It is that time of the year when Advertising Week kicks off in New York. With nearly seven to 10 parallel tracks including industry seminars, sessions, discussions, workshops and the likes, advertising professionals have taken over Times Square for a week running from one venue to another to make the most of the conversations.
Various broad strokes from the content line up indicate what is keeping the advertising business leaders busy. However, one topic that has taken centre stage in most of the key conversations is gender diversity. If for nothing else, the year 2016 will be remembered for bringing this issue to the fore. Business leaders did not shy from discussing the challenges that the industry faces on this front, and what the solutions should be.
Another interesting change was to notice anything that was once discussed under advertising technology - such as real time bidding, programmatic, dynamic creative and the likes - finding its way in the marketing technology track. In more ways than one, this is a welcome shift because there are enough definitions and terminologies already confusing the marketer on this without the need to differentiate advertising technology from marketing technology.
One of the most important points that was discussed in this track was the acknowledgment that monetisation from programmatic was more complex and difficult than it sounded. The conversations have advanced to mobile programmatic, programmatic in brand building and how more premium solutions can be sought.
Overall Advertising Week is housing some interesting conversations. Various brands have announcements and headlines to share as well that is promising to keep the week busy.
