ATS 2013 Singapore

Today i wanted to share about the event which i attended for ATS Singapore 2013 as it is relevant to our studies in Digital Media marketing.

ATS Singapore was held on Wednesday June 12, 2013. The full-day conference covered the latest trends and developments in the data-driven ad space across South-East Asia, Australia, China and India - and featured leading figures from the key constituent players in the region.

It was held in M Hotel with very nice setups, food and refreshments that includes, lunch, dinner with a splendid spread of practically everything that was out of my expectations. It was the best so far for the various events which i had attended.

The event started early at 0830 in the morning with coffee and registration. At 0910 there was welcome and introduction and at 0920 Greg Unsworth was there giving a regional round up and an overview of the industry and what was coming.

At 1000, there was a presentation by Julian Tol, Founder and Ceo of Brandscreen, followed by two short case study presentations and some questions and answers.

At 1145, there was a panel discussion about the opportunity in multi-screens and multi-platforms. While i was listening intently to what was being presented i had mixed feelings regards to this participation.

It was really a great event to be at and i was picking up quite a bit of technical jargon and the topics brought in was really in depth and very much "live" in nature. However i could not really keep up with what I was listening to, and before  I could process and digest what was in the air, more profound discussions continue to rush in.

During the case studies presentation on the topic, a spokesperson who represents a big company in China discusses about how different and competitive it was in the China market. While the moderator was posting questions to this lady representative she made some remarks that it may be rather difficult for companies outside China to penetrate the China market as it was radically different from other countries around the world.

1315, it was lunch and we were brought to the lounge area where lunch is served and at this point in time, I couldn't really remember what i managed to get because its a month since i attended the event. All i could remember was it was really a sumptuous meal with desserts and pretty much everything that goes beyond  my expectations. The dinner served after the end of the event was also highly rated.

1415, there was a panel discussion by 4 panelists namely, Greg Williams from MediaMath, Mikka Kotila from MediaQuek, Samir Shergill from AppNexus, Scott Neville from IPONWEB. Their discussions about the industry and about the targeting  re-targeting, technology and data was simply marvelous and profoundly abstract. It was very much insightful when they spoke about what was lacking in the industry and about some of the problems that the industry faces. I would say that this discussion was the best so far and it featured the climax of the event relating to the contents and the value and degree of insights gathered throughout the session. 

1525, the speech was about advertising platforms for today and tomorrow, where the case studies were made very much in detail after the initial speech. By this time it seemed that the peak sensation of the event is seriously declining. My observation was that the crowd was getting tired and was looking forward for the end of the event.

For the rest of the day until 1730 there was more sharing by the publishers. The discussion talked about Video marketing and how costly it was for advertisers and some of the challenges which the publishers faced. Cases Studies were related and explained. 

Some of the speakers mentioned about some of the costs and media responses which was common to everyone and that how Singapore's responses was not as good as the markets in other parts of the world. There was also mention that the local companies are not prepared to pay the price for some of the digital marketing services compared to the other countries due to the cost and the responses.

Overall the event was a magnificently held, with door gifts and splendid lunch and dinner. There was good food and wine offered, however  i could only enjoy the food as i am a non-drinker. The content presented in this event was highly overwhelming but expanded my horizons by quite a fair bit. It was really insightful although some of the information i was not able to relate to or unable to comprehend.

The networking session was highly spectacular and you could see many directors and senior profiles across the industry and they came from all parts of the world. Everyone seemed to know everyone else, and they knew exactly what they are talking about. 

I managed to talk to a few of the key persons around however was very much lost in the conversation because i was unable to offer anything valuable to them in terms of what i do that was relevant to the industry. Its a good experience and if i had something in common perhaps the networking session could be really be more interesting.

That sums up the event for ATS Singapore, backed by the regional focus of Exchange Wire, APAC, ATS Singapore will provide a platform for deep analysis around the evolving APAC advertising market. It can be summarized in three parts namely;

1. The future of data driven advertising In Apac,
2. How multi-screens, devices and consumer connectivity is impacting Adtech
3. How data and technology is driving change and disruption to digital marketing.

The event was brought about by Google DoubleClick, Brandscreen, Adap.TV and other sliver sponsors and endorsed by ADMA and i believe it had been very successful in its launch. 

And here i will end my sharing for today and i will share another event which i attended at Singapore Management University, presented by Mr Eris Portsman and his work in the company, Alibaba and Taobao which is a subsidiary of Alibaba on the following post.