Web Summit 2022 - who’s winning?

At Web Summit 2022, certainly the City of Lisbon and event organisers were the clear winners on the day, but with 70k+ in attendance, there was something out there for everyone.  As the masses pushed their way through halls and arenas to listen to speakers such as Chanpeng Zhao from Binance, Lisa Jackson from Apple, Rohit Prasad from Amazon, Brad Smith of Microsoft and Nicole Muniz of Yuga labs (to name a few from quite an influential list!), the start-ups and their hawkers were on the ground pitching and selling their wares to potential investors.  Sometimes it was hard to know ‘who was who’ in the melee.  The winners in this space were those that offered up tech to support ESG pillars and the Data Science start-ups providing Zero-Party Data Solutions for a Cookieless future.

Thought leadership centred on the crypto winter and the upcoming recession.  Chanpeng Zhao pushed back on theories around the demise of crypto and illustrated market growth following the last FIVE crypto winters.  Sir Martin Sorrell was gloomy in his prediction of global market recessions over the coming years and advised brands to lean into their First Party data and web analytics for efficient use of their budgets.  On the other hand, Lars Silberbauer of Nokia, is taking a bullish stance and sees this period as an opportunity to push ahead with a new business model to achieve their sustainability goals.  The new Nokia handset is made from 90% (ish) upcycled parts from old handsets and the outer is from 60% recycled plastic material.  Nokia are moving to a subscription model to ensure the handsets are returned so those parts can be used in future models.  It sounds like the only possible solution given the world’s limited natural resources and supply chain issues.  Will we see other giants like Tesla pivoting?

Did I win at Web Summit 2022? Yes and no.

I came away with a solid confirmation of what I already knew…but sometimes a sense check is good:  times are going to be tough so dig in and find efficiencies for your clients, continue to invest in web3 & sustainability tech and forge a new data path as marketing analytics as we know it are changing forever.