WPP Stream – so what did we learn

Err, what…? I hear you say – what is WPP Stream?

OK, let’s start at the beginning. WPP is the largest marketing services group in the world run by their enigmatic chairman Sir Martin Sorrell.  Now in its 3rd year, Stream is the annual event that brings together the greatest thinkers, strategists and bright young things in the world today. The conference (or un-conference) is free and by invitation only.

In Streams own words, “Stream is a digital unconference led by WPP Digital. Stream 09 will bring together two hundred of the brightest people from the creative, media and technology industries to discuss and debate ideas and opportunities in the areas of culture, innovation and the internet. Participants are invited for their ability to provide fresh thinking.”

So, what did we learn? Well, amongst the normal slant of money moving from traditional to digital, one key thing to come out of it seemed to be that generally, digital is still a direct response mechanism.

This was summed up by Simon Daglish, vice president commercial Fox Interactive Media, who said, “The point is that digital media is solely used as a direct response media and yet it is not very good at direct response. In fact response rates generally range from 0.01% to 0.1%. However, all the targeting is to those that click – so why are clients and agencies chasing the minority whilst ignoring the majority?

Simon was focusing on the display metric and I suspect not looking at the wider picture on social media engagement as search adverting which is still continuing to grow.

Obviously this is just a tiny snapshot of something that was conducted over 3 days in Athens. To get a better perspective, please see the excellent piece by, Emma Barnett, Technology and Digital Media Correspondent for the Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/6265248/WPP-Stream-2009-A-glimpse-of-the-ultimate-un-conference.html
or see
http://stream.wpp.com/