Sessions
session topics session leaders
Turning customers into brand advocates
Session Leader: Eric Ryan, Method
Some brands create such strong customer communities that they are practically cults. Think of Apple, the Grateful Dead or Harley Davidson, as examples. This session will discuss the strategies and tactics that turn average customers into brand advocate superheroes.
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Eric Ryan Co-founder |
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Eric makes soap. He started Method in 2001 with his high school buddy Adam and has since built Method into a $150 million brand at retail – a brand that was ranked the 7th fastest growing company in America by Inc. He's been named an eco-leader by Vanity Fair, a Food & Wine Tastemaker, an eco-revolutionary by Time Magazine, and PETA's Person of the Year.
Prior to becoming a soapmaker, Eric started his career in London as a strategic planner in advertising followed by stints at Fallon, Hal Riney and TATTOO. Eric lives in Marin with his wife Ingrid and two year-old daughter Anya.
Know thy customer
Session Leader: Rob Fuggetta, Zuberance
In many ways, brands are relationships of trust. Successful brands create strong and intimate relationships with their customers by getting to know them. So, how do brands build these relationships? This session will investigate how brands are engaging customers through innovative events, activities and special programs designed to build customer intimacy.
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Rob Fuggetta
Founder & CEO |
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Rob is the driving force behind Zuberance's vision and strategy. He founded Zuberance in February 2007 because he saw a major opportunity for companies to harness the power of Word of Mouth and the Social Web to drive sales. As CEO, Rob is ultimately responsible for all aspects of Zuberance's business including product, engineering, operations, customer success, and sales and marketing.
Branding with innovation
Session Leader: Josh Morenstein, fuseproject
In order to capture the imagination of customers in today's crowded marketplace brands must have the courage to forge new paths and try new things. Innovation does not happen by repeating the past. So, if your brand wants to innovate it must have the guts to do things differently. In this session, we will discuss how to embrace design thinking practices to jumpstart innovation and deliver brand experiences that stand out from the crowd.
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Josh Morenstein
Creative Director fuseproject |
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Josh Morenstein is the Creative Director for fuseproject, a multidisciplinary design and branding agency. Josh's category-leading work has established him at the forefront of marrying form with function, and of brand with product. In addition, Josh's work has been exhibited in many museums, countless magazines, and has graced the covers of a variety of international journals Josh has been awarded over 40 international design accolades from outstanding organizations.
Is social media manageable?
Session Leader: James Buckhouse, Twitter
In today's digital landscape, brands can engage their audiences through a myriad of outlets: Twitter, Google Buzz, Linked In, MySpace, Meebo, Flickr...just to name a few. So, how do you decide where to put your efforts? What is the best way to manage so many social media outlets? How is social media integrated with traditional media? This session will discuss how to navigate the social media jungle more successfully.
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James Buckhouse
Director of Marketing |
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James Buckhouse runs corporate marketing at Twitter: corralling brand management, executive voice, and consumer promise.
Prior to Twitter, he was Executive Creative Director for Duarte Design, where he wrote for Fortune 500 executives, including Google, Facebook, YouTube, Qualcomm, Cisco, HP, Brocade, Nokia and more.
He started his career at DreamWorks Animation, creating the cinematography and choreography for a dozen film and television projects. His book, All Fashion is Fiction: the Complete Writings of Serg Riva, was recently reviewed in the NY Times. Active in the art world, he regularly exhibits and lectures on art and culture.
Brand 1 + Brand 2 = What?
Session Leader: Karin Combs, Cisco Consumer Products
Mergers and acquisitions are definitely on the rise. HP bought Palm...and 3Com...and now 3Par. Cisco purchased Flip, and Tandberg, and.... Intel acquired McAfee. Oracle has taken over Sun Microsystems. And that's just a few of the bigger transactions. So, how do brands manage the process of brand integration? What are the best strategies to manage the brand equity evaluation? Should one of the brands disappear? These are just a few of the topics that will be discussed at this informative session.
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Karin Combs
Senior Marketing Manager Cisco Consumer Products |
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Karin Combs is responsible for brand strategy, marketing plans, and forecasting delivery for Cisco's Linksys and Valet brands. Prior to joining Cisco, she was Senior Marketing Manager at Pure Digital Technologies where she helped launch the Flip Video family of digital camcorders, which Yahoo! Tech called "the world's simplest video camera." Karin’s experience also includes Business and Strategy roles at Gap, Bluefly.com, Williams-Sonoma, and Intel.
Celebrity endorsement: The road to fame?
Session Leader: Page Murray, HP
Nike's relationship with Michael Jordan is the stuff of legend. And that path is being adopted by many a tech brand. Famously, WebEx leveraged RuPaul; Priceline has done well with William Shatner; and Dr. Dre has lent his name to the Beats headphones by Monster and to HP's Envy notebooks. In this session you will get a chance to evaluate the potential and the pitfalls of celebrity branding.
