It's virtually impossible to get such a distinguished and exciting group of marketing professionals together.
Joey Reiman, Founder and CEO
Brighthouse
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Conference
The process of creating the conference program is based upon a dialogue with our client base, senior marketing executives and directors.
We survey the executive marketing community in a variety of industries and they tell us what subjects they would like covered in the conference program, which is how we ensure they have a truly valuable experience on board.
Additionally, clients help us to select the right speakers for each subject. We use only acknowledged experts as speakers and moderators.
Contact us if you would like to contribute to the program, either with ideas for content or as a speaker.
MAXIMIZING YOUR MARKETING BUDGET:
CRITICAL STRATEGIES FOR GAINING THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN AN UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT
Highlights from past Conference Programs
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FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION: APOLLO 13 NARRATIVES FROM EARTH AND THE CAPSULE
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| OPENING KEYNOTE |
| Gene Kranz and Captain James Lovell |
Gene Kranz
NASA Flight Control Director Apollo 13 and Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient
Gene Kranz was the leader of the “Tiger Team” of NASA flight directors who guided the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft safely back to Earth. His role in the crisis now legendary, Kranz was made famous by his oft-quoted phrase, “Failure is not an option.”
Captain James Lovell
Career Astronaut and Commander of Apollo 13
A great American hero, astronaut Jim Lovell is most famous for his role in the American space age, specifically for his calm and careful command of Apollo 13. Lovell stoically articulated the five-word message, “Houston, we have a problem,” which quickly became a part of the American lexicon.
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AMERICA'S ECONOMIC FUTURE
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| CLOSING ADDRESS |
| Dr. Barry Asmus, Political, Business, and Financial Expert |
Asmus identifies the “Six Unstoppable Trends” that are impacting America’s business and its economy. The current recession will temporarily slow these trends but not stop them. The Latin word for credit is credere, which means “to believe.” The de-leveraging and economic contraction begun in 2008 could last until 2010. But note this: we have had 13 economic recessions in the last 80 years followed by 13 expansions. Currently, 75 million Baby Boomers are in the high investment and most productive stages of their lives. Confidence will be restored. The end of prosperity? Or, is the best yet to come? Asmus’ presents his “Six Unstoppable Trends” and asks you to decide. As a professor of economics, he was twice voted University Professor of the Year and was honored with the Freedom Foundation Award at Valley Forge for Private Enterprise Education.
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Maximizing Your Marketing Budget: Critical Strategies for Gaining the Competitive Advantage in an Unstable Environment
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| Workshop Titles and Speakers |
Getting Consumers to Consume in Tough Times: How can Marketers Motivate Reluctant Buyers?
Michael R. Solomon, Ph.D., Author, Director of the Center for Consumer Research in the Haub School of Business, Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia
Gaining the Competitive Edge: How Companies Drive Business Growth by Operationalizing Their Brands without Huge Marketing Budgets
Denise Lee Yohn, brand as businessTM consulting partner
denise lee yohn, Inc.
Leveraging Your Branding Budget for Maximum Impact: An Alternative Strategy for Engaging Employees using Personal Branding
Lesley Everett, Personal Branding Professional Speaker and Executive Brand Coach
Walking TALL International
How to Infuse Outside Industry Experts into the New Product Development Process
Michael Maddock, Founding Partner, Maddock Douglas
CFO Friendly Evaluation Process for Measuring ROI in Marketing
Jack Phillips, Ph.D., Chairman, ROI Institute
Structuring Effective Business Communications: Strategically Conveying Value To Business Partners through Compelling Proposals
Mike Figliuolo, ThoughtLEADERS
Lessons From a Combat Helicopter Pilot: Creating Your Own Leadership Identity
Ray Bender, Speaker, Author & Consultant
Performance Under Pressure: Leadership and Mental Toughness in Stressful Times
Dr. Mark Lowry, Partner, Winning Mind, LLC
Marc Sagal, Managing Partner, Winning Mind, LLC
!#$%@!?! – Where Did the Customers Go? Tools and Techniques to Understand New Consumer Mindsets and Trends
Ryan Garton, Director of Corporate Brand Strategy, Discover Financial
Innovation: Ideas Build the Business
Bill Bertolet, Managing Director, Dale Carnegie
Eugene Ritchie, Global Project Manager, Dale Carnegie
CMO Precision: Leading a High Performing Marketing Function
Nadine Vogel, President, Springboard Consulting
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Getting Consumers to Consume in Tough Times: How can Marketers Motivate Reluctant Buyers?
