The ad industry must include digital in their creative thinking process: Patrick Liotard-Vogt

DLD Munich, WEF Davos, Techcrunch Meet-up New York, TEDx… I have visited all these conferences over the last three months and am now attending GoaFest here in Goa. I must admit, I am impressed. It is the first time I attended a conference in such a relaxed atmosphere by the beach. A truly unique experience so far and a perfect set-up to meet interesting and innovative characters.

But what brings me to India and Goa?

Let me give some information about my background. I originate from a Swiss/ French entrepreneur family that was involved with Nestle as a lead investor in the beginning of the 20th century. Both, great grand-father and grand-father were CEO and Chairman, respectively. So, from a very young age I got in touch with entrepreneurship, which became my passion. At the age of 17, I started my first company and did my first trade sale at 21 by selling the largest students community in Switzerland and Austria to Germany’s largest media house, Axel Springer. A few more exits followed. I now focus on early stage investments and am invested in over 40 companies, mostly in Europe. My latest acquisition is ASMALLWORLD - an invitation only network for culturally influential and like-minded people.

The purpose of my two-week trip to India is to meet innovative out-of-the-box thinking entrepreneurs. India brings advantages such as the size of the country, growing economy, high level of education, English speaking and barely non-existing early stage financing. Perfect ground for my investment purposes.

Eric Ashok Ledergerber’s (hub.in) research has showed that over 95 per cent of the Top 100 Web 2.0 companies in India are based on an advertisement revenue model. So, it is crucial for me to understand India’s advertisement situation, which is the reason I am attending the GoaFest. However, I want to also share my experiences in the digital advertisement space with the participants of the GoaFest.

I think it is finally time for the advertisement industry to break the ice by not only interacting within their verticals, but also discover other horizontals such as the digital industry, which I believe to be the future. We need new concepts, embracing online and offline by using all existing technologies. There is too much irrelevant information and news out there. It is imperative to create relevant content for the receiver of the message or advertisement. I know I am not saying anything new, but as an advertiser I am still not satisfied with the existing concepts.

In order to find the game changing concepts, the advertising industry must include the digital industry in their creative thinking process. Team work is an absolute must.

I was very happy to receive an invitation for today’s 2 pm discussion about social media. I think this is a first step into the right direction, creating a win-win-win situation for the advertising industry, digital media and our customers.

I hope to meet many of you in order to get as much insights as possible.

(Patrick Liotard-Vogt is a Swiss entrepreneur and Chairman at aSmallWorld.)