Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
Anyone who has heard Dirk Huelsermann speak, president of OVAB Europe, (and the manager of VUKUNET NEC Display Solutions, Europe), will be aware that if anyone understands the European marketplace, it’s Herr Huelsermann – not forgetting of course, Der Mann der den Hund gerettet hat, Ed
So if you’ve been seriously considering – or even just dreaming of – entering the European market Huelsermann’s talk at the Digital Signage Investor Conference in New York is one you can’t afford to miss.
And if you’ve heard him before, don’t expect to hear the same information that you might of heard from him last time around.
“Sure, you can’t help but mention the different langauges, culture, legal systems and financial systems that make marketing in Europe difficult,” says Huelsermann, who is wearing his OVAB Europe hat at this conference.
“But I don’t want to bore people with all the same information.
“Among the things I want to discuss this time is the vertical marketing and how different it is in various countries. For example, the transportation sector, such as airports and train stations is very strong in Germany. I’ll look at various specific verticals, and how they operate compared to the U.S.. And I’ll show where the digital out-of-home companies are and where they specialize.”
How European companies are adopting new technologies and showing advertisers their best technologies are topics Huelsermann also expects to discuss.
“Europeans are adopting new technologies too slowly for the most part,” he says, “but the ones that are doing it are really good.
“I’ll be looking at examples, showing where digital out-of-home companies are. And I’ll be looking at benchmarks, and what kind of strategies the European players are rolling out.”
Huelsermann won’t be ignoring the various cultures in his talk, though. It’s impossible to consider Europe without them.
“Look at Germany,” he says. “Germans are very conservative. We tend to ask ourselves if something is really necessary, if we should do it. It may seem slow, but when we do decide, we do it with a big bang.
“If you look at Russia, you’ll see big LED screens everywhere. But keep in mind that the advertising market is dominated by a certain small number of players.” and Huelsermann stresses that in this particular region you really do need a local partner.
Frankly, I can’t wait to hear this session, which takes place at 4:30 p.m. on Day One, Oct. 17, of the two-day conference. It’s one that, personally, I’d really recommend.
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