In its second year, digital media's premier event, adtech, had more attendance – over 2,800 delegates converged at the Leela Kempinski in Gurgaon, compared to the 2000 a year ago. But somehow, the event lacked the fizz, flavour and fervor of the first edition in 2011. Last year, social media was still nascent and marketers were still trying to get a grip on it, and  when Unilever's Vice President Global Communication Planning Babs Rangaiah took the stage a frisson of excitement coursed through the hall. And Facebook's Vice President Advertising and Global Operations David Fischer's session was such a sellout that even standing room was hard to come by. At this edition, by comparison, there were seats going empty and it was clear the speakers were preaching to the converted. Digital had gained acceptance  - but there were still takeaways. Although social networks continued to be the flavor, there were glimpses of  digital life beyond social as well. So here's what was new:

Packing in a digital delivery

Digital has breached the next frontier –  food packaging!  Marketers at the summit showed how digital solutions are fast being incorporated in physical packaging.

Imagine picking up a packet of Lays chips, on which a barcode is printed. You scan it with your reader application on your smart phone and it takes you into the web page of  the company where an exciting discount deal or a stimulating video awaits you.

Shiv Singh, global head of digital, Pepsico showed how the beverage and food maker was making consumers interact with brand packaging.  It teamed up the application developer Stickybits to distribute video that could be accessed through bar codes on cans of Pepsi and Lays potato chips.

Nestle’s global head of digital marketing and social, Pete Blackshow showed how a consumer can scan the quck response (QR) code on a Maggi packaging with an iphone or Android smartphone and  it leads the phone straight into a web page that shares  some exciting recipes to make with the noodles.

In the US, food giant General Mills has already made its cereals and yoghurts connect  with consumers in fun ways through digital technology.  

Digital is now not just restricted to the Internet but being integrated into the most amazing places.

Movement of the advertising dollar 

Online advertising’s relentless march continues.  comScore’s chairman Gian Fulgoni pointed out that in India online advertising was growing at a clip of 40 per cent.

Yahoo India’s senior director marketing Nitin Mathur was more cautious, pegging the overall rate of online advertising growth in India at 25-30 percent (display advertising is growing at 35 per cent, search advertising at 35  percent, and classified market at a little less rate, he said).  “But remember it is on a small base,” he said.

But he pointed out how in North Asia, the movement of dollar from offline to online has been pretty rapid, with digital spends crossing above 20 per cent for many companies.

The surprise, as he pointed out, was that in Britain, the web had overtaken TV in 2011 with brands spending ore money advertising on the Internet than on TV.   According to figures put out by Britain’s Internet Advertising Bureau,  in the first half of 2011, online advertising had a market share of 27 per cent compared to TV’s market share of 26 per cent. In the US, online advertising crossed print in 2011. 

If in 2011, it was the facebook effect that helped online advertising’s strong showing,  with an amazing growth in display ads on social networking sites, then in 2012, the growth is going to come from online video ads, said experts at the summit.

But despite these impressive figures, marketers said that TV is not going away anywhere, and globally will continue to remain advertiser’s favourite media.  Said Pete Blackshaw of Nestle, “If social is vitamin for TV, then TV will be an amplifier for social.”

Tailpiece

On both days of the event, tweets were flying - so much so that adTech was one of the most trending topic on Twitter. One tweeter had a pertinent question  - how come there was so much paper matter (brochures galore) being distributed at a digital event! Low tech, that!

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