It was the crème de la crème of digital industry bods on Wednesday at the IAB Engage 2009 which is renowned for its heavy hitting speakers. Previous luminaries have included the likes of Bill Gates and James Murdoch. This year didn’t disappoint with guest speaker and celebrity Twitterati Stephen Fry closing the event in a ‘fireside interview’ with IAB chairman, Richard Eyre. Stephen Fry, now known as @stephenfry, appropriately commented "I'm not just a performer any more, I'm a content provider," when discussing his career and over 900,000 followers on Twitter.
It was difficult not to feel smug as Matt Brittin, Google’s managing director took to the stage towards the end of the day. His first key message was entitled “Be Greater with Data”, which as a reader of this blog you will know is a subject dear to our hearts at Efficient Frontier. He then aptly continued with his second key message “Use Technology”. Simplistic in title and clear in its meaning, that as complexity for advertisers increases, it becomes virtually impossible to manage without the right technology.
Other highlights included the super Sci Fi presentation by Ashley Highfield, Microsoft’s managing director & vice president, in which he focused on the future of TV and online content. He prophesied a near future of “two-way” touch screens that will be commonplace in the home and will replace traditional TV sets.
Also interesting for search marketers was O2 Media’s managing director, Shaun Gregory’s confirmation that the long anticipated exponential growth of mobile internet has now arrived due to the increased competitiveness and better usability in the handset market.
The IAB has more great coverage of the event on their website which is worth a look. Top marks to the IAB for creating a memorable event with their “Keep Fit Be Happy” theme. I especially liked that Mr. Motivator himself was on hand (via video) to pump everyone up during presentation intervals and create some real digital marketing zeal!
Merinda Peppard
Global Marketing Manager
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