DMLA Conference 2017 in Manhattan
Every year since 1995 at the end of October its time for the international DMLA Conference (formerly known as PACA) – recently usually in New York or directly opposite in New Jersey with a great view of New York, except for a phase in the noughties when it travelled around the USA (Key West, Miami, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Las Vegas). This time the DMLA Conference was held in New York itself in the famous New Yorker Hotel. And with a view of the Empire State Building. Changing from time to time:
Over three days there was everything from a keynote address to sponsored receptions. With more than 180 participants the DMLA Conference was far from its records in the late nineties with more than 500 participants. This is down to the dramatic changes the industry has undergone, but the attendance is now stable relative to previous years.
Double travel costs thanks to Air Berlin
Getting there was difficult and double the expense this year as, thanks to Air Berlin, we had to buy air tickets twice. Air Berlin abandoned long haul customers and the corresponding routes just five days before the conference.
The convenience of ecosystems or freedom for creative
But back to the topic on hand. Beside the really big trends like Adobe and their Creative Cloud, who, as the main sponsor, had ample time to present their vision of a creative ecosystem – akin to Apple or Android. Fortunately, there are also the many small agencies that embody the diversity and spirit of the industry as a whole. And us smaller agencies are certainly banking on the belief that true creativity hungers for freedom and wins out against convenience.
New formats and a comeback liven up the content options
After decades of dominance of the slide followed by the JPEG one trend is the increasing diversitly of formats like 360, VR or cinemagraphs (also known as Gifs). The latter we hope to offer you very soon. Currently we are in discussions with two key collections. It was therefore no surprise that the panel "Breaking the Frame: The Format Revolution" was the most lively benefiting from a great moderator who really got the best out of each panellist. It was also fascinating to see how the "ancient" format panoramic is making a comeback driven by new technologies. Maybe this is also triggered by panoramics reflecting humans' actual vision as that is actually how we see the world through our own eyes.
PantherMedia on the panel "Prices: Can We Raise Them?"
PantherMedia was also invited to be on a panel on the topic "Prices: Can We Raise Them?". There we put our focus on finding innovation by connecting the visual industry with the internet of things as well as our developments in the field of artificial intelligence driven InMedia advertising.
New impulses and a re-location
Summing things up it can be said that personal exchange of idea and thoughts can not be replaced by messengers and althought there were no monumental new insights there were many soruces of new ideas to be found. Next year the conference will be on the move again the be located in Los Angeles on the other side of the country. The plan is apparently to attract more Asian agencies to attend.
