IAB Conecta Mexico is one of the main annual events for Latin American Digital Media. The 2011 edition is taking place In Mexico City's Centro Banamex on July 28 and July 29.
Very strong themes this year, among both attendees and sponsors, are “community”-social networking sites as well as performance oriented digital advertising.
Direct Response advertising oriented companies such as Fn Box and investment bank Veronis, Suhler & Stevensohn backed Media Response Group have a significant presence in the exhibit hall.
While the show is mostly oriented to Mexican and Latin American oriented digital media executives, there is some presence from U.S. Hispanic oriented companies including Alcance Media Group, MediaMind, as well as many online companies present in both the Latin American and U.S. Hispanic markets including Yahoo!, Terra, Orange Advertising Network and Televisa Publishing and Digital, Fox Networks and Orange Advertising Networks.
Tina Sharkey, Chairman and Global President of BabyCenter.com, was one of the main speakers. Sharkey emphasized the importance of Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market in BabyCenter’s strategy. Next to the U.S. Hispanic edition, Baby Center publishes online editions in Argentina, Mexico, Chile and Brazil. Sharkey spoke about recent research on Mexican moms online behavior. Motherhood makes Mexican moms to increasingly behave as information seekers, while before giving birth they were more focused on entertainment content. Radio is a more important medium for Mexican mothers compared to their U.S. counterparts. Sharkey also disclosed interesting statistics showing that after giving birth, 52% of Mexican mothers watch less TV and 43% of Mexican mothers go more online. In addition, research shows that motherhood creates new social circles for Mexican digital moms which they tend to exploit via vertical social networking sites (as opposed to horizontal sites like Facebook and MySpace).
Wenda Harris Millard, president & COO Media Link, gave an interesting presentation during which she spoke in favor of an increased use of creativity in digital marketing. In her view, digital advertising has been too performance oriented and ”brands need to learn to stop intruding in the conversation. Tech and Tech innovation have taken too much of the central space in detriment of the the creative part. Too much math and science and direct marketing myopia.” According to Harris, “creativity still has to be unlocked in the digital space.”
