When the Google Team came to the DEREE-ACG campus on February 26, it came as no surprise that a host of students, faculty and staff flocked to see them, and learn from their expertise.

Held at DEREE’s Center for the Arts Auditorium, the MasterClass was hugely popular with marketing and communication graduate students, in particular, keen to get to know the team, the company, and hear about the latest trends in digital advertising and the future of digital.

Dr Areti Krepapa, Dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Education that organized the event, welcomed the Google Team and thanked them for coming to campus to share their insights, especially Grigoris Zarifopoulos, Google’s Industry Head for Greece, Cyprus, and Malta for “making it happen.”

Mr Zarifopoulos was joined by key members of the Google Team in Greece who presented trends and intelligence from their particular fields: Ilias Sousis, Head of Agencies and YouTube for Google Greece, who expanded on digital marketing, as well as consumer loyalty and journey; Eleni Mavroeidi, part of the sales force at Google Greece, who discussed the Google range of tools and products; and Markos Koemtzopoulos, Senior Industry Analyst at Google Greece, who talked about developing new businesses – outside of Greece as well.

The Google Digital Academy also presented four key trends they see in the future of digital, among others:

a) Mobile – showcasing numerous examples of how ubiquitous smartphones have become and will become even more in the future. Google projects 10 billion active mobiles by 2020.

b) Offline goes online, where most people will always be connected in the very near future, whether through their TVs, cars, home appliances, watches, tablets, phones, etc. The internet is a growth engine for the economy. The team presented the Google Glass, among other gadgets that will make online lives even more access friendly in the near future.

c) Democratizing media. The media landscape has changed, as today there is more choice. All the information is readily available and readily affects how media are approaching consumers. All the choices and devices are allowing companies to advertise in more targeted ways – for example, to young people on YouTube. Advertisers have also gone more into storytelling mode to engage consumers and to get them to stay active. The theme now is how to get them to interact and remain engaged.

Commerce: The internet has forever changed commerce. The path to purchase has forever changed, not just by online buying. According to official data, close to 80 per cent of consumers have made their decisions before arriving at a store.

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