GUANGZHOU, Jan. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In today's rapidly developing digital marketing field, every industry event heralds new turning points and opportunities. On January 10, 2025, the 8th DMAA International Digital Marketing Summit, hosted by DMAA Digital Marketing Awards, co-hosted by Guangzhou 4A, and guided by Guangzhou Advertising Industry Association, was held in Guangzhou as scheduled. The summit brought together industry figures and elites to discuss how to achieve brand value growth in a new marketing ecological environment.
This summit continued the theme of "value growth" from previous years, re-examining the current digital development around new changes, new technologies, and new ideas. In the new marketing ecological environment, how to enable brands to achieve value growth is the focus of all participants. With the increasing diversification and personalization of consumer demand and the rapid development of technology, the field of digital marketing is undergoing unprecedented changes.
At the event, diverse discussion topics such as content marketing, brand promotion, AIGC, digital design, etc. set off a digital craze in Guangzhou. The grand prize competition and award ceremony of the 8th DMAA International Digital Marketing Awards arrived as scheduled. Many excellent cases inspired thoughts and continued to grow industry confidence.
Before the forum officially opened, Mr. Zhang Guisen, President of the China-Europe Marketing Association, delivered an opening speech entitled "Brand is the root, marketing is the technique, traffic is the tool, and users are the basis!" for the 8th DMAA International Digital Marketing Summit in 2025. He mentioned on the spot that brand is the cornerstone and ultimate goal of enterprise development, and it is necessary to keep the original intention in mind, stick to it for a long time and continue to accumulate; while marketing is the strategy and art of adapting to environmental changes and promoting the brand forward. Its core lies in innovation that keeps pace with the times, whether it is product innovation or technological innovation. At the same time, he also sent his best wishes to this summit and hoped that the summit could contribute to the development of the industry.
Afterwards, Mr. Zhong Jian, Chairman of Guangzhou 4A and Chairman of Shenghuo Technology Group, took the stage to deliver a speech entitled "Marketing, Creating Business for Brands". He mentioned that in the digital age, consumer behavior has undergone earth-shaking changes. At the same time, the acceleration of the digital process, especially the rapid development of technologies such as AI and big data, is reshaping the face of the marketing industry. Intelligent recommendations and personalized advertising have become the norm in the marketing field, providing brands with unprecedented precision marketing opportunities. Finally, he also proposed that in a rapidly changing market environment, everyone needs to continue to learn and be innovative in order to grasp the pulse of the times and win lasting competitive advantages for brands.
As the founder of the DMAA International Digital Marketing Award, Tang Chao delivered an opening speech entitled "New Trends in Digital Marketing: The Core Driving Force of Value Growth". He pointed out that as consumer demands become increasingly diversified and personalized, companies need to enhance brand value and user experience through accurate data analysis, innovative marketing strategies, and efficient channel integration. At the same time, establishing long-term customer relationships and cultivating brand loyalty are also the keys to achieving value growth. In the face of growth issues, he analyzed the three aspects of brand drive, channel drive, and product drive, dispelling the fog of growth and bringing new inspiration.
With the end of Mr. Tang Chao's speech, the forum session of the 8th DMAA International Digital Marketing Summit 2025 officially opened. At this summit, Ms. Tong Xiaoyan, CEO of MUSINESS Music Metaverse, and Ms. Lin Xinyi, partner of Qun Yushan Label and founder of New Notice Star Business, served as hosts of the morning and afternoon sessions respectively, jointly promoting the development of digital marketing.
Faced with the iterative updates of the digital marketing environment, how should digital marketers and brand people deal with the difficulties and pain points of growth? They refuse to lie flat and always seem to have their own "strength" and "means".
Innovation and application of AI in digital marketing
In today's world of rapid technological advancement, AI (artificial intelligence) and its related technologies are profoundly changing the face of digital marketing. From intelligent creation to full-link marketing, AI technology, with its powerful data processing and analysis capabilities, provides brands with unprecedented marketing methods and strategies. At the same time, other innovative technologies such as big data are also playing an increasingly important role in digital marketing.
Yang Yang, Chief Creative Expert of iFlytek, focused on the theme of "Looking at Brand Marketing in the AI Era from First Principles". He proposed that although AI is increasingly used in brand marketing, it is still worth pondering whether companies and brands are really ready to let AI fully represent brand marketing. At the same time, he pointed out that the value of iFlytek's AI technology in brand marketing is by no means limited to simple creativity such as writing poems and painting, but can understand and influence consumers at a deeper level, bringing new growth opportunities for brands. In addition, he also looked forward to the future of content marketing, believing that the integration of AI and human creativity and emotional expression will be an important trend.
