Ad:tech Tokyo: Staying Relevant in a Digital World Was Top of Mind

October 12, 2016

Digital Element’s number one job as the leader in the IP intelligence and geolocation industry is to respond to the current needs of marketers and stay attuned to future trends in the digital arena. That’s why we make it a practice to attend as many global advertising and marketing events such as this year’s ad:tech Tokyo―where we not only share information about our technology solutions, but also listen to what other industry leaders and attendees are saying.

Many of the “hot button” issues within the Asia-Pacific region came as no surprise at the September event. Others did.

The APAC region differs by country. China, for example, has internet restrictions (i.e. The Great Firewall of China) where all access is vetted by algorithms, and in some cases humans, so access can be slow and sites can be blocked. Also, Wi-Fi is not as widespread in China as other European countries, so cellular internet usage is higher here compared to other countries. Consumer data is abundant in China and many of the larger eCommerce and social media companies share data. Japan, conversely, has internet infrastructure and mobile usage that is similar to the United States and Europe.

Digital Element’s technology therefore has different applications in each country. For example, Chinese adtech companies will rely more on NetAcuity IP data for targeting outside China, whereas Japan will use it locally and globally.

Most of the buzz generated at the show focused on these three issues:

1. Staying relevant. The art of staying relevant in a constantly changing and disruptive digital world was top of mind;
2. Changing the conversation. As brands become more about the experience, the digital landscape continues to shift. Marketers need to move away from “campaigning” to consumers and more toward having “conversations” with them.
3. Getting inside the Millennial’s mind. As millennials become the center of society and consumption, new communication with these consumers that is unconventional to past marketing method is in high demand.

In terms of specific concerns and challenges we heard from attendees in the Digital Element booth, it was, again, all about relevance―and the ability to deliver content and advertising that differentiates. The topic of big data was also of interest. More specifically, marketers were concerned with making sense of all the pervasive data available to them. Additionally, mobile targeting techniques were pretty high on people’s agendas―what is achievable and how they can deploy cost-effective solutions that work.

Many of our conversations involved geotargeting and profile creation so it was only natural that many attendees were interested in our IP geolocation technology―how it works, the granularity of the data, ability to target mobile and the availability of advanced proxy data.

If you have a company located in the APAC region―or if you are a global organization looking to conduct business there―then let us help you put together a marketing technology strategy customized for your digital business.