We were back again this year at the OMR in Hamburg! This time with much more insights, stories, great panels, speakers, and most importantly – a lot of fun and inspiring takeaways. Let’s take you through the 2 days of great and interesting networking and learning.
This year the OMR has had over 70k visitors, 4 expo halls with 500+ exhibitors (including Kingfluencers), 7 stages with 800+ speakers, 240 masterclasses, 100 guided tours, and afterparties. Once again, the OMR stood out for its extravagant speakers like Kim Kardashian, Rick Rubin, Sabrina Ellis, and many more.
In case you missed our exclusive newsletter or didn’t follow us along on LinkedIn and Instagram, here’s a short recap with our highlights and learnings.
On-Site Consulting, Exciting Booth Activations, and Fabulous Giveaways
Let’s start with our Kingfluencers booth: we were able to upgrade to a bigger space to offer you more entertainment, more fun, and most importantly: more Kingfluencers, located at Hall A3, Stand C09. Not only were you able to talk to our consultants, but you could also snatch a quick snack from our popcorn machine, get some cool gadgets like a phone ring light, or participate in our OMR quiz to upgrade your next trip.
Oh, and not sure if you saw, but Kim K visited us at our booth 😉
Did you miss this year’s OMR and didn’t have a chance to talk to us or want to continue the conversation?
No worries, you can always contact us or leave us a message.
Unlocking Expertise: Key Takeaways from Kingfluencers’ Masterclass Sessions
1. Decoding social communities
The focus of this masterclass was how brands need to understand communities, communicate with them as equals, and give them a platform to generate sustainable brand love and brand loyalty. So, how do you decode social communities?
Content is the heart of TikTok
Importance of Content: Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri emphasizes that views and likes are more important than follower numbers. TikTok prioritizes relevant content, leading to the formation of communities around specific interests, such as BookTok, FashionTok, and FoodTok.
Characteristics of Social Communities
- Themes: Wide variety of topics with sub-themes (e.g., 5AmClub with Morning Person with ADHD, Women in Business).
- Language: Unique terms and codes to bypass algorithms (e.g., “#Seggs” instead of “sex”).
- Aesthetics: Visual and cultural expressions enhance the sense of community.
Brand Strategy: Brands should speak the language of these communities and provide a platform for them to foster sustainable brand loyalty.
Be in the right space for the right reason
“The rise of a new marketing zeitgeist has shifted the paradigm for marketers. Although many might not be fully aware! We all know digital is key for example. But merely existing in the digital sphere or focusing on general metrics such as having the biggest share of voice is not a basis for competitive advantage and doesn’t lead to success anymore perse; instead, it’s all about getting the right message out in credible ways to the right people, being truly seen, heard, understood and appreciated, or even loved, by forging meaningful connections with one’s focus consumers and communities.” – Yoeri Callebaut, CEO at Kingfluencers
Tools for Decoding Social Communities:
- AI-Based Content Screening: Analyzes shared content.
- AI-Based Community-Feedback Screening: Examines comments.
- Search Screening: Analyzes TikTok search queries.
Benefits: These approaches help brands better connect with social communities, develop targeted campaigns, and identify specific audiences for paid media strategies.
2. The Tiktok Creator Game
Redefining Engagement: TikTok’s Masterclass in Community Strategy
TikTok’s latest masterclass has changed the game for digital engagement. The big lesson? Brands should be “always in,” not just “always on.” Here’s how this approach can transform your brand strategy:
- Community-Centric Engagement:
Move beyond a constant presence to active participation within your target communities. Genuine interactions build deeper connections with your audience. - The Spillover Effect:
Influencers and creators transfer their authentic connections to your brand, boosting visibility and credibility. - “Stay & Play” Strategy:
Identify your core community (“stay”) but also explore new, unexpected spaces (“play”). For example, a fashion brand can thrive in Hashtag#FashionTok and make a splash in Hashtag#FoodTok, reaching new audiences with surprising content. - Authentic Connections
Combine maintaining your core identity with exploring new avenues to create dynamic, authentic engagement. - Amplify Real-Life Engagement
Be genuinely involved in community activities to create a more immersive and impactful brand presence.