He Jiajie, deputy general manager of Jikefenxiang Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., focused on the theme of "intelligent creation of short videos, innovating future content production" and proposed how Jikexiang Image can use its short video intelligent creation platform to automatically generate high-quality short videos using AI technology to innovate future content production. As the first enterprise-level service provider integrating photo live broadcast, video live broadcast, and video quick editing, Jikexiang Image has lowered the technical threshold, time consumption and cost of video production, and improved the dissemination and influence of content.
Han Jiaxin, Director of Marketing Operations of 360 Group Intelligent Marketing Cloud, started a discussion on the topic of "Penetrating the entire chain, AI creates new quality marketing power for enterprises". He believes that AI has become a key force in promoting the growth of corporate marketing, and effectively promotes business growth by improving the quality of marketing content and user experience. In his speech, he introduced in detail the application of AI in the entire marketing chain, including using AI for user insights and strategy insights to generate accurate marketing content; optimizing advertising through AI technology to achieve behavioral targeting and precise delivery; in the customer service link, AI customer service can respond promptly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to improve user satisfaction. In addition, he also shared practical cases of platforms such as 360AI Marketing Cloud, which integrate domestic large model manufacturers to provide full-chain solutions from content creation to operational transformation, helping companies to achieve marketing intelligence and enhance market competitiveness.
Chen Aihua, founder and CEO of Xiaozanyun (Guangzhou) Technology Co., Ltd., gave a keynote speech on "How to Transform Enterprise Marketing with AI". He mentioned that AI technology can not only improve the operational efficiency of enterprises and reduce costs, but also help enterprises to more accurately understand consumer needs and formulate personalized marketing strategies. In addition, AI can also optimize the organizational structure of enterprises and improve employee work efficiency and satisfaction. At the business level, AI technology can be applied to product research and development, production management, customer service and other links to create greater value for enterprises. For enterprises, they should first clarify the transformation goals, choose the appropriate AI technology, establish a data foundation, and cultivate AI talents to help enterprises adapt to changes in the digital age and enhance their competitiveness.
Ju Dawei, founder and CEO of AICE, pointed out in his speech titled "AI Subverts Marketing, Creative People Can Finally Enjoy Life!" that the scarcity of creative people is an unsolvable pain point in the advertising and marketing workflow, leading to inefficient marketing or disabled brand power. AI can reproduce the advertising creative planning workflow and become the key to solving this problem. He further shared the criteria for evaluating an excellent marketing creative AI tool. With the help of AI, marketers will be able to complete their work more efficiently and enjoy more freedom and time.
Harriet Sheffer, Business Director of Asia Pacific at AutoFocus Technologies, discussed the topic of "Digital Design Empowers the Retail Industry and Achieves Brand Business Growth". Based on the experience of implementing innovative retail solutions in China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the entire Asia Pacific region in 2024, she discussed how brands can use physical space combined with digital design to innovate the retail experience. Harriet pointed out that through innovative store design, brands can not only enhance consumers' shopping experience, but also effectively promote sales growth, attract more traffic, and stimulate social sharing, thereby enhancing brand influence. Her speech provided valuable strategic guidance and practical cases for the future development of the retail industry.
Zhu Qi, the person in charge of the DMAA AIGC drawing test project, discussed the topic of "Why do marketing companies that want to embrace AI fail?" In his speech, he pointed out that although the actual deployment of AI technology still faces many limitations and challenges, by continuously optimizing process management and adjusting organizational structure, humans are fully capable of further exploring and maximizing the potential of AI. This move will open up unprecedented competitive advantages for enterprises and bring unprecedented development opportunities.
Content is king in traditional marketing and emerging media
In the marketing field, whether it is traditional channels or emerging media, content has always been the bridge connecting brands and consumers. With the continuous changes in the way information is disseminated, the quality and innovation of content have become the core factors that determine brand influence. Under the interweaving of traditional marketing and emerging media, adhering to the concept of "content is king" can not only deepen the brand image, but also accurately reach the target audience and maximize the marketing effect.
