That was the OMR Festival 2024

On May 7 and 8, the DIAMANT marketing team made its way to the OMR Festival in Hamburg to find out how marketing will develop in the future and what role AI will play in this. To gather digital updates, discover the latest trends and gain new insights.

The OMR, one of the largest digital events in Europe with 70,000 visitors, 7 stages for 800 speakers, 240 masterclasses for 200 selected participants each, over 150 guided tours and more than 100 side events, plus 4 exhibition halls with around 1,000 exhibitors. Anyone who thinks it was just about marketing is mistaken. Rather, it was the combination of marketing, founders, top athletes, business and politics, stars and starlets. All in all, as the name suggests, it was a festival, not a conference or symposium. Topics such as sustainability, equality and health also featured prominently alongside trends and predictions. The topics were interesting, the distances between the locations long. Comfortable shoes and a clever, pre-planned timetable were definitely an advantage.

Unfortunately, we had to skip many of the speakers and instead watch the recordings on YouTube at home over the last few days. Our calendar was filled with four masterclasses and two guided tours, and slots were selected so that they could provide inspiration for our own challenges. Unfortunately, some masterclasses turned out to be pure sales presentations, while others provided valuable content: from AI and data-driven approaches to innovative content strategies. Examples were given of how companies are using the power of digital technologies to strengthen their brands and connect with their target groups.

Our learning: The initial hype surrounding AI is over. The development and application of artificial intelligence has become an indispensable technology with a wide range of applications. AI is penetrating various industries and already offers concrete benefits, especially in the field of eCommerce, where it accelerates decision-making processes and enables personalized customer experiences. In addition, AI is helping to optimize workflows and lighten the workload for people in various professional fields. Despite advances in AI technology, the importance of human qualities such as empathy and personality remains crucial. Especially at a time when technologies such as chatbots are becoming increasingly present, it is becoming clear that human interaction and human aspects are irreplaceable. Ultimately, humans are at the center of this development, and it is important that the integration of AI supports and enhances the human dimension rather than replacing it.

The DIAMANT marketing team