Culture First, Community Second, Commercial Follows
“Brands must actively engage with and contribute to culture. Consider FC St. Pauli von 1910 e.V.’s commitment to social justice, community engagement, and alternative culture; or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that evolved from a sport to a culture brand by putting their community first. In today’s world, brands must establish a world around their brand and create a space where their community wants to belong. By doing so, commercial success will naturally follow.” – Dominique Hufschmid, Director of Strategy, Marketing & Innovation at Kingfluencers
3. TikTok Retail Revolution
In this masterclass, they showed measurement metrics and methods presented by TikTok Germany. It was also shown how to measure the impact of TikTok campaigns on retail/offline/in-store shopping and they displayed a Unilever case study. The main key takeaways are:
- TikTok offers 3 methods for customers to include offline data: (1) offline API (2) manual upload (3) third-party solutions
- TikTok facilitates the same consumer needs as a shopping experience: convenience, comfort, confidence
- TikTok partners closely with brands and develops technology to track consumer behavior in detail
- TikTok wants to prove its relevance and power in the offline world
- Effective measurement principles by TikTok that allow clients to measure consumer journey from TikTok interaction to full conversion (including offline events such as in-store visits)
- The TikTok experience satisfies the same needs that consumers have in store: convenience, connection, confidence
4. Reddit
This Reddit Masterclass taught us how to use contextual information to make the brand stand out and even sell products and services. Additionally, it also talked about how to involve the brand in the communities and be part of the talk and how to generate brand connection. The key takeaway points are the following:
- 90% of consumers don’t trust influencers according to Reddit -> Reddit serves as an additional channel to verify based on user feedback and thereby is basically a UGC platform
- Cookies are phasing out -> there is a need for a new way to target audience
- Brands can have profiles/pages and a significant presence on Reddit
- Privacy statements and rules are more and more stringent so also here it becomes more and more difficult to target people
- Reddit remains rather anonymous
- +100k communities in various niches
- Available in German as the first non-English language -> Germany (and DACH) is a big region for Reddit’s increasing impact
Influencer does not equal Influence
“True influence goes beyond superficial metrics and requires depth, authenticity, and meaningful engagement. Building influence requires creating genuine connections, fostering trust, and adding value to people’s lives. It’s about sharing authentic stories, championing causes, and inspiring others to take action. In today’s digital landscape, real influence is measured increasingly by the positive impact you make and the values you represent as a person.” – Dominique Hufschmid, Director of Strategy, Marketing & Innovation at Kingfluencers
Inspiring Voices: OMR Speakers Who Captivated the Kingfluencers Team
Kim Kardashian
Media Personality, Entrepreneur & Actress
About the difference between public perception and self-identification and her most important lessons:
- Kim doesn’t view herself as an entrepreneur. Her answers reflect a confident mother making smart business decisions, but she prioritizes her public figure persona over a business identity.
- Kim gained fame through TV (and a tape, but TV made her a household name). This seems very early 2000s, but it remains a solid pathway to fame.
- Be quick to adopt trends (her mobile game “Hollywood” & early VR adoption). Yet, she expressed caution and ambivalence about AI, which is surprising given Kris Jenner’s reputation for strategic planning.
- The way she deals with negative comments is: “Post and Ghost” – to protect her mental health Kim posts and leaves the Instagram app.
“Before Kim came on stage MC asked the audience how many are her fans. Out of 8,000 people, only about 70 raised their hand. And yet, she packed 3 stages at OMR (main stage & two livestreams). This feels like a great analogy for influencers in general – very few people publicly or in casual conversation, will admit to liking influencers, and yet as a society we are fascinated, curious, and following them by the millions.” – Larisa Topalo, Chief Influencer, Brand Strategy & Creative Officer at Kingfluencers
Scott Galloway
Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern & Bestselling Author
His top predictions for 2024
- GLP-1s, a class of medication used for diabetes and obesity. Scott names The hype of wellness, health, and fitness and the demographic development trend towards more obesity as the main reasons why.
- Meta’s next growth vehicle: To use WhatsApp as a Social Media tool. People read all the messages in WhatsApp, which makes it a great tool to connect with consumers.
- The biggest impact of AI? Loneliness! Disproportionately concerning the male population which also explains the rise of AI Girlfriend.
- Scott ended his Keynote encouraging attendees to connect with their close friends and to ask them “How are you doing?” and then ask them again “No, honestly, how are you?”
Alisa Jahnke
Co-Founderin PURELEI
Key strategies that helped PURELEI grow through the Covid crisis
- Profit goals instead of revenue goals
- A 1% price increase made the most impact, followed by 1% COG reductions. While a 1% volume increase and 1% overhead reduction didn’t have a huge effect.
- Higher barriers of entrance resulted in 40% less order but 70% more profit for Purelei. Focus on the high-end customers instead of hoping low-end clients might eventually have a high CLV.
- Have fewer options. Focus on your heroes, and build new products based on what you know already works, for example, variations and extensions of your hero products.
Philipp Westermeyer
Founder OMR
Roland Eisenbrand
Editor-in-Chief OMR Daily & Head of Content OMR Festival
The 4 Cs of AI
- Content: How to utilize AI generated Content wie Content KI-basiert erstellt und genutzt werden kann
- Cost Efficiency: Bundling Customer Feedback for Advertisement quickly and get real added value
- Concern: The technology does come with security risks such as digital robber barons stealing data from competitors
- Customer: AI can influence purchasing decisions
Winners & Losers
- Loser: Second-Tier Companies in the Tech Sector
- Loser: Trust, as more misinformation and fake content is spread
- Winner: Book Clubs spread like wildfire thanks to formats like #BookTok
- Winner: Recognition through Signature moves
- Winner: India is experiencing exponential growth
#OMR24 was a blast!
Exciting talks, inspiring speakers, masterclasses, and a lot of lasting impressions.
And WOW, what a cool team we have at Kingfluencers! A huge thanks goes out to our team for making this event an unforgettable experience off and behind the scenes. The team spirit and cooperation once again showed what we can achieve together.
Any feedback, questions, or comments, or wanna chat over coffee?