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| Workshop |
| Michael R. Solomon, Ph.D. Author, Director of the Center for Consumer Research in the Haub School of Business, Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia |
In a stormy economic climate it’s tempting to slash prices and hope for the best. But, not everyone can be (or should be) a Dollar General brand. When the going gets tough, the tough get more loyal to the core brands that hold deep meanings to them. These meanings are more important than ever when we have to ration our purchases and pick only those brands that will maximize personal ROI. Consumers won’t necessarily opt for the cheapest brand, but they do need a solid reason why they shouldn’t.
Anxious buyers cling tenaciously to safety nets as they try to weather the economic storm – and their favorite brands need to be within reach. Building and preserving hard-fought brand equity matters more than ever, but today new thinking is needed to nurture these bonds. A new emphasis on frugal chic means consumers want their brands to work harder for them. In tough times, don’t push away the ones you love!
This presentation will review emerging techniques to ramp up consumers’ reliance on the brands that matter to them – even as they jettison the ones that don’t. These approaches involve changing the way marketers think about their customers – elevating them from pawns to partners. Some specific ways to do this include mass customization, open-source marketing, engaging shoppers in immersive 3D computer platforms and integrating lead users into the product design cycle. Attendees will benefit as they take away new ways to think about enhancing the value they deliver and in the process calm the nerves of anxious customers.
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Leveraging Your Branding Budget for Maximum Impact: An Alternative Strategy for Engaging Employees using Personal Branding
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| Workshop |
| Lesley Everett, Personal Branding Professional Speaker and Executive Brand Coach, Walking Tall International |
Vast amounts of resources are allocated to your corporate branding every year, and on getting those brand values just right. You then put internal brand awareness campaigns in place that make sure all your employees understand the values and project them. However it never really happens like this does it? For individuals to truly engage with the values and embrace them, there needs to be a personal intervention. What is the effect on the brand investment if you don’t have this personal intervention? Potentially massive – we never really know what damage it actually does? In this current climate we cannot afford to lose on brand investment in this way. The Walking TALL principles of Personal Branding provide organizations with the tools for their employees to fully engage with the corporate values and project them in their own individual and authentic way, and this can be done very cost-effectively. This session will provide you with the research and the tools to take back and introduce to your own brand strategies.
Content to be shared includes:
· Bridging the gap between Brand Values and Employee Engagement, maximising and protecting the investment
· Making the Brand personal, therefore effective
· The Walking TALL key principles to building a personal brand that underpin the corporate values
· Sampling the Personal Branding tools for yourself – being more visible, authentically
· How this can be incorporated into your Brand Strategies
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CFO Friendly Evaluation Process for Measuring ROI in Marketing
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| Workshop |
| Jack Phillips, Ph.D., Chairman, ROI Institute |
While the concept of ROI in Marketing has been discussed and advocated by some, and perhaps even cursed by others, it is a concept that is more relevant today than ever before. In this session, a CFO-friendly approach to ROI is discussed and presented. Jack Phillips, Chairman of ROI Institute, presents a process that collects and generates six types of data, including a financial ROI, all within the context of very credible standards. It has become one of the most utilized evaluation processes in the world and its conservative and consistent approach brings endorsements from CFOs and CEOs. Don’t miss this action packed session.
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Gaining the Competitive Edge: How Companies Drive Business Growth by Operationalizing Their Brands without Huge Marketing Budgets
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| Workshop |
| denise lee yohn, brand as businessTM consulting partner |
Today’s tough economic climate may cause you to be leery about the prospects of your brand in the coming year. But contrary to popular opinion, brand-building doesn’t depend on splashy advertising campaigns and big media budgets. Instead, you increase the power of your brand by improving the fundamentals of what your company does.
To build your brand, your company must improve the value of what it delivers to customers and how it does so. Employing a brand perspective and brand-based tools throughout everything your company does, you leverage the full value of your brand. By operationalizing their brands, companies have transformed brand-building from a costly, discrete, and subjective activity into the most integral way of managing and growing their business. These companies have grown and succeeded – even in tough economic climates – and without huge marketing budgets.
In this practical and instructive workshop, you will learn:
• The approaches and tools that successful companies have used to operationalize their brands
• 5 ways to build your brand without breaking your budget
• How to increase brand alignment and the implementation of a brand mindset throughout the company
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Structuring Effective Business Communications: Strategically Conveying Value To Business Partners through Compelling Proposals
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| Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director, ThoughtLEADERS |
While we may have a seat at the table as a business partner, our recommendations to the business are often “lost in translation.” Many times this occurs because the recommendation is created and delivered in a manner that, while it makes sense to us, it lacks a compelling story from the business’ perspective.
