OMR has become a fixed annual event in my calendar. For me, the value of the event is less about large stages or attending as many talks as possible. Most of the real value comes from personal conversations with partners, contacts and other people from the industry.
Many talks can easily be watched online afterwards. Good conversations, however, usually only happen in person. That is also the reason why my days at OMR are often filled with meetings instead of long sessions in front of stages. The event itself mainly creates the opportunity to bring many relevant people together in one place.
A Small Giveaway With Unexpected Visibility
This year we also contributed a small giveaway to the Finance Forward goodie bag. The idea came up during conversations with the Finance Forward team. For us, the fit was quite natural. Finance Forward operates at the intersection of finance, media and digital marketing. That creates interesting overlaps with the topics we work on at smava as well.
We decided to contribute branded umbrellas. In hindsight, the timing could hardly have been better. In previous years, OMR was usually sunny. This year, however, it rained almost continuously throughout the event. As a result, the umbrellas suddenly became highly visible around the venue and, more importantly, people were actually using them.
I shared some of these thoughts on LinkedIn.
It is certainly not a major marketing case. But it is a good reminder that timing can sometimes matter more than the size of a campaign. Personally, I still would have preferred sunshine.
