Social media is securing a permanent position in the long tail of media and extending conventional marketing instruments. Participants and speakers reached this conclusion at the fifth GfM World and Digital Marketing Entertainment Congress in Berlin on 12 and 13 March 2008.
Marketing strategists have more options than ever for delivering advertising messages through media. International speakers from companies including Exent Technologies, IBM Netherlands, MySpace, BMW Group, Bigpoint and WildTangent Europe discussed the importance of in-game advertising, game-TV licensing and social-media advertising at the congress. Games already account for a large proportion of new digital marketing channels. In-game advertising works most successfully in combination with other communication channels spanning online, media, PC and console, and mobile. Brands rated more than 65 percent of successfully implemented campaigns positively for their cross-media effect. The congress’s second day examined this cross-media mix extending into social communities and advertising, as understanding and acceptance of new digital media continued to grow.
The increasing international scope of the congress was also viewed positively. With more than 60 percent international speakers, the two-day event provided an extensive overview of current developments and facts in e-game marketing and digital marketing entertainment worldwide. Forty percent of attendees came from outside Germany to gather information at what the organiser described as Europe’s only congress of its kind.
