As reported on warc.com today, experts from clients and agencies have convened in Istanbul this week for the 2010 Global Advertiser Conference, with speakers at the event continuing the long-running debate on the role of the advertising agency, post-digital revolution.

However, such concerns were generously larded with surprising stats and down-to-earth advice. Ahead of the full Warc reports on the event, available soon, here are five standout insights provided by the speakers:

  • The Facebook all good marketers know is that the social network now has over 400 million active users. Blake Chandlee vp Europe at Facebook, highlighted the surprising demographic breakdown of this group. The single fastest-growing cohort is women aged over 45, and over-35s make up 28% of total users.
  • If you'd based your opinion on the relative popularity of mobile phone handsets from conference attendees only, you'd see the market as a straight fight between the iPhone and the BlackBerry. Of course, the real global picture is much more complex, with many reasons yet to take to smartphones. Nokia cmo Pekka Rantala provided some perspective, by pointing out that 1.3bn people use one of the Finnish firm's handsets daily.
  • Many still think of HP as a maker of printers and little else. However, according to Michael Mendenhall, the firm's cmo, actual sources of revenue are impressively diversified. Of all the revenue derived outside of the US - around 70% of the total - about half comes from what Mendenhall termed "enterprise services", in other words, things like servers, storage and help with outsourcing.
  • Sustainability was a big buzzword at the conference. Fernando Rodés Vilà, ceo of Havas, highlighted a recent survey from the holding company showing that four of the top five issues people around the world are "very concerned" about are either directly or indirectly related to sustainability; with the effects of the global recession still being felt, unemployment was number one on the list.
  • Dina Erkey, media director of Unilever Turkey, gave a rundown of the conference host nation's media landscape. TV is still king: the typical Turk watches for five hours a day, far above the global average. Housewives are still more addicted, watching for 6.6 hours.

The day long event is part of Global Advertising Week, more information about which can be found here.