Ad Week Europe 2016 - Ad Blocking & Culture

For four days this week, over 35,000 people from the world of advertising descended on London to listen to, chat with, and see the biggest names and brands in advertising, media and technology give their opinion and view on some of the hottest topics in the industry. It's a week of presentations, opinions, and (sometimes) fiercely contested debates, and as I'm sure many people will be doing I wanted to share my key points in a two part series of posts, covering the best bits I've taken away from the week.

Each post will focus on two key themes from the week, and look at why I believe they are important, not only for those directly involved in the industry, but increasingly for the wider world too. For this first post, I'll start with Ad Blocking and Culture, with the subsequent post looking at Mobile & Metrics.

Ad Blocking: It's a good thing, and will only continue until a dramatic change is made.

The chances of ad blocking not being discussed at Advertising Week 2016 would probably have been longer than Leicester winning the league this year at the start of the season. It's the hot topic of the moment, and is most certainly having an impact on the world.

One of the things that really stood out was that there was a consensus throughout the week that ad blocking is actually a *good* thing. I know right. People in the ad industry actually advocating the blocking of ads. Madness!

The general reasoning behind this, was that it's a step in the right direction of advertisers, agencies and media owners turning round and stepping into the consumers shoes and realising that a lot of what's out there is simply not working any more. Tim Gentry made the great point that it's finally time for agencies, advertisers and publishers to work in partnership to create great ad content that consumers will *want* to consume.

In turn, this will shift ad strategy to a long term, trust building approach between brands and consumers, and it's a trust that is having to be re-built after years of damage.

It’s like teenage acne, ugly now, but a product of a growth spurt somewhere else. @chrisduncania

What was fascinating, was hearing Ben Williams of AdBlock Plus discuss the opinion that companies like his are leading the change for a better and cleaner internet. His core point, and one that I wholeheartedly agree with, is that the internet has become a messy and cluttered environment, and not only are users not getting a good experience any more, advertisers are struggling to stand out. The impact ad blockers can have, is to clean this up and lead to a future of the web where we see very few, yet high quality, highly relevant ads. 

I have previously written about ad blocking, and a number of the themes were the same. If people are shown good advertising, that they don't want to block, then all parties in the end will benefit.

Culture: Everyone in the industry needs to start future proofing themselves, and that starts with talent.

A consistent undercurrent to a lot of the talks and debates I sat in over the week was that with the rate at which technology, and the industry is changing, players on all sides need to start 'future proofing' themselves to ensure they keep up with developments and don't get left behind. 

Heineken, Barclays, Snapchat, MediaCom, The Guardian and numerous others all mentioned it, and it was regularly acknowledged that talent is the place to start. Whether you are grad fresh out of uni, or a seasoned ad professional, you now have a plethora of advertisers, agencies, media owners or ad tech companies to choose from, and it's up to them to help you make your decision.

What stood out when this was discussed, was that it's often no longer about your brand, or your name, or your history, but about your culture as a business and specifically your ability and want, to equip your employees with the knowledge and skills to succeed in the future.

This is something we have always talked about at LinkedIn, and it was great to see it be more widely recognised, and being adopted within the industry. The best talent will always want to learn and develop, and it's down to employers within the industry to make sure their talent has the options to be the best.