The Festival of Marketing is done for another year, and what an event it was! For two days, Tobacco Dock played host to marketers from all sectors, blending inspiration and practical application at the largest global event dedicated to brand marketers. Now that the dust has settled, we reflect on the event, from the key themes and sessions to the highlights including Louis Theroux and Marketing Week’s 40th Birthday celebration.
The Powers and Perils of AI
Throughout the conference, the AI & Tech Innovation stage was a hive of activity. On day two, our very own Kevin Joyner, Director of Planning & Insight at Croud, was joined on stage by Emily Roberts from The Guardian’s programmatic team.
The pair spoke about the challenges and opportunities of working in advertising today, with technology constantly evolving and consumers becoming increasingly savvy. They started out by stating that consumers’ concerns around data privacy, advertising and their overall online experience are nothing new. In fact, a 2015 episode of South Park tackled many of the issues still widely in discussion today, including ad blocking and sponsored content.
Post GDPR, consumers are arguably even more savvy; yet fast-evolving technology – particularly in the fields of automation and AI – means that advertisers have even more ways to collect and analyse data, and to be present in everyday life. As such, it’s up to advertisers and agencies alike to use this growing power carefully. Sooner or later, success will be about:
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- Capitalising on new technology
- Taking time to be human
- Having brave objectives, such as generosity and usefulness
- Thinking about your product as a service
- Excellent at customer service
Kevin Joyner and Emily Roberts on day two of the conference
Let’s Market, Marketing!
Research earlier this year by Marketing Week and UNiDAYS found that just 3% of a sample of 8,405 UK students aged 18 to 24 considered marketing a good career. A panel on day two of the Festival explored some of the potential reasons behind this, including the fact that many young people have a very narrow view of what marketing is, equating marketing with purely advertising. Similarly, many students simply aren’t exposed to marketing as a career option, instead opting for more well known, traditional career paths such as law or banking.
To help tackle these issues, Marketing Week is supporting a new education initiative, the School of Marketing, which aims to raise awareness of marketing as a career option, through a learning platform and a series of educational initiatives for young people across the UK. As part of this, they are looking for the Founding 50 – 50 founding members of the School of Marketing to act as ambassadors, helping to spread the word about how exciting, creative and dynamic a career in marketing can be. Applicants must be in their 20s, work in a marketing department, and be passionate about marketing as a career – find out more and apply here.
Agile Marketing
Agile marketing was another key theme of the Festival, with Gadi Mairson, Chief Digital Officer of Coca Cola, sharing how the brand has gone agile using real-time data. In order to utilise real-time insights as part of their agile marketing strategy, there are key organisational points which each business must have:
- A digital practice lead – identify your champion
- Brand leaders who are orchestrators and delegators (agencies/managed services/partners/analysts)
- Clear business KPIs for execution
- Ad spend, market share, brand equity or best known practices
Gadi Mairson, Chief Digital Officer of Coca Cola speaking on day one of the conference
Marketing Week at 40
On the evening of the 10th, we celebrated ‘Marketing Week at 40’ with the Festival throwing a birthday bash to celebrate this momentous birthday. It was a great evening, with drinks, networking and plenty of talk about the day’s events! Happy Birthday Marketing Week.
If we didn’t get a chance to catch up at the event and you would like to find out more about Croud, or would like to see Kevin and Emily’s presentation, get in touch.