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Page Murray
Senior VP, Integrated Marketing Communications |
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Page Murray is responsible for the impact of HP's PSG communications by coordinating their messages and campaigns across all the touchpoints. He takes a 360 degree look at HP's Marcom mix, and ensures that the positioning is executed in the market. From advertising creative to strategic media planning, to search and online marketing communications, Page and his team ensures that HP's integrated Marcom has impact and effectiveness.
Retail: The new experience centers?
Session Leader: Caralene Robinson, Boost Mobile
The world of retail is not what it used to be. Meanwhile, tech brands are becoming consumer brands. They need to reach consumers directly and they are embracing retail. The brands that have the best chance of success are those that are transforming the retail experience. This session will give you an opportunity to discuss the challenges you face at retail while exploring how some brands are creating programs that turn shoppers into buyers.
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Caralene Robinson
Director of Brand and Marketing Communications |
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Caralene Robinson is a marketing executive offering more than a decade of experience producing advertising and leading marketing campaigns across a broad range of products and services. Caralene has expertise in developing multi-faceted programs that include media, advertising, entertainment, merchandising, and ecommerce. Creativity in brand repositioning to target and achieve specific objectives. Responsible for publicly lauded advertising campaigns. Lead integrated marketing programs across cross-functional teams.
Once there was a brand...
Session Leader: Chuck Eichten, Nike
Every great brand has a powerful story to tell. And the best brands become mythical. For example, the story about the garage where Mr. Hewlett and Mr. Packard started HP. Some times the stories are "created" to provide brands with an emotional connection to its audiences. Take Tommy Bahama, for example - a fictional character that represents the spirit of the brand. Without a question, brands that master the art of storytelling have an advantage over the ones that don't. This session will discuss what it takes to develop these stories, to keep them alive, and have them grow...until they have mythological proportions.
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Chuck Eichten
Design Director |
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Chuck Eichten started at Nike as an apparel designer in 1996 and later moved to Nike Brand Design where he led the packaging, the logos, the books, the posters, the retail spaces and event experiences. Chuck is currently the Design Director for the Department of Nike Archives (DNA). In DNA he helps gather and preserve the Nike stories, and find fresh new ways of telling them again. The story of how the first best-selling Nike shoe was born of a waffle iron. How Phil Knight, when he first saw the swoosh mark, said reluctantly, "Well, I guess I'll get used to it." Why Michael Jordan wanted to sign with adidas out of college.
Making a brand relevant...again
Session Leader: Rosabel Tao, MySpace
Strong, established brands can lose vitality because of a lot of different reasons: The competitive landscape can become difficult to navigate; Shifts in the corporate structure and/or ownership can be distracting; Audiences and their habits can change making it challenging to remain relevant; Products and services can become obsolete or tarnished over time. Once popular brands can slide into obscurity, and their value seriously diminish. So....what are the tell-tale signs for a revitalization effort? How does one go about the task of re-invigorating a brand's whose luster has faded? How do brands stay relevant with their audiences? This session will explore the conditions and process for brand revitalization – and will enable participants to identify some of the best practices for reinvigorating brands-at-risk. You will leave better prepared to develop strategies and tactics for keeping a brand fresh, transforming relationships with consumers, and creating experiences that build relevance and loyalty.
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Rosabel Tao
Senior Vice President |
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Rosabel Tao is an accomplished corporate communications strategist with two decades of experience. Drawing from her diverse background, Rosabel is an expert in creating integrated, multi-disciplinary communications programs and building communications organizations from the ground up.
Rosabel has held senior communications positions on both the client and agency sides, working with a broad portfolio of companies in a full range of growth stages – from global brands to start-ups, including of Bank of America, Microsoft, HP, Levi Strauss, Safeway and Spot Runner.
Building brand culture.
Session Leader: Robert Richman, Zappos Insights
Today's leading brands large and small have one thing in common: they have a strong culture. Growing companies often ask themselves: how can we grow and sustain the culture that makes us successful? Amazon recently purchased Zappos.com. Why? One key reason: because of their culture and potential to innovate the customer experience on the web and “WOW” them. In this session you can learn how to create a strong brand culture that will fuel your company's sales, create customer loyalty and attract the right people to work with. Oh – and it will make life at work great!
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Robert Richman
Product Manager Zappos Insights |
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Robert Richman began his career in 1996 creating sites for US Senators, and co-founded the web strategy company Articulated Impact. After graduating, Rob co-wrote the business plan for a new online venture from the Tony Robbins companies, and went on to develop digital media strategies for The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard Magazine, and The National Leadership Institute.
While marketing Tribal Leadership, Rob met Tony Hsieh who asked him to re-launch the Zappos Insights program. Rob took it from a small web site with a staff of 1 to a 12-person company offering a range of experiences and services to educate companies about culture.
