Tag: conference

24/7 Search: My key takeouts from IAB Search 2017

Search is currently going through a renaissance which has implications for agencies and brands. I went to IAB’s Search 2017: 24/7 Search conference last month to find out more about the latest thinking from a range of key industry players.

We began with Sam Fenton-Elstone, Chief Digital Media Officer at VCCP Media saying, “it’s a nice sunny day and we are inside a windowless room talking about Search.” The auditorium, situated in the middle of the building, had numerous TV screens on the walls and the ceiling was cloaked in strip lighting. I almost got the feeling that Batman might soon be returning to his lair after a night fighting crime.

Sam argued that Search is no longer a channel: it is an intrinsic human behaviour. He explained that Search is prolific and, as visualised in a Wheel of Search, some brands even become access points themselves – think ASOS, Skyscanner and Argos.

Clearly this dispels the notion that Google dominates Search. Search marketers all know the figures: Google has almost 95% of the search engine market share, depending on which source, but it does not own Search completely as people now search for information through various ways such as apps, social media and video content.

Conversely, Harry Davies, Marketing Leader at Google UK, not surprisingly stated that everything starts with Search. He began by saying more people now access the internet more often with 87% of them turning to Search in their first moment of need.

Key reasons people use Search

One of his main points, which was also reiterated several times throughout the day, was that the attention span of consumers has got shorter. Indeed, at least two presentations featured goldfish to drive home this point. Whilst 18% of people expect a website to load instantly, Google recommended that the top limit should be around 2 seconds. Most retail sites have an average 3.8 seconds wait time, so there is room for improvement.

After lunch we returned to the Batcave. For the afternoon session, Aaron McGrath, Sales Director at Bing Ads, covered the main ways that Search will evolve. Through predictive search, textless and screenless search, image searching, and face recognition, Search will become more personalised, immersive, situationally relevant and interactive.

When Microsoft HoloLens browsing is brought to physical reality consumers will potentially see how products, like furniture, can fit into their home. Moreover, the uptake in voice search will mean that 50% of all Search will come through voice by 2020 (Bing).

The final presentation was delivered by Scott Abbott, Head of Product for Paid Search at iProspect, describing how user behaviour has changed. The increase in searching on mobile and through voice search is clearly changing the way people search. For example, the number of ‘near me’ queries within retail has risen by 200% YoY.

He went on to suggest that as voice search becomes more prevalent it is important to keep in mind that these types of searches are generally more ‘long tail’. Quite a few people say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to Siri!

Overall the three main themes across the presentations were the importance of speed for a website, adopting a strategy for voice/visual search and understanding how consumer behaviour is changing. Undoubtedly, it is imperative for us to be adaptive since Search is constantly evolving and is likely to look very different in five years time.


OMD @ DMEXCO 2017

dmexco is the global business and innovation platform of the digital economy, enabling visitors to experience disruptive trends and define the business potential of tomorrow. With over 250 hours of conference programme, more than 1,000 exhibitors and 90,000 square meters of exhibition space – Europe’s leading digital trade fair is growing. As the meeting place for makers and shakers, visionaries, marketing and media professionals, tech enthusiasts and creative thinkers, dmexco combines a leading trade fair for digital marketing with an extraordinary conference.

We are extremely excited that OMD, for the fifth year running is returning to Cologne to help guide our clients, partners and friends through the exhibition and offer an unparalleled experience. This year OMD is offering a comprehensive range of guided tours, from mobile and programmatic to data and social, live hacks focusing on data strategy and marketing technology, and bespoke recommendations for talks and panels you should attend to make your time at dmexco as profitable and educational as possible.

Let us guide you

Start your dmexco experience with a guided tour from our team of OMD experts. For German speaking tours please sign up here. For English speaking tours across mobile, programmatic, data and social please contact [email protected] to reserve your space. English tour timings are as follows:

September 13th

  •  The mobile and social tour- 10.00
  • The programmatic and data tour- 12.00
  • The overview tour- 16.00

September 14th

  •  The mobile and social tour- 12.00
  • The programmatic and data tour- 14.00
  • The overview tour- 16.00

Participation in the tours is only possible after registration. As participants are limited per tour, make sure to secure your place today.

Taking to the stage

Let our experts compile the panels and keynotes that you won’t want to miss. With past speakers including Mondelez’ Dana Anderson, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Vice’s Shane Smith and Google’s Sridhar Ramaswamy, the 2017 agenda, including our OMD and Omnicom spokespeople, is bound to be exceptional. 

Your home at dmexco 

With a jam-packed programme make sure you visit the OMD stand to re-energize. Join us for refreshments, networking opportunities or a guided tour. For more information about dmexco and how we can make your time in Cologne more valuable, please contact [email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6XnoDuRPbU


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