As an independent ad tech advisor, Ivan Guzenko provides professional advice to the CEO and C-level management of the company SmartyAds Inc.
On September 18 and 19, DMEXCO 2024 turned Cologne into a global buzzing marketing beehive, attracting top industry minds for two days of active trendspotting. Gathering 40,000 visitors and 680 partner exhibitors, in some sense, the scale of it brought to mind another big marketing event—Cannes Lions, albeit with a sharper focus on tech and much faster dynamics.
While AI undoubtedly stole the show at this year’s DMEXCO, topics like sustainability, the potential return of cookies, alternative identifiers and CTV were all lined up for their moment in the spotlight. Now, I’m pulling back the curtain to share the key insights that will define the next big moves in ad tech.
AI Takes Center Stage: Friend Or Foe?
Since last year, all eyes have been glued to the rise of AI at DMEXCO, where a battle of perspectives unfolded—on one side, speakers like Aude Gandon, Global CMO at Nestlé, championed AI’s ability to fuel creativity, while on the other, voices like Gaurav Bhaya, Vice President at Google, raised alarms about its potential threats and the looming job market apocalypse. This year’s theme, “Prompting the Future,” focused on how to not just embrace AI but master it—figuring out where its power can drive real results for businesses.
Brendon Kraham (VP of Search and Commerce, Global Ads Solutions, at Google) kicked things off with a deep dive into the latest AI innovations in search and measurement. At the event, Google introduced a range of AI tools powered by Gemini, including creative generation tools and confidential matching for secure data processing—essentially giving advertisers a new tech tool kit powered by AI.
Meanwhile, Kai Ebert (SYZYGY AG) and Lea Horn (Arvato Systems, Bertelsmann) were involved in a masterclass dedicated to detecting deepfakes—a real dark side of AI that the world has yet to cope with. We thought AI would free us from the monotony of daily tasks, but instead, it’s creating a paradox. While it’s revolutionizing marketing by automating processes and speeding things up, it’s also unleashing new challenges.
The risks are piling up, from a flood of low-quality content and MFA (made-for-advertising) websites to fake celebrities and AI-generated deepfakes that cost one business $25 million in losses. With the U.S. election on the horizon, marketers are facing a high-stakes balancing act—managing brand safety while navigating the unpredictable landscape of AI.
It’s clear that AI regulation is no longer optional; governments are racing to put guardrails in place with frameworks and new budding regulations setting standards for fairness, privacy and accountability in this field.
Scaling Up Campaigns, Not Carbon: A Growing Challenge
This year’s DMEXCO sustainability talks were bound to provide attendees with insights on actionable ways to diminish energy consumption and foster real sustainability steps across the programmatic chain. In particular, the Future TV Stage was brimming with inspiring best-case presentations on this topic, as well as addressable TV and connected TV.
With a striking 75% of agencies and marketers across Europe expressing concern over sustainability metrics, the pressure is on for ad tech companies. As expectations mount for vendors to disclose their carbon emissions, CMOs find themselves at the crossroads of profitability and planet-friendly practices.
The challenge? Balancing the pursuit of business success with the urgent need to reduce carbon footprints, particularly when it comes to server energy consumption—a crucial cog in the wheel of effective ad campaigns.
In this context, progress is already underway, with many ad tech vendors earning “CarbonNeutral” certification and securing third-party verification for meeting their SBTi net-zero goals. Now is the time for agencies and advertisers to seize the initiative by implementing the five key actions outlined in the Ad Net Zero framework.
This framework provides a clear, actionable road map to achieving net zero—not just in operations but in the very content they produce. Ad Net Zero supports the entire industry with tools, training and opportunities for sharing best practices among companies of all sizes. In this era of collective responsibility, the industry is not just competing; it’s uniting for a greener future.
The End Of The Long-Running Cookie Saga: All Lessons Learned
As we recently learned from Google, cookies are back on the menu, and this has been central to many discussions at DMEXCO. The ad tech community was left reeling by this revelation, but the real takeaway lies in the lessons learned from this unfolding saga. The burning question on everyone’s lips is clear: Whether it’s cookies or any other popular identifier, placing all your bets on a single option is a risky gamble that brands should steer clear of in 2024.
While the ghost of cookie extinction haunted advertisers for years, they frantically scrambled to find alternative identifiers that could strike a delicate balance between privacy and personalization within the framework of Google’s consent model. This urgency has sparked a notable shift toward a diverse array of identifiers now in play—hashed email identifiers, app SDKs, CTV identifiers and probabilistic graphs are quickly becoming the new go-tos for agency and brand marketers alike.
My advice here is that brands need to diversify their identifier strategies to eliminate blind spots throughout the funnel. Embracing first-party data and building direct relationships with publishers can effectively engage existing audiences.
Meanwhile, predictive and contextual approaches are proving invaluable for customer acquisition, as they aren’t constrained by addressability. Plus, lower-funnel strategies that have traditionally leaned on cookie retargeting can now harness the power of Google’s Protected Audience API. This tool enables advertisers to connect with users who have already shown interest in their products—all while keeping privacy firmly in focus.
Wrapping It Up
DMEXCO 2024 spotlighted the shifting tides of digital marketing, where AI-driven personalization, data and ethical tech took center stage. In this era of limitless possibilities, marketers must harness the power of generative AI to craft personalized experiences without forgetting about potential risks and balancing progress with environmental responsibility.
In a world where adaptability reigns, those who embrace a balanced, forward-thinking approach will be the ones steering the ship.
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