The objective of this session is to provide you a new thought process and methodology that helps you cut through the clutter. You will see how to deliver clear and compelling recommendations that will be readily implemented by the business. During this session you will learn how to:
• Craft a compelling “core idea” that resonates with key stakeholders
• Build a solid, logical “architecture” to support your ideas
• Draft a clear and effective story that articulates your recommendation and its rationale
• Syndicate your story with a broad set of key stakeholders (versus the narrow set that is the norm)
• Choose and perform the “right” set of analyses required to convince your business partners
• Deliver your recommendation clearly and succinctly
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Performance Under Pressure: Leadership and Mental Toughness in Stressful Times
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| Dr. Mark Lowry, Winning Minds |
We find ourselves in challenging times. In no place is this challenge more pronounced than within marketing. Now, more than ever, leaders must stay focused and composed, despite the increasing difficulty to do so.
High levels of stress and pressure bring out the best in some and the worst in others. Getting things done, keeping teams motivated, working effectively with business partners and keeping clients happy is challenging in even the best of times. How, then, do leaders succeed under the toughest of conditions?
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Innovation: Ideas that Build the Business
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| Workshop |
| Bill Bertolet and Eugene Ritchie, Dale Carnegie |
| (Session Description Currently Being Developed) |
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!#$%@!?! – Where Did the Customers Go? Tools and Techniques to Understand New Consumer Mindsets and Trends
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| Workshop |
| Ryan Garton, Director Corporate Brand Strategy, Discover Financial |
No matter what industry you are in – marketing leadership is becoming more and more shocked by today’s headlines: historical job losses mount, foreclosures stretch from coast to coast, retail sales lowest in decades, consumer savings approaches record levels, live below you means, boomers lose retirement security and so on. In short – where did the customers go and how can we get them back?
All news continues to point to what may be a fundamental shift in consumer mindsets and behavior - a new era of thrift and frugality is clearly here. Since one of the major responsibilities of marketing is to understand the mindsets of customers and how best to sell products and services to them – what is a marketer to do? In his presentation, Ryan Garton – Director Consumer Insights will share some of the most recent trends and changes customers are facing across a broad base of industries, some new tools and techniques that can be used to understand new consumer mindsets and identify trends more quickly in order to accomplish organization goals and marketing leadership. With customers now behaving quite differently, we too as marketing leaders need to adjust our thinking to better align and understand how best to position our products and services.
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Creating Your Own Leadership Identity: Lessons From a Combat Helicopter Pilot
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| Workshop |
| Ray Bender, Speaker, Author, Consultant, Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.) |
This session examines the parallels of leading Army helicopter units in combat and leading your organization under challenging conditions. This session will address actions of personal leadership such as developing a reputation, being visible, sharing hardships, and being approachable. We will also cover the importance of building a leadership brand and how to lead professionals in complex and stressful situations by building trust and organizational cohesiveness.
One of the most important parallels between Army helicopter units and today’s business environment is the shortage of skilled people and that they are all volunteers. They must be led rather than managed.
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Executive Precision: Leading a High Performing Marketing Function
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| Roundtable |
| Nadine Vogel, President Springboard Consulting |
| Today’s marketing executive plays an imperative role in helping companies achieve growth goals. Finance departments, boards and CEOs place enormous pressure on the marketing executive to demonstrate the financial returns from brand and marketing investments. This think tank will provide a forum for executives to share practical suggestions, unearth new market opportunities, hire & retain valuable team members, and master the ability to balance the pursuit of new growth while bolstering core business. |
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How to Infuse Outside Industry Experts into the New Product Development Process
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| Michael Maddock, Founding Partner, Maddock Douglas |
Recently an aerospace engineer, an expert in insect control and a PhD chemist from a Fortune 500 paint company co-developed new products for the engine additive industry. Weeks later, the CEO of a wireless security company, a principal of an international industrial design firm, and a PhD in nutraceuticals were inventing oral care products. Each team produced industry-changing ideas through a rigorous process designed to exploit and blend their unique expertise and objectivity. Learn how to improve your innovation process by employing specific techniques at key moments in time, which infuse outside expertise from often unexpected, but synergetic industries.
Key innovation learning points:
• Understanding the value of outside objectivity from parallel/synergistic experts in your innovation process
• Strategies to get buy-in from your innovation team for using outside experts
• Techniques to identify and employ outside experts throughout your new product development process
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