With more than a 1.3 billion population, China has become a critical focus for global marketers, but consumers in China and other Asian markets are cost sensitive and have different needs and responses to brands than Western consumers. In this session, Jean Lin, CEO of Isobar Asia Pacific and Global Chief Strategy Officer, will talk about marketing innovation in Asia, and new ways brands can connect with consumers. Her concept of "Purple Ocean" employs innovation in content, community, commerce and the way Asian consumers connect within a convergent media environment - all with an Asian twist. Come and see how Asian consumers respond to innovation and new ideas for connecting with consumers anywhere.
As "Customer Experience," "Digital Experience," "User Experience," and other variations of the concept drive the marketing strategies of organizations and brands, one thing is certain: in the "Age of Customer Experience," the brands that will stand out tomorrow are the ones that truly deliver delight across channels today. We'll be bringing our annual Portland-based UX event, Delight2012 out East, focusing on brands that go above and beyond to build exceptional digital experiences. Hear how you can design delight for your customers with brands that are delivering, and shaping the future of CX.
There will be light snacks and refreshments toward the end of the session.
Do relationships between brands and consumers arise naturally, or are they designed? If the goal of design is to influence, modify, and drive behavior, shouldn’t we explore the meaning of those underlying interactions?
The idea that designed elements must be easy to interpret has greater potential for consumers and brands than just ensuring that a website or web application is usable. Looking at trends like gestural interfaces, gamification, and pervasive social media from a semiotic point of view may help us better understand how to create user experiences that generate truly meaningful relationships between brands and people.
Marketing, advertising and agency professionals are starting to ask: “Are brands becoming media houses?”It’s clear that marketing is not the way that it used to be. The ways we find, consume and share information have changed dramatically over the past few years. This trend has caused marketers to step back and rethink strategies for addressing potential customers, and assess the ways that they can position themselves as trusted resources—not just product and service providers. This panel discussion will cover how the changes in marketing, publishing and consumer behavior have impacted the way brands strengthen customer loyalty via content.
There’s an app for that, but why? As more businesses begin investing in applications as marketing initiatives, let’s reflect on the potential rewards and very real challenges associated with the approach. How do we launch them, maintain them, or even track their value? This panel brings together bright minds from multiple industries to help evaluate whether the apps we dream up are the future of marketing or novel ideas that come up short on long term value.
You’ve seen the TV show where entrepreneurs present their business to a panel of investors to earn an opportunity of a lifetime, now see it done FutureM style. BzzAgent and FutureM are bringing Shark Tank to the greatest innovation city in the country. Several Boston tech entrepreneurs will pitch their startups to a panel of local Sharks including Katie Rae, Mike Troiano, Pete Blacklow and Fred Destin, with funding from Boston Seed, Atlas Ventures and Dharmesh Shah (and one incredible anonymous investor) - for the ultimate opportunity: a chance at piece of $100,000 in investment capital. See who’s got the guts and the brains to get funding live on the FutureM stage.
The finalists have been announced! See these 6 innovative companies face the sharks live on stage for a piece of over $100,000 in investment capital.
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Instagram: all digital channels that have been capitalized on for the promotion of brands, yet so far, these channels have gone largely untapped for the promotion of individuals. The truth is most of us have no idea what our digital footprint looks like to potential employers, partners, organizations and this can be scary. This panel will dive into why individuals shy away from digital for self-marketing and how they can actually harness technology effectively to stand out amongst their peers at any level of their career.
Advertising, or "paid" media, has traditionally led marketing initiatives, both online and off, but advertising no longer works as effectively as it did unless bolstered by additional marketing channels. Both "owned" (content) and "earned" (social and consumer-generated) media are now vital to campaigns, helping to amplify and spread brand messages through the myriad, complex paths consumers follow across devices, screens, and media.
In this session, Rebecca Lieb will present the Altimeter Group's new research on converged media, demonstrating why and how marketers are challenged to intercept these elusive customers and cut through the media clutter, regardless of channel or medium. She will explain how and why businesses must change the way marketing departments are organized, build new models to drive collaboration across client brand teams, agency partners and other service providers, shift budgets, and realign metrics and KPIs to effectively measure and assess their creative and media initiatives.
Convergence is already very real in digital channels. This shift is also beginning to occur in offline media. The brands and agencies that understand convergence and the new skills it demands will be better prepared to face future challenges.
The 2nd Annual College Face-off:Social Media for Social Good is back and better than ever. Student teams from the Boston area’s colleges and universities will design a marketing campaign focusing on social web efforts for a local non-profit organization. Each team will present to a panel of judges, consisting of marketing professionals in the area, with three finalists determined based on the creativity and innovation, plausibility, effectiveness, and presentation of their strategy. The Grand Prize winner will be chosen by the audience using live voting metrics and that team receives a cash prize donation to the non-profit they are paired with. Students have the opportunity to challenge their skills toward social good while marketers have the chance to see how Millenials think on their feet about effective marketing campaigns at this live competition.
Created by FutureM's Student Thought Leaders - a group of undergraduate students engaging their on-campus communities in FutureM.
