Always Look on the Bright Side of AI—Web Summit’s Peek into 2024

Read more about Always Look on the Bright Side of AI—Web Summit’s Peek into 2024

Always Look on the Bright Side of AI—Web Summit’s Peek into 2024

AI & Emerging Technology Consulting AI & Emerging Technology Consulting, Industry events 3 min read

The fact that AI was the talk of the town at Web Summit 2023—one of the world’s top tech conferences where policymakers, heads of state, technology companies and fast-growing startups talk about what’s next—came to no one’s surprise. The actual takeover of the event by this emerging technology, though, was impressive. While in 2022 it was the metaverse, the real thing this year was AI, which you could tell by looking at the summit’s schedule of about 80% AI-focused speeches and panels.

The main question that I tried to answer during my four days in Lisbon was, are we really taking a technological and cultural leap? So many things that once seemed like they were just futuristic concepts, from Bluetooth to laptops to the iPhone, have become our everyday tools. But with AI, to what extent are we recognizing that tomorrow will be markedly different from today? In the spirit of recognition, here are some things I thought (and spoke) extensively about at Web Summit.

First up, the environment. To paint a rather dystopian picture, we’ve consumed enough film and literary content to envision a future where man and machine battle for domination, with one possibly wiping the other off of the face of the Earth. However, Web Summit allowed me to see a more utopian view: AI is an ally in our mission to safeguard our planet—and the tech will only grow in this ability. Melanie Nagasawa, Microsoft’s Chief Sustainability Officer, explained that AI will help us significantly reduce water and energy waste in electrical networks, as the tools enable us to produce assets more efficiently. Another astounding example is that AI can help revolutionize global food production systems, with AI-powered indoor farms offering safer, climate-resilient and thus more reliable food production.

Second, marketing. One of the talks that truly stuck with me was by Joana Vasconcelos, an incredible Portuguese visual artist. In her speech on the role of art in the “new world,” she reiterated that AI will not replace us, at least not in the fun things such as creative thinking, and any other aspect where the human touch remains indispensable—and I fully agree. That said, there’s no doubt that AI, along with virtual experiences, have firmly established their roles in the digital realm. From powerful tools for campaign creation, management and amplification to the development of premium content (think of AI lip-syncing, audio production and video adaptation), AI is taking a leading role.

However, amidst the chaos of hundreds of martech startup pitches, one blue logo—coming directly from my friend’s bedroom in 1995—lit up my day: SEGA. The Japanese company’s COO Shuji Utsumi talked about transmedia; how an entertainment product like Sonic transmediated, adopting different shapes based on the channel, intended use and target audience, from video game hero to TV star to influencer. If you ask me, the concept of transmedia is what should be at the center of tomorrow’s digital marketing development. We should increasingly be thinking about campaigns, content, culture and communicative products in a way that, to quote Radiohead, “Everything’s in its right place.”

As for entertainment, the operative word is gamification. Some thought it had gotten lost a long time ago when we interacted by clicking on the keyboards of our cell phones, but no. Gamification has returned to set new and higher standards with exceptional quality, supercomputing power and a humanized flow. Transforming advertising into advergames is a trend that I believe we should rediscover because AI now allows us to offer seamless experiences (I’m reminded of gamification’s old issues with convoluted mechanics and endless lags) that are completely tailored to users—and we know how important personalization is when it comes to effective communication.

From the perspective of our company, it’s only right to say: we are now. In moving from speech to startup pitch to panel, I realized how the DNA, capabilities and values of our organization are fully on track with the direction the digital landscape is heading in. Our eagerness to come up with and provide creative and technological solutions today prepares us to address the challenges of tomorrow. And so, I couldn’t help but feel excited about these shifts and our task to support brands in navigating them.

All in all, this year’s Web Summit recognized the rise of AI as a paradigm shift—not only is the tech transforming industries, but it’s also offering solutions that help us tackle environmental challenges, shape marketing strategies, revolutionize entertainment and drive innovation in the digital world.

Sharing our takeaways from Web Summit 2023, we highlight how innovative AI tools help tackle environmental challenges, revolutionize entertainment, and shape marketing strategies. AI marketing strategy Entertainment marketing state of the industry AI & Emerging Technology Consulting Industry events

Where’s Wes? How to Find the Monks at Advertising Week NY

Read more about Where’s Wes? How to Find the Monks at Advertising Week NY

Where’s Wes? How to Find the Monks at Advertising Week NY

3 min read

Advertising Week New York is set to launch next week, where marketing’s best and brightest will gather to discuss the big ideas, challenges and opportunities in advertising today. While concerns regarding creative differentiation, loyalty and relevance are to be expected, a key question to answer at this year’s event is: where agencies fit into the equation as brands seek to take back control, and how are new partnership models are emerging to help them do just that?

To help brands carve a path in this new landscape, our New York Monks are making the (long) pilgrimage to Midtown from their SoHo office. But another Monk is joining them: our Founder and COO Wesley ter Haar, who will be sitting on a panel discussion on the Roundel Stage at IMAX. We sat down with him to discuss what he’s looking forward to most about the event. If you’re keen to attend the panel and see what else our Monks are up to over the course of the week, find and follow all the details over at our Advertising Week page.

Hi Wesley! Can you talk a bit about the setup of the panel, and what you’re looking to discuss?

I’ll be sharing the stage with Sir Martin Sorrell, Joanna Coles from Boudica and Emily Del Greco, who runs MightyHive in the Americas. What’ll be interesting is that we’re being framed as a new holding company, but we’re not a holding company. We’re a different beast altogether, and what will be driving the conversation is the question of exactly how we’re different. If you look at what we’re doing from a distance, I’ll concede it can look a lot like how a holding company functions, so this’ll be a chance for us to get into the nitty-gritty of how we operate, how we think, and how our cooperation will feel, in practice.

Monk Thoughts It can look a lot like how a holding company functions, so this'll be a chance for us to get into how our cooperation will feel, in practice.

Wesley ter Haar

Co-Founder

Interesting! What are you looking forward to at this event?

Panels like these are an interesting way to have a conversation, as an industry, about what the new phase of marketing services should look like. Having Sir Martin there, who near-single-handedly built the industrial advertising complex, together with two foundational parts of S4 – MediaMonks and MightyHive – should make for an interesting conversation. I’ve attended some Advertising Week events before – in Mexico City and Tokyo – and I enjoyed them greatly. I found them well organized and run, with interesting speakers. Plus, New York is the epicenter of the advertising world, so it’ll be one of the largest collective conversations we can have this year as an industry. In fact, we’ll have a presence at several of the events happening around there.

What is the biggest takeaway you hope to leave the audience with?

I hope people will come away from this event understanding that we are not just actively building something new, but are also authentically ambitious about our challenges: organizing around what clients need, what our talent needs, and what the industry needs to do from a cultural perspective. Hopefully people will come in slightly cynical, yet walk out thinking to themselves, “I might want to work there someday.”

Final question: are you nervous at all?

In life, or just for this event? [Laughs] No. I’m not nervous – I enjoy the fact that we are getting the opportunity to have these conversations with our colleagues, clients and frenemies.

Your ticket to advertising’s best and brightest.

See what our Monks are up to at Advertising Week.

Our Monks are ready for Advertising Week NY! To prepare, we sat with MediaMonks Founder Wesley ter Haar to see what he's looking forward to most--and where at the event you can find the Monks. Where’s Wes? How to Find the Monks at Advertising Week NY Find out what the Monks will be up to at Advertising Week and what Wes is looking forward to most.
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