Experiential Marketing Summit 2015 Tackled the New Marketing Landscape

May 18, 2015

More than 1,500 attendees were on hand for the he Experiential Marketing Summit (EMS), held in San Francisco May 11-13, to hear from a wide range of fantastic speakers on new topics and issues facing the industry.  And, it was clear that when it comes to marketing, experimentation has never been more important.

In the morning keynote, CMO of Bacardi, Dima Ivanov discussed how Bacardi reviewed their brand and the customer experience in an effort to get back to the roots of the company.

One key component was the identification of where the experience takes place, and maintaining that consistency in the experience. He also discussed the vision of the experience being important, as well as having an understanding of the prospect you are targeting.

In the session “Influencer 2.0”, Alex Frias of Track Marketing Group, started the lecture with this statement: ‘Influencer is a dirty word.’  He also went on to review the idea of social influence as not always platform-agnostic, so platforms need to be considered when deciding on an influencer’s reach. 

There also needs to be a value exchange, according to Frias, and more than just digital reach, but offline influence as well, to truly make a social mark.

During the afternoon keynote, Kevin Alloccca of YouTube, looked at what makes content explode, as it does on their infamous channel. 

Like other sessions, he looked at the new generation of content feeders, and has named them ‘Gen-C’.  They are looking for content that provides connections, creation and community.  He also demonstrated, using popular video segments, content has to provide interactivity and an authentic experience.  “Make things that people want to be part of,” he added.

The well-attended session on College Millennials, led by Seth Fishbein of Keurig and Matt Fasano of Fluent, discussed the traits of the Gen Z group (ages 7–18).  With this group, the two explained, the brand experience has to be socially oriented, it must empower the target group and it must deliver value.

This group also believes that “failure is simply another shot at achievement”.  By targeting Gen Z, companies can anticipate the future of consumer behavior, since this group is rewriting all the rules when it comes to purchasing.

The 2016 EMS Summit will take place May 4-6 at the Denver Convention Center. For those who work in creating a brand experience, whether in the digital world or offline, this is a key conference to attend.

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