CEBIT - The MICE Blog

In June, I attended the leading digital economy business festival, CEBIT, in Hannover. One of my favourite sessions was “Influencer marketing: the biggest marketing shift of the decade”. The expert panel gave in-depth insights, supported by good examples, drawing on their own experiences. Recently, I decided to watch it again, and at the same time thought I would recap the session for you as well. So here we go.

The session was moderated by Jan Homann, founder and CEO at blogfoster. Speakers included Daniel Pannrucker, managing director at The Story Lab, Dr. Peter Opdemom, managing director at congstar GmbH, and Hans Piechatzek, managing director at move elevator GmbH, and vice president of the German Marketing Association.

The panel began by addressing the state of influencer marketing in Germany, using the growing interest among members of the German Marketing Association in this topic as an example. According to Piechatzek, members have noticed that consumers are shifting their attention from print to digital, with consumers under 20 years old spending (on average) three hours per day on social media. As a result, marketing professionals who want to reach their target audience—those who spend so much time on social media—need to explore new ways of reaching this audience.

Companies, big and small, feel they must do something about this new shift to online, however, they do not know how. There is a high level of uncertainty among the smaller players, and these small to medium-size companies, regional and local (as opposed to multinationals) are still exploring the best methods of implementation. This creates more questions than answers.

This year I made a decision: to attend events that are not just for event professionals, and search for inspiration beyond the industry. Since the inception of my blog in 2011, I have focused heavily on industry events, with very few exceptions. Now, however, I find myself often criticising our own ways of organising events and conducting business. That sounds rather unusual, given that we are expected to be the leaders; the movers and shakers. Is that not the case?

I remember the early days, when I immersed myself in the industry, and every article, publication, event, and familiarisation trip offered a revelation about this wonderful industry. Few things have changed since 2011, and I have now reached a point where I wish to progress my personal development, and explore other, broader business fields that boost the global MICE industry and local economies.