Interviews
Interview with Christian Muche and Frank Schneider from dmexco
Published by Gbaf News
Posted on June 27, 2012
9 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Gbaf News
Posted on June 27, 2012
9 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Frank Schneider, 49, member of the dmexco Board of Directors holds the position of Director Marketing, Sales & Operations. 
Christian Muche, 46, member of the dmexco Board of Directors is responsible for the areas Business Development, Strategy & International.
Facts and figures dmexco 2012:
dmexco is the international leading expo & conference for the digital industry. Comprising of a unique combination between an exposition and a conference it stands for innovative and future-oriented marketing in the midst of a global growth market.dmexco 2012 – in Cologne on September 12 & 13 – will see around 500 renowned exhibiting companies from all over the world, more than 350 international conference speakers, 20,000 trade visitors from all over the world. For trade visitors the dmexco is free of charge! All information at www.dmexco.com.
1. You recently went on a US on behalf of dmexco. What were your observations? Is the dmexco receiving acceptance on an international level and in particular in the USA?
Christian Muche, Director Business Development, Strategy & International dmexco
“In the USA the dmexco is also already considered to be the leading global digital industry expo and conference event. As such the perception that the dmexco is the industry’s number one event is indeed international. Over the past few years we have certainly set the right course with our clear and unmistakable positioning of the dmexco.Our discussions with diverse US-American decision-makers from all market segments has really underlined this impressively: Apart from a few rare exceptions we didn’t have to do any explaining at all, most of our discussion partners were already familiar with the dmexco – or had indeed already paid a visit to the event personally! When it comes down to expanding business relations beyond their domestic market, the dmexco makes the ideal central business platform thanks to its international high standing.”
2. How did the discussions go? Who did you talk to?
Frank Schneider, Director Marketing, Sales & Operations dmexco
“Primarily, we met up with multiplicators and potential new exhibitors. Since the dmexco is already very well-known in the USA, the doors were quite literally held wide open to us and we received thoroughly positive feedback. Above all leading real-time bidding specialists from the USA are relying on the dmexco 2012. Interesting new exhibitors in this segment include for instance AppNexus, PubMatic and OpenX. And we are currently holding discussions with further Northern American companies such as Casale, Sojern, adacado, YuMe and Rocket Fuel.”
3. What demands/expectations do the international participants, exhibitors and speakers have regarding the dmexco?
Christian Muche
“Both the visitors and the more than 350 conference speakers expect a uniform high standard of quality regarding the contents presented at the expo and the conference and beyond this also a comprehensive opportunity to establish contacts and exchange experiences at a high level. We manage to combine this diversity of expectations by providing on the one hand a clear spatial and conceptual framework and on the other hand by creating many individual solutions for a huge spectrum of requirements. However, above all the desire for a clear orientation regarding the contents for the coming months and years as well as realisable visions is one of the priorities of all the participants. The dmexco satisfies these demands because we bring outstanding brands and celebrities together in a distinctive environment and act as a quality distributor for all of the international markets.”
Frank Schneider
“For the exhibitors the actual business relevance of an event is of prime importance, since such a commitment always involves an investment. London as the European hub for American companies entering the European market has lost a large share of the business to our expo marketplace. For US firms the dmexco is now the door opener for their international business. Of course it is our full intention to satisfy this demand.”
4. Which new US-American companies have you been able to win over for the dmexco?
Frank Schneider
“Many of the absolute US giants are already among our exhibitors: Facebook, Google, eBay, Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo! and many more. In addition to the real-time bidding specialists already mentioned above we will be joined in 2012 by the following names from the US market: Digital Element, MediaShakers Advertising Network, sterkly, Undertone, Social iQ Networks, DataXu and Evidon, all of whom will be exhibiting at the event for the first time this year. Real big players such as MySpace and Spotify will also be represented in Cologne, where they will be presenting their alignment as an entertainment platform to discover, share and experience music for the first time worldwide.”
5. In February you were already able to announce 40 percent more registrations than for the same time period of the previous year. Is this positive trend in the exhibitor registrations ongoing? What is the current situation in hard figures?
