Welcome to the New DMEXCO World!

A lot has happened in recent months around DMEXCO: in terms of personnel, strategy, appearance and content. The first visible step into the new DMEXCO world is the new website with a clear content offering, which we hope will meet the challenges of our time. The starting point for all considerations regarding the redesign of the website, the corporate identity and ultimately also the event itself, is the interest of the visitors. In September, we want people at the Expo and Conference who are involved in decision-making in their daily business whenever digital solutions are needed. People who make, prepare or influence decisions.

When I talk about the DMEXCO world, I want us to succeed in accompanying these people on their journey through this “new” world – referring to the concept “Customer Journey”. But our concern is not to use as many buzzwords as possible. Instead, we want to illustrate the usefulness of digital solutions with clear language and understandable terms − based on facts and expert opinions. We want to inform and make recommendations. To stay in the picture; we want to find out where the journey should go, what destinations there are and then pave the way there.

Investing 363 days in the perfect match

Simply practical: The website offering should help us throughout the year to bring decision-makers and those involved in decision-making together with the right suppliers at DMEXCO. The same applies to the conference offer. Here, too, we want to provide visitors with the right recommendations in advance. This aim is visually supported by the new guidance system.

For us, content marketing is not an end in itself. We’re not doing this because it’s been discussed up and down for months. For us, content marketing is far more the result of our basic attitude as DMEXCO “doers” to put visitors and their challenges at the center of our attention from now on. As a new team behind the web, expo and conference offerings, we are jointly convinced that the right visitors are ultimately decisive for the satisfaction of exhibitors and partners. At the same time, when using our website, visitors provide us with important feedback on topics, trends and focal points, which we will take up and elaborate on at DMEXCO.

Speaking of feedback: We only started implementing our vision a few months ago. This means that our current range is something like a “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP), i.e. a product that initially meets the minimum requirements. There are many ideas and features on our list. Whether and with which priority we use these to gradually expand and improve our offer depends solely on your feedback.

From formal to informal address − why?

In addition to the visual and content-related reorientation of DMEXCO, there is also a linguistic adaptation in the German language that takes the many constructive and friendly discussions of recent months into account. The direct, collegial address with the informal “du”, which has been common practice in the digital economy for many years, will also find its way into DMEXCO’s communication. We are aware of the concerns, especially with regard to a lack of distance. And we are taking these seriously. “It’s not what you say but how you say it,” as the saying goes. But there is much more to how you are saying something than the term of address. As much as we will focus our efforts on the visitors of DMEXCO, the community which has grown over many years is and remains the core of the trade fair and conference. The informal “du” is its connecting element.

Moreover, the entire marketing industry is currently undergoing a generational change. Digitalization processes are accelerating this upheaval in many companies – regardless of the industry. An essential feature of the second wave of digitalization is the clear, authentic and trustful interaction with each other. This will also apply to DMEXCO itself in the future. This is why the path leads from the formal “Sie” and numerous superlatives to the informal “du” and authentic, comprehensible communication. By the way, using the “du” makes the German and English language versions more consistent. With this move, we want to further promote the building of trust within the (international) community. We are primarily concerned with interacting at “eye-level”, which is something completely different from a lack of distance.

Respect is the key

Among craftsmen, creatives and in the digital economy, the informal “du” has long since been established. “Du” is the beginning of a relationship. In a professional environment, its use is a sign of familiarity or even equality. Respect is the key: The formal “Sie” does not guarantee it, and “du” does not necessarily undermine it.

This attitude is also increasingly manifesting itself in corporations or traditional companies. The digital transformation also includes – also due to the actual drivers (usually between the age of 35 and 45) – a cultural transformation within companies. One consequence: The culture of “Sie” is declining significantly. Otto CEO Hans Otto Schrader asked his 53,000 employees to address him with “du”. At the Schwarz Group (Lidl, Kaufland), 375,000 employees are now also using the informal term of address towards group CEO Klaus Gehrig. In addition to the term of address, respect, closeness and trust should therefore also determine our tonality. We are convinced that this is a good match. Of course, this does not mean that we do not also use “Sie” if it is expressly requested.