Hasta La Creative!

A seasoned DMEXCO vet, I descended on Cologne this year with some trepidation. Like walking into a favorite restaurant and seeing the sign “Under New Management.” There’s always that concern that the recipes will be tweaked and the flavors will be unfamiliar. And yes, I encountered some of that. A couple of the halls were less populated, there was a notable reduction in non-German accents, and some of the faces were less familiar. But the content — if not surprising — was still strong, and the start-up energy was actually amplified, with lots of investors scrutinizing possibilities, which is the first of my four key takeaways from DMEXCO 2018:

Let’s make a deal…any deal!

The hype around this summer’s tech stack race didn’t slow down in Germany. Seemingly, nearly every large booth had a hidden “for sale” sign. And questions of “who’s buying what” and “who wants to be bought” (answer: everyone) swirled. Private equity executives scoured the floor and filled up Cologne’s Michelin-star restaurants. And attendees were buzzing about hot new deals, like Deloitte’s purchase of Magnetic Media’s AI platform; media agency Mediasmith’s ownership buyout by its management team (with a goal to grow its consulting chops as more clients make buys in-house); and Singtel-backed Amobee closing its $100 million acquisition of Videology — evidence telcos can’t get enough of ad tech.

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