Wow! What a night. The Pinterest Welcome Party at Cairns Crocodiles yet again topped all expectations, yet again. You can right click or press and hold to save the hi-res photos.
Adland, you brought your best cherry-coded vibes with some incredible outfits that had to be seen to be believed (though you’ll be able to see the best on B&T shortly for maximum FOMO if you didn’t manage to snag a Cairns Crocodiles ticket).
Cherry coded, of course, is one of Pinterest’s key themes for 2025. Exuding equal parts confidence and cool, sultry and bold, Cairns Crocodiles delegates and Welcome Party revellers completely filled the billing.
We’d love to say that Cairns Crocodiles delegates painted the town red. But they didn’t. Instead, they painted a former Bunnings red! The high ceilings, open spaces and unpolished aesthetic of the now-Screen Queensland Studios only added to the atmosphere and served as a beautifully blank canvas for our stars (i.e. you!) to slay in the best possible way.
That said, the entertainment on the night was simply incredible, too. The legendary team at Ministry of Sound curated an awesome show with Australian DJs Groove Terminator, John Course and Minx spinning the tunes all night long with ARIA-nominated performers; Reigan, Luke Antony and Karina Chavez also performing long into the night.
And, of course, there was a sausage sizzle.
Programmatic DOOH Is Supercharging Campaigns In Australia
A room full of media executives and marketers got their Cairns Crocodiles week off to an early start with an informative and delicious breakfast put on by VIOOH at the Cairns Convention Centre on Tuesday.
VIOOH’s ANZ partnerships director, Ryan Sullivan, led a discussion about how programmatic digital out-of-home advertising can supercharge campaigns, pointing out that 92 per cent of marketers believe programmatic out-of-home offers the most innovative opportunities of all media channels.
More than half of outdoor campaigns have some component that is traded programmatically, adoption rates are forecast to top 35 per cent of media plans within the next 12 months, while investment in prDOOH is expected to rise by 28 per cent.
In Australia, about $100 million is invested in programmatic out of home, while globally that figure rises to US$1.2 billion, and is tipped to climb to US$30.1 billion by 2032.
Sullivan said that programmatically traded digital out-of-home provides the same premium inventory as directly traded, but with a much lower barrier to entry, which makes it more accessible to brands of all sizes.
“All of a sudden, tier twos, smaller brands, can start to do cool things with a super premium channel,” he said.
“That whole thing of having to plan (out-of-home campaigns) month and months in advance has gone. You can be super reactive to external factors and markets, and product launches. And then it’s flexible; you can switch things on and off, you can move budgets, you can change formats and be creative with it. That’s what’s exciting.
Sullivan’s presentation was followed by a panel discussion featuring Yahoo head of strategy Keren Homan, Starcom business director Manon Jardin and Vodafone Eamon Jehl.
The trio discussed how programmatic DOOH is playing an increasingly important role in campaigns, such as the ability to target overseas audiences, such as students, for instance, as they land at airports to promote Vodafone.
Delegates enjoyed a serving of bacon, eggs and mushrooms – a hearty meal and discussion to kick off their Cairns Crocodiles experience.
Is Linear TV Dead Or Will AI Kill Creative Jobs? Experts Unlock Hype vs Reality At Quantcast Lunch
Industry leaders joined a lively discussion about hype vs reality and the future of connected TV at lunch.
Quantcast ANZ head of client service management Larissa Parry moderated a panel featuring Salter Brothers Hospitality digital marketing director Amy Cherry (formerly with Accor), UM senior digital manager Laura Prieto, and Slingshot chief executive Simon Rutherford.
The panel discussed the connected TV and linear TV landscape, whether AI will replace creativity, media consolidation and brand performance.
On whether the rise of CTV is leading to a shift away from linear TV, Rutherford said: “The reality is that linear TV is not dead yet, but it is on life support.
“Gen Z has grown up not knowing what a TV guide or a TV schedule is. They just watch what they want when they want it on the device that’s most convenient for them…they just watch YouTube, Netflix, Stan and the other streaming services. The other thing is, if we look at the average age in agencies, it’s 32.7 years…they’ve also grown up in an environment where they’re using technology in the same way, so they have inherent bias.
“So is it five years, probably not, it might be more like 10 years [before linear TV is dead].”
Prieto doesn’t believe that AI will replace entire teams, but could replace certain roles.
“We always say that AI can take our clients’ outcomes and results to ‘good’, and the human talent is what takes it to ‘great’. By good, we mean we leverage it for efficiencies, tasks that could take days, AI can do it in a matter of minutes,” she said.
“That it can then free up time for that talent to focus on how to get those results to great.”
On the topic of media consolidation, Cherry believes it has never been easier for diverse voices to find a platform in spite of consolidation.
“With the rise of different platforms and channels, it’s never been easier to actually have an independent voice for users to actively seek their content. Not all of that content is obviously great quality, which you would generally get from the larger media conglomerates, but I think in terms of where the audience is and what they’re seeking, that niche component is a big, big opportunity (for brands).
Delegates were treated to a sumptuous two-course meal of prawn starter and beef brisket main, and with plenty of thought-provoking debate to chew on.
ESPN’s Half-Time Happy Hour
After a jam-packed day one of sessions, ESPN’s Halftime Happy Hour at Hemingway’s Brewery was the perfect pit stop before the madness of the welcome party kicked off.
Nestled on the waterfront and known for its craft beers and laid-back charm, Hemingway’s sets the scene for one of the most relaxed and well-timed catch-ups of the day.
From 4:40pm, the crowd braved the rain, ready to trade lanyards for lagers. There were no presentations, no formalities, just cold drinks, great chat (whether footy-based or otherwise) and a solid DJ set in the background.
The ESPN crew were right in the mix, chatting with media mates, agency friends and conference-goers keen to sneak in one more social stop before the evening’s main event.
By the time people filtered off to the official welcome party, there was a clear vibe: ESPN’s Happy Hour had done its job. Spirits were high, glasses were empty, and everyone was ready to keep the night rolling.
Moral of the story? Always pre-game with ESPN.
