Transmission Global Summit 2011

Last week our team had an opportunity to participate in Transmission Global, one of the most unique and engaging conferences I’ve attended in a while. In my opinion, there were two aspects to this conference that were particularly engaging: the attendees, and the experience design.


From an attendee perspective, there was an incredible mix of musicians, gadgeteers and executives who were willing to share their thoughts and opinions on creativity. Below are a selection of interesting ideas that popped up through-out the day; if you’d like more examples then I’d recommend reading Adrien Sala’s event articles.
Scott Belsky, Founder and CEO of Behance

‘Creatives have a tendency to keep their ideas secret; however creative ideas that aren't shared will tend to die in isolation. In order to increase the likelihood of an idea coming to fruition, creatives should be encouraged to be more transparent with their ideas; to share them with the community. Sharing ideas makes you more accountable for their realization.’

David Neale, Vice-President of Special Projects for Research In Motion
‘It’s too easy to wake up each morning and step back into your comfortable slippers. If you really want to develop, innovate and create, then you’ve got to get rid of those comfortable slippers all together.’Richard Gottehrer, CEO and Founder of The Orchard
‘Through all the integration of technology into our lives, generations coming up are going to be less primordially instinctive… Since everything will be immediately available to us through digital delivery, we are going to lose our connection in physical ways that aren’t yet realized.’

From an experience design perspective, what I found engaging was the process of ‘visual illustration’ that occurred through-out the conference (like the RSA Animate talks on YouTube). By the end of the day, through the process of discussion and debate, the space became a visual synopsis of conversation – an illustration of ideas.

Big thanks to Tyl Van Toorn and his team for putting together an incredible conference. If you have the chance to attend one of their syndicated events in Asia, Europe or South America, I would highly recommend you take the opportunity.


transmission: GLOBAL SUMMIT 2011 from transmitNOW on Vimeo.

The Contagious Report

This week I wrote a post for the Canadian Marketing Association titled, 'The Contagious Report.' The post shared findings from some recent research we conducted at the 2010 BCAIM conference. If you'd like to read the original post you can view it here; or alternatively you can find a copy below. I'm interested to hear if your opinions mirror those of our research participants...

Spending time staring in the mirror is never a good thing for a person, or a brand. In fact, the very basis of marketing involves looking up from our mirrors and out towards the market; towards the needs and motivations of our customers.

Having said that, it can be a lot of fun to sneak-a-peek in the marketing mirror, which is why we thought you may appreciate the findings from a recent
survey of 200 marketers at the 2010 BCAIM Contagious Conference. The survey used real-time handheld electronic devices to explore the hottest issues, trends and topics impacting marketers today.

Social Media:
According to our conference survey, the majority of marketers, 8 in 10, are now using social media to hear what customers are saying online. However, only 36% have a formal system for using social media, in contrast to the 44% who have a mainly informal system.

In addition, those marketers who work for an agency seem to be adopting social media much earlier than their clients, with our research showing that client-side marketers are 8 times less likely than agency-side marketers to be actively using social media.

Customer Insights:
Despite the rise of social media monitoring, only 16% of marketers believe that it provides the best way to understand their customers. In fact, our conference survey found that marketers tend to rely on more traditional techniques for gathering their insights.

Of those surveyed, 30% believed the best way to understand their customers was with qualitative research, followed by 28% who rely on CRM databases, and 18% who believe that quantitative research holds the key to unlocking customer insight.

So what customer segments are marketers looking for insights on? Well according to our study, more than 1/3 of marketers believe that the youth segment will provide the greatest prospect for growth in the next few years.

Workplace & Career:
Much is made of the differences between agency and client work environments; the perceptions of creative agency ambience, versus controlled client conclaves.

According to our conference survey there may be some truth behind those perceptions, because those on the client-side of marketing were most likely to describe their workplace as unplanned and tactical, or secretive and controlled. In contrast, those on the agency-side were most likely to describe their workplace as open and collaborative, or planned and strategic.

Finally, when it comes to career, is cash king or are there bigger concerns? Well amongst senior executives, 4 in 10 cited money as their number one career priority. However more junior and mid-level managers placed greater value on recognition and achievement in their careers.

Check out The Contagious Report:
Spending time staring in the mirror is never a good thing for a person or a brand - but sometimes watching the reflections of others can lead to some great insights. So if you’re interested in taking a longer look in the marketing mirror, and seeing how you compare to your peers, check out the rest of The Contagious Report below:


Marketing to Digital Moms

"My life is the virtual world. If I don't have access [I feel] I'm missing something. I'm a single mom; I don't get out a lot. It's not like I can just get out." - Digital Mom (2009)

Making the assumption that any demographic group thinks, feels and acts homogeneously is a mistake. Within any person, or group of people, there exists a repertoire of motivations that can influence their behavior. Digital moms are no exception; just because they’re mothers doesn’t mean they think and act the same way.

If you happen to be in an organization that considers the needs of mothers as important, then maybe you should be attending the 2nd Annual Marketing to Digital Moms Conference. Held in Toronto from the 27th to 28th of April, the conference will feature a range of expert speakers including Andrew Assad from Microsoft
, Sidneyeve Matrix from Queen's University and Erica Ehm from YummyMummyClub.

I’m also looking forward to participating in this conference, and sharing the findings from a brand new Concerto Marketing study that we’re conducting for the event. Our study will be exploring the deeper motivations of digital moms, and how the online medium influences their lives. For more information on the event, check out the conference website.