OMR founder outlines road to success with real live marketing

6 May 2025

Digital world meets real world - OMR founder Philipp Westermeyer names top trends for brand success and previews upcoming OMR Festival

More than 800 keynote speakers and over 1,000 exhibitors are expected at this year's Online Marketing Rockstars (OMR) festival underway from May 6 to 7, 2025 in Hamburg's exhibition halls. OMR, one of Europe's largest digital conferences, regularly attracts over 70,000 delegates. This year, emphasis will be on all the latest global trends, technologies and best digital marketing practices. The keynote speech, "The State of the German Internet", by Philipp Westermeyer, founder of OMR, is among the eagerly-awaited highlights. In an interview with Hamburg News, Westermeyer gives glimpses of other high points.

Hamburg News: "OMR 2025 - the festival for the digital universe" will see you reach for the stars. What's particularly galactic this year?

Philipp Westermeyer (laughs): Well, it's always the mix of highlights and exciting speakers from commerce, marketing, sports and culture. And Nicholas Turley, Head of Product at ChatGPT, Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds, bestselling author Sebastian Fitzek and technology scientist Amy Webb, to name just a few, make this year's agenda fantastic. We are not expecting any federal politicians like Robert Habeck, Germany's Minister for Economics and Climate Action in 2024.

Hamburg News: Could you pick a theme from your and digital journalist Roland Eisenbrand's keynote on the do's and don'ts of digital marketing?

Westermeyer: At the moment, one particularly striking development is definitely the eventisation of marketing. Companies are staging their brand in the real world and then extending the event millions of times online. A car tuner from Bottrop, for instance, is presenting its cars on the catwalk like a fashion show.

Hamburg News: Can you give us other examples?

Westermeyer: Certainly. The British toy retailer, Jellycat, is another example. When you buy a soft toy there, it's not simply put in a bag. It's presented as spectacularly as if you were buying a Rolex. People think it's cool, take photos and post them. That's real live marketing.

AI "lots of hope, but plenty of disappointment"

Hamburg News: What other major developments do you see in the digital galaxy?

Westermeyer: With or without AI?

Hamburg News: It doesn't matter.

Westermeyer: Plenty of AI experiments are being undertaken. And while there's lots of hope, there is plenty of disappointment as well because the idea is to create business models that earn money. AI is one of the big topics at OMR 2025. We have international experts on board such as Nicholas Turley, Head of Product at ChatGPT at OpenAI.

Hamburg News: OMR will be staying in Hamburg for at least another ten years, according to your agreement with Messe Hamburg. That allows you to plan ahead. How does that affect your strategic focus?

Westermeyer: We're pleased with that too, Hamburg is a great place for the festival. And that's right, it gives us planning security. We can focus on other things such as expanding our other economic pillars. We have, among others, our Podstars subsidiary and OMR Reviews, a software comparison platform.

Hamburg News: Which of the products is your cash cow?

Westermeyer: All the divisions are profitable.

"Product must be better than ever"

Hamburg News: You just mentioned international stars from the digital world who are coming to the festival. They even include Nicholas Turley, who works for ChatGPT in Silicon Valley, but hails from Itzehoe in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. But seriously, do you want to become more international? After all, this year you are also offering some French start-ups a stage at the Startup City Hamburg stand.

Westermeyer: That's always an issue. And, of course, we want to. At the moment, around 18 per cent of our guests come from abroad. But we've already reached the limit with just under 70,000 visitors. The hotels in Hamburg and the surrounding region are fully booked. It's also a question of logistics. And above all, we want to stage a good festival and not grow at simply any price.

Hamburg News: Okay, you rarely hear that. Last question: "Attention" is the currency of the digital world. How can you achieve that without the overload?

Westermeyer: It sounds simple, but it's more important than ever to have products that other people recommend. It doesn't cost anything and retaining satisfied customers saves money on attracting new customers. Of course, you have to advertise your products. Selling mediocre products used to be cheaper and easier.

Hamburg News: So marketing, of all things, has become more honest despite the era of deepfakes and anti fact-checking ?

Westermeyer: I don't know whether marketing has become more honest, but the product has to be better than ever.

Hamburg News: Thank you for the interview and good luck with OMR 2025.
Inerview by Karolin Köcher

kk/pb

Sources and further information

OMR - platform for digital business world

The OMR festival, launched in 2011 as the “Online Marketing Rockstars”, is now Europe’s largest gathering for the digital sector, media and marketing with almost 70,000 delegates. OMR’s subsidiary, Podstars, produces over 100 podcasts which are complemented by a wide range of courses, the OMR Jobs & HR webpage and the OMR Reviews software platform. OMR currently employs around 400 people in Hamburg via ramp106 GmbH. In 2011, Westermeyer held a first online marketing seminar for 150 friends and business partners at the Bucerius Law School. Demand soared and eventually the event moved to the Große Freiheit 36 music club, the Stage Theater and to the Hamburg Messe und Congress exhibition halls.