Ten must-see sessions at the Festival of Marketing
With 200 speakers across 12 stages, the two-day Festival of Marketing boasts a packed schedule so choosing what to prioritise is a tough task. To help you navigate, Marketing Week has selected 10 not-to-be-missed sessions that tackle the big issues marketers are facing today.
Championing diversity in the workplace
Thursday 12 November, 11.45am-12.15pm
Diversity is a key issue for all brands and marketers. Not only does having a diverse workforce mean brands can better represent their audience, it is also proven to build stronger businesses. In this session, Aviva’s group brand director Jan Gooding, businesswoman and entrepreneur Maggie Semple and Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, founder of The Black Farmer, will explore how companies can acknowledge differences and attract a more diverse pool of talent.
The end-to-end transformation of physical business
Wednesday 11 November, 2.45pm-3.15pm
Digital has transformed the way businesses operate and presented huge opportunities and challenges for marketers. Coca-Cola Enterprises’ vice-president of digital sales and marketing Mark Elkins will discuss how the brand has adapted to survive in the modern world. He will walk the audience through the journey, from Coca-Cola’s first display ad through to its leading interactive shopper experiences.
Putting the customer experience centre-stage in your brand transformation
Thursday 12 November, 10.45am-11.15am
Customer experience is more than a buzzword. Optimising the experience people have of your brand across all touchpoints is a business necessity. As the voice of the customer in an organisation, the marketer is ideally placed to ensure that best practice is embedded throughout the business. Post Office CMO Pete Markey explains how it uses customer experience as a differentiator and uses it to measure success.
Brand valuation is brilliant/bullshit – debate and delete as applicable
Wednesday 11 November, 3.45pm-4.15pm
One of the world’s best commentators on marketing, Marketing Week columnist Mark Ritson will square off against the world’s major brand valuation companies – Interbrand, Brand Finance and Millward Brown – in what promises to be a lively session. Ritson called out the trio earlier this year over what he claims are inconsistencies in their valuations of the world’s top brands, which he says makes them effectively useless. Fighting talk that makes this session a must attend for all marketers.
Measuring the value of content – is it worth the investment?
Wednesday 11 November, 12.45pm-1.15pm
Investment in content is at an all-time high. The question many still ask, however, is ‘what about the bottom line?’. This panel discussion will see Vice Media’s Mark Adams, Matt Shaw from Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube, UKTV’s Simon Michaelides and Premier Foods’ Helen Warren Piper attempt to answer this big question.
Video launched the internet star: Placing video at the centre of your strategy
Wednesday 11 November, 10.45am-11.15am
The power and appeal of social media stars has redefined the future of media. But how can brands take advantage of this shift and best work with vloggers to get the cut-through they need while still appearing authentic? Television presenter and Snapchat personality Poppy Jamie, Periscope star Alex Pettitt, and Topless Baker Matt Adlard of Meerkat fame reveal all.
What’s the secret to driving growth today?
Wednesday 11 November, 12.45pm-1.15pm
Based on an exclusive first look at the results of Brand Learning’s study into the factors that will make or break a brand in the modern age, this session boasts impeccable credentials: a fundamental issue – the practices and capabilities needed to deliver sustainable growth – and a stellar panel including Diageo CMO Syl Saller and Virgin Media CMO Kerris Bright to discuss the findings. Marketing Week columnist Mark Ritson will be chairing the session.
The challenge of being a challenger
Thursday 12 November, 12.45pm-1.15pm
The story of TSB will be pored over by marketing students for years to come. Despite residual brand affection and a 600-strong branch network, the achievement in launching a nationwide, purpose-driven challenger brand in just over a year is admirable, especially as its value was £1.7bn less than two years after launch. Chief marketing officer Nigel Gilbert will explain the secret to resurrecting a heritage brand in a sector where trust is a scarce commodity.
The Guardian: Creating a data-driven culture
Thursday 12 November, 11.45am-12.15pm
The Grand Prix winner at Marketing Week’s Data Storytelling Awards for its ‘Evolve or Die’ campaign, The Guardian clearly knows a thing or two about data. Julia Porter, director of consumer revenues, will talk about better serving audience needs by truly understanding them. The way to do that, she says, is by having an open and frank conversation with them, explaining how better data leads to better services. A fascinating and very modern marketing challenge.
Social networking for B2B brands – a pipe dream?
Wednesday 11 November, 11.45am-12.15pm
The idea of branding and engagement, content and social media is seen by many in B2B as the domain of the B2C crowd. This session dares to dream by tackling the best way B2B brands can adopt social. Social and content heads from Maersk, Powwownow and GE share best practise.
For more information about the Festival of Marketing and to buy tickets visit www.festivalofmarketing.com.
The Masters: what to expect
The Masters of Marketing Awards are designed to highlight some of the most innovative, creative and thought-provoking work of the past year and put it firmly in the spotlight.
With that in mind, rather than simply hearing a list of winners, attendees will be able to experience first-hand just why the shortlisted entries have been selected through a series of interactive displays and videos on the ‘plasma chandelier’ situated in The Masters Gallery at the Festival of Marketing.
Winners will be announced in a series of pop-up ceremonies taking place between sessions. Every hour the chandelier will be raised and visitors will be invited to gather around the circular stage where Jon Briggs, the voice of Apple’s Siri, will acknowledge the winners.
Five ceremonies will take place each day at The Masters Gallery with the winners of the Grand Prix awards to be announced at the end of the first day on the headline stage.