Li Congyu, Planning Director of iQiyi Integrated Marketing Center, brought a theme discussion on "Content Convergence, Brand Upward". In her speech, she explained how iQiyi promoted brand upgrading through the deep integration of content innovation and brand marketing. He mentioned that iQiyi has opened up the full-link marketing of drama and variety show IP and enabled brand growth through strategies such as expanding the global media alliance, innovating cooperation models, and deploying national-level dramas and boutique short dramas. In addition, through cases such as Spring Festival marketing, in-depth cooperation with IP concerts, and variety shows + closed loops, it demonstrated how content can light up the brand mind, establish brand scene associations, and enable massive scene integration through hot dramas to achieve deep brand reach and efficient conversion, providing new ideas and practical paths for brand marketing.
Li Huiyang, the key account director of Xiaojue App, delivered a keynote speech on "Xiaojue, Hearing the New Voice of Podcasts". In his speech, he shared that Xiaojue App, as China's first podcast content platform, has received widespread attention for its unique products and content tonality since its launch in March 2020, and has become a community recognized by podcast creators and listeners; podcasts, as a form of audio media, convey ideas and spirits in the form of speaking, have profound and comprehensive content and a strong sense of immersion and substitution, and are loved by urban youth and have become their trusted source of information. Xiaojue App has become a leader in podcast culture by connecting expression and listening, and has explored the commercial potential of podcasts with partners, such as commercialization through advertising, sponsorship, content cooperation and other forms, to promote the sustainable development of the podcast industry.
Sister Mulan, founder of Mulanjie Brand Consulting and author of the best-selling book "Breaking Word of Mouth" series, shared her thoughts on "Breaking Word of Mouth: Starting Content Strategy". She focused on how companies can formulate and implement efficient content strategies to achieve accurate market communication in the era of segmentation. She believes that refined content production can meet the needs of different audiences, innovative presentation methods can be used to attract attention, user interaction can be enhanced to increase participation, and digital means such as big data analysis and social media can be used to expand influence. The ultimate goal is to build a closed-loop system that closely combines brand image and marketing effectiveness, promote the dual growth of corporate traffic and performance, thereby breaking word of mouth in the fierce market competition and consolidating and expanding market share.
Several guests at the roundtable discussion focused on the topic of "The Return of the Value of Outdoor Advertising" and explored in depth how outdoor advertising can break through the predicament of being impacted by emerging media, and once again become a key force in brand communication with its unique scene advantages, strong visual impact and precise geographical coverage.
Ho Ho-ming, Head of Marketing and New Business Development Division/Brand Management Department of Suzhou Sinochem Pharmaceutical Industry Co., Ltd., stressed the importance of outdoor advertising in brand building and promotion, especially in the pharmaceutical industry. Despite the increasing popularity of online advertising and digital marketing, outdoor advertising, with its high exposure and wide reach, is still an important means to increase brand awareness and build brand trust. For highly regulated products such as pharmaceuticals that require a high degree of consumer trust, outdoor advertising can help brands stand out from many competitors through its visual impact.
Huang Guoli, Head of Arrow Home Group & Arrow Bathroom Brand, said that in the fiercely competitive home furnishing market, outdoor advertising can help brands stand out and attract the attention of potential customers. At the same time, through precise positioning and target market analysis, outdoor advertising can more effectively convey the core value and differentiated advantages of the brand. In addition, Huang Guoli also emphasized the role of outdoor advertising in promoting offline store traffic and sales conversion.
UTO brand partner Wang Chongwei pointed out that for sports brands, outdoor advertising can not only help brands establish a professional and dynamic image in the market, but also increase the interaction rate between brands and potential consumers through precise positioning and coverage of target markets. In addition, Wang Chongwei mentioned the positive role of outdoor advertising in promoting brands to participate in social welfare activities and enhance brand image.
Wang Mengqi, product manager of Zhongxing Cloud, focused on Xiaohongshu and shared his views on the "2024 Xiaohongshu Content Growth Report". In his speech, he revealed the platform's strong growth momentum in 2024, with an average growth rate of 33.57% in 17 key tracks. Industries such as beauty, skin care, mother and baby showed positive growth due to the promotion of the "she" economy. At the same time, tracks such as food, home, and sports also showed great potential, reflecting consumers' pursuit of personalized and diversified content, and the huge commercial value of Xiaohongshu as a content marketing platform.
