This workshop took place on 25 March 2014, on the second day of the annual Digital Innovators’ Summit in Berlin, Germany. The workshop was run as part of the “technology disruptions” project the Future Media Lab. is currently working on. This project picks a cutting edge innovation and reflects on it in light of the most recent media trends. The idea is to focus on one topic per year, dig deeper into the topic with the help of relevant stakeholders and experts, understand the developments and disruptions and reflect on the potential impact on the media sector and the related legislative and non-legislative framework.
In 2014 the topic in focus is “social media innovations”. The workshop at the Digital Innovators’ was the first of four steps, with the final goal of producing a White Paper that summarizes our understanding of the (disruptive) changes ahead, shares some key questions and observations for further debate and provides some policy recommendations.
The focus of the workshop on 25 March was on “social media innovation and its impact on media advertising”. The speakers each gave a brief introductory note, in which they provided a bit of context how this topic matters in their respective fields. The moderator also gave a brief presentation, which was then followed by break-out sessions and a summary panel discussion.
How do innovations in social media impact digital advertising?
Technological innovation in social media and the evolution of the underlying algorithms are disrupting the traditional way of advertising spending in the digital world. In this session we discussed with hand-picked experts how these developments impact how advertisers will spend their money in the future. We explored how media could adapt to these changes. In the tradition of the Future Media Lab. this debate also was linked to the regulatory framework currently under construction for Europe’s digital economy.
The two hour session was kicked off by four expert presentations. Following this, participants were invited to share their insights and reflections on this topic in small, interactive working groups. The outcome of this session will serve as input to the White Paper to be published at the end of this one year project.
Expert:
- Daniel Knapp: Director Advertising Research, IHS Technology (UK)
Speaker:
- Marcel Boulogne: Head of Sector “Implementation of Regulatory Policy”, Unit “Converging Media & Content”, European Commission
- Joelle Frijters: Co-founder and CEO, Improve Digital (NL)
- Bernard Cools: Deputy Director General, Space (BE)
- Audra Martin: Vice President, Digital Advertising, The Economist (UK)
Daniel Knapp, IHS Technology (UK)
Daniel oversees advertising research and consulting at IHS, spanning established and emerging media from traditional TV to online video and mobile. He also heads research into advertisers’ use of ‘big data’ and new forms of consumer segmentation and targeting. Daniel works with a diverse array of organizations advising on strategy, providing due diligence and expert insight into business practice and building forecast models. Prior to IHS, Daniel worked in media policy at the State Chancellery in North Rhine-Westphalia and as a Research Fellow at the European Institute for the Media, a think tank. >>More
Joelle is CEO and co-founder of Improve Digital. She started the company having been a director at Microsoft Media Networks (NNM) EMEA, where she launched and oversaw Microsoft’s private ad network and solved the issue of the company’s unsold inventory. Prior to Microsoft, with support from Nickelodeon and Isobar, Joelle initiated one of the first social media start-ups, which was later sold to media giant, Sanoma. She worked at the head office of KLM Airlines, where she gained her first experience in yield management.
Bernard Cools, Space (BE)
Bernard Cools is currently Deputy General Manager at Space, #1 media agency in Belgium. He joined Space something more than 20 yours ago and held different functions within the company, gradually becoming responsible of all strategic thinking (research and channel planning). Prior to this he has been working as a media planner at DDB (1992-1993) and Young & Rubicam (1990-1992). At the beginning of his professional career (1988-1990), he has been assistant lecturer at the Department of Communication of the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL).
Marcel Boulogne, European Commission
Marcel Boulogne has a masters degree in law from Leiden University (specialisation in intellectual property law). After his law studies at Leiden University, Marcel Boulogne worked as a trade mark attorney in The Hague from 1994 to 1998. In 1998, he joined the Opposition Division of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade marks and designs) in Alicante (Spain).
He joined the European Commission – the “Audiovisual and Media policies Unit” - in 2003 where he first coordinated the work of the Content Online team. He is currently Head of Sector “Audiovisual Media Services”, responsible for the Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive in the unit “Converging Media and Content”.
Audra Martin, The Economist (UK)
Audra Martin is a vice president at The Economist Group, responsible for direction and delivery of the The Economist’s global digital advertising offering and content marketing programmes. Audra has over fifteen years of experience in publishing across a number of roles including product development, user experience, audience engagement, and change management, including experience at The New York Times and Hoover’s Inc, a D&B company.
