions at the Apéro Riche in Kosmos.

Anna Kohler, Publishing Director MK Werbewoche, in conversation with musician Paul, keyboardist of the band Paul (formerly Clandestine).