A new marketing perspective based on brand market insights
Every subtle fluctuation in the brand market contains unlimited business opportunities and challenges. Deeply understanding market dynamics and accurately capturing consumer needs have become the key to marketing success. In this process, the speakers shared their own market insights and thoughts, and talked about how to bring new possibilities for growth in the new market environment.
Xie Zhen, CMO of Dimi Lifestyle Technology, was the first to take the stage and delivered a keynote speech entitled "Marketing Truths You Can't Imagine - Be a Marketer Who Understands the Truth". In his speech, he deeply analyzed the misunderstandings that marketers often fall into, including that unsatisfactory performance advertising results may be due to low brand level, poor traffic quality, low conversion efficiency, etc., the effect of anchors bringing goods is not entirely dependent on the anchors, the marketing department's budget and media touchpoint selection need to be diversified, and brand positioning is easily tampered with and must be adhered to. He also emphasized the importance of understanding these marketing truths for formulating effective marketing strategies.
Zheng Xiaoran, SVP of Shiqu Interactive, delivered a keynote speech entitled "How can brands seize new opportunities of consumption upgrade and downgrade in the era of shared needs?" She proposed insights based on consumer research on the opportunities faced by brands in the era of shared needs, and analyzed in detail the consumption characteristics, motivations and logic of high-end, middle-class and sinking market groups, pointing out that brands should follow the trend of consumption upgrade and downgrade, and meet the needs of different consumer groups through strategies such as health association, emotional value provision, precise positioning, traffic control, new product marketing, image upgrade, and low-price strategy, so as to gain advantages in the fiercely competitive market.
Huo Zhongyan, founding partner of Cangyuan Capital, mentioned in his speech "The Real Brand Era Has Just Arrived - Brand Entrepreneurship Opportunities in the New Economic Cycle" that the economic environment is constantly changing, which also contains new entrepreneurial opportunities. By accurately positioning the target population, building brand stories, and creating a differentiated brand image, it is possible to continuously drive brand growth and promote brand upgrades and growth. Huo Zhongyan's sharing provides specific ideas and practical paths for brand marketing, which has important guiding significance for brand entrepreneurs in the new economic cycle.
Zhao Xiaoguang, Chief Growth Officer of Shengjia and CEO of Insight Advertising, delivered a keynote speech titled "The Wave-Particle Duality of Brands". He discussed how brands are like the wave-particle duality in physics, which has both volatility (such as the scope and influence of brand communication) and particle nature (such as the uniqueness and precise positioning of individual brands), and stressed that in the process of brand building and communication, it is necessary to take into account both wide coverage and precise reach in order to maximize brand value.
Bei Nianjun, founder of MPP Group and CEO of Shanghai Heyin Network Technology Co., Ltd., discussed the topic of "The Age of Mind: Omni-channel Marketing - New Growth Engine". He pointed out that in the context of the transition from the traffic era to the mind era, brands need to reshape the consumer journey through omni-channel marketing, use omni-channel channels and omni-channel digital intelligence, take "heartbeat, instant gain" as the core of the strategy, drive the real growth of the brand, and help the brand achieve more market share. This strategy has important guiding significance for all kinds of brands, whether they are leading brands or high-potential emerging brands.
Grand Prize Announced
On the morning of January 10, the grand prize final review meeting of the 8th DMAA International Digital Marketing Awards was held at the same time. This final review meeting selected the outstanding gold award cases born in the first round of final review meeting held on November 26, and the final judges voted by raising their hands to select the final grand prize winner.
At the scene, 100 industry experts from the field of digital marketing gathered to discuss and analyze different cases. After rigorous selection, the winners of this year's grand prize were finally born. The specific winners will be announced together with the full list of winners of this year's DMAA International Digital Marketing Awards.
Conclusion
Looking back at this year's summit, it is not difficult to find that value growth has become the main theme in the field of digital marketing. Whether it is brand, marketing or technology, they are constantly deepening and innovating around this core proposition. The DMAA International Digital Marketing Summit, as a platform that gathers wisdom and inspires innovation, is committed to allowing every participant to find their own inspiration and direction, and jointly draw a new chapter in digital marketing.
Looking into the future, with the continuous advancement of technology and the continuous changes in consumer demand, the field of digital marketing will still be full of challenges and opportunities. However, I believe that under the guidance of the DMAA International Digital Marketing Summit, the industry will continue to move forward and create more brilliant achievements.
