DMEXCO 2025, Day 1: When Boldness Meets The Future
Packed halls, fresh ideas, and a motto that set the tone: Be Bold. Move Forward. DMEXCO 2025 kicked off with gripping keynotes, inspiring panels, and plenty of networking power.
Verena Gründel and Dirk Freytag Open the Conference
As tradition demands, DMEXCO host Verena Gründel and BVDW President Dirk Freytag opened the conference program on the Center Stage. It quickly became clear how important courage is: at DMEXCO, in the marketing world, and beyond. “DMEXCO is a place where bold ideas meet real business, and where courage is not just a word, but a strategy,” said Verena Gründel.
But while the focus was on the future, a milestone couldn’t be overlooked: the BVDW is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The association behind DMEXCO is marking this special occasion with a particularly strong presence of partners across both the conference and the expo. Dirk Freytag emphasized: “DMECXO was never meant to be just a trade show or just a conference. For us as BVDW it is a movement.”
The DMEXCO Kick-off: The Future of Search
The first session of the day on the Center Stage was opened by Gaurav Bhaya (Vice President Google Ads, Google Inc.) with the topic “A New Era of Search: Answering a World that Asks Anything.” How is AI search transforming people’s lives worldwide? Bhaya explained that the goal is to make it easy for anyone to ask a search engine anything. User behavior, expectations, and experiences are changing at lightning speed. Where people once typed in keywords, they now ask spoken questions. Bhaya made it clear: the old playbook no longer works. In this new era, brands must actively embrace search innovation to connect with people. “There has never been a more exciting time for search than right now!” said Bhaya.
AI Transforms UI
Tor Thompson (GM Global Business Team, Microsoft Advertising) delivered her keynote “Welcome to Zero UI: Where Brands Meet the Human Moment” with insights on what the user interfaces of the future need to look like. Microsoft put the spotlight on AI agents like Copilot – familiar, personalized companions for users that make search and interaction more intuitive and organic. The potential for marketers is huge: “For us marketers, AI is not an agent provocateur or a malevolent force for change. It should be an enabler. This is because there will be less to do and more understanding, fewer steps but more enduring signals for us to work with. Less volume, but richer signals overall.”
People and Emotions Behind the Next Tech Revolution
Tim Ringel (Founder & Global CEO, Meet The People) focused in his fireside chat with Oisin Lunny (Co-Founder, Galaxy of OM) on two seemingly opposing elements: the commercialization of AI on one side and human emotions on the other. He predicted that the necessary commercialization and monetization of AI tools will lead to radical changes in the coming years: “I think we are embarking on a journey over the next years that is going to feel extremely similar to the journey I embarked on with my very first business when I was 20 years old. That was when the Internet became a mass product and started to be commercialized. I think AI is going to be very similar to that. You have to adjust, you have to adapt, and you have to acknowledge the fact that it is not going to go away.” At the same time, he stressed that people, with their emotions and personalities, will remain the best partners for brands in the future.
Corporate Influencing: Exclusive Insights and Behind-the-Scenes Perspectives
Maximilian Nowroth (Chief Reporter, Rheinische Post) led a lively fireside chat with inspiring corporate influencing experts Céline Flores Willers and Lara Sophie Bothur. Lara Sophie Bothur (Global Corporate Tech Influencer, Deloitte), the first full-time corporate influencer, shared fascinating insights into her role – from content creation and community management to stakeholder management. Céline Flores Willers (CEO & Founder, The People Branding Company) added her perspective as the CEO of a personal branding agency. Her hot tip for corporate influencers: “Watch out for news, add your opinion to it, and share it on LinkedIn.”
Customer Experience Between Emotions and Data Standards
In the fireside chat “Adobe and IBM iX: Bringing together creativity, marketing, and AI to reimagine the customer experience,” Claire-Louise Green (Adobe) and Jay Trestain (IBM iX) discussed the new era of customer experience. A central focus: building customer trust, being a reliable brand, and keeping human creativity at the heart of everything despite increasing automation. Trestain added that establishing data standards is critical for creating exceptional user experiences. Both emphasized that only the combination of technology, creativity, and culture can drive sustainable transformation.
German Mut and Female Force
On the Agency Stage, Nils Mueller (CEO and Founder, TRENDONE GmbH) and Christiane Wolff (Founder and Owner, Christiane Wolff Communications) presented the Innovation Leaders 2024 study and its seven major innovation drivers. Alongside German courage and the challenges of multi-optionality in today’s world, female force was identified as one of the most important economic drivers of our time. “Send your women on stage. Diversity is the factor that drives innovation forward,” said Christiane Wolff.
Be Bold. Smell Well: How AI Shapes Personalization
Where do you live? Do you like harmony? Are you a leader or a follower? We answered these and 23 other questions at Costumizly – as honestly as possible, sometimes from the perspective of an alien, sometimes from one of our many personalities. The result: three custom perfumes, developed with the help of AI. If you want to learn more about personalization and AI, make sure to stop by Optimizely’s booth in Hall 6 tomorrow and meet Daniel Hikel, General Manager DACH. Be Bold. Smell well.
Bold Moves on Day 1 of DMEXCO 2025
Valuable connections, exciting insights, and creative AI ideas defined the first day of DMEXCO 2025. From up-and-coming startups to global industry leaders, everyone embraced the motto “Be Bold. Move Forward.” to push their boundaries this year. The only downside: Day 1 is already over. But the good news is we have just as much to look forward to on Day 2!