Frank Schneider
“Fortunately, this trend has continued. In April before the official exhibitor deadline we were able to record around 500 exhibitors from all over the world. Of course, we are still negotiating with several companies who are interested in participating; both expo halls will be completely fully booked. Ultimately, this means that there is once again a healthy 20 percent growth in the overall surface area, so that the total exhibition space will span over 50,000 m². Primarily, thanks to our Satellites and the Country Pavilion concept we have been able to register increased demand from Great Britain, Austria, Switzerland and the BeNeLux countries.”
6. How has the focus shifted – compared to last year – with regards to the exhibitors? Which theme categories have grown – and which have lost in significance in terms of the number of exhibitors?
Frank Schneider
“In addition to a further increased internationalisation through the participation of top exhibitors from all over the world – we are for example looking forward to welcoming Yandex, our first exhibitor from Russia – we are particularly recording a clear rise in the number of eCommerce companies, who have recognised the central role of the dmexco and are switching from other events to ours. Naturally, the general good growth in the multi-channel and dialogue marketing sectors also plays an important role. Moreover, segments such as video advertising and mobile are showing a clear trend towards growth.”
7. To what extent does the structure of the registered exhibitors also reflect the current trends of the digital industry?
Frank Schneider
“This correlation can indeed be observed at every dmexco event. One thing that is noteworthy this year for instance is the significant increase in the stand sizes of companies from the dialogue marketing, video advertising, eCommerce and payment sectors. More and more agencies are deciding to show presence at the dmexco too. And from an international point of view the dmexco plays a central role for many specialised suppliers when it comes down to presenting their own portfolios and entering new markets.”
8. What do you consider to be the five strongest trends of the global digital industry at present?
Christian Muche
“The dmexco is the trend barometer for the marketing, media and technology industries. As such it has to present itself at least as diversely as the global digital industry. However, certainly topics like brand building, social business, AdTrading or real-time bidding, multi-channel, big data, SmartTV, customer experience and of course digital creativity have to be emphasised. We will of course encounter these and further trends in Cologne in September.”
9. The mobile sector is a separate exhibitor category at the dmexco.Is it appropriate to award this sector such a large significance still?Shouldn’t it be integrated into other areas such as “Commerce”, “Social” or “Targeting” instead? (… in the sense of a strategy that reaches the target group of the “LoMoSos” effectively and befitting the situation)
Frank Schneider
“As dmexco exhibitors, renowned giants such as Nokia, Telefonica, Gettings, Adfonic, YOC and InMobi are clearly demonstrating the high status of mobile.But the digital industry is always represented holistically at the expo. And this includes all channels, forms, application areas and first and foremost all participants of the value chain – from the agencies to technology providers, specialists and marketers through to the media.Naturally, this results in several interfaces and thematic overlaps.The idea behind the current exhibitor categories is to try and provide all of the dmexco visitors with a perfect overview.Thus, many of the exhibitors can be found in several categories.”
10. Brands have to provide experiences more than ever today. What can digital communication channels achieve in terms of brand experience?
Christian Muche
“Brand messages have been conveyed via digital channels at least as emotionally as via classic media for quite some time.Furthermore, they enable a direct response as well as the direct exchange between the relevant target groups.Brands can communicate with the consumers in a considerably more agile and real way by linking contents and technologies such as for instance moving images or targeting and active communities.In my opinion above all products can be represented in a much more tangible form too – especially when they are equipped with and linked directly to digital technologies, for example trainers with an integrated chip, the intelligent car or household appliances that think independently.In order to satisfy the demand for this “world of experiences”, we are planning to integrate these products and brands within the dmexco this year and in subsequent years and enable the visitors to experience them immediately.After all the dmexco visitors also include all those decision-makers who develop, exploit and use the aforementioned digital possibilities.It is the perfect platform for brands to present their products to a relevant target audience and demonstrate the possibilities and consequences they offer the marketing and media worlds.”
11. Can you give us a brief idea of the conference programme: Which themes will be on the agenda? Who have you been able to engage as speakers?
Christian Muche
“The motto of the dmexco 2012 conference is “The Digital Transformation: Shaping Models – Creating Business”.All relevant segments of the digital industry as well as its trends and innovations will be covered.Furthermore, this year in conjunction with the ADC New York we are integrating numerous panels and case studies from the important area of digital creativity.The dmexco label ‘UBERCLOUD’ will clearly distinguish these tangible elements.As we are presently still in the planning phase in many areas, we can only reveal so much:Once again this year the dmexco conference will present outstanding speakers from the entire global digital industry.”
For further information please visit www.dmexco.com
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