Just before the July 4th holiday here, I had the pleasure to attend the Insight lnnovation Exchange North American conference with a terrific group of BuzzBack clients and peers. The conference was a worthwhile gathering that focused on the future of insights technology. If you haven’t attended this industry event, I suggest adding it to your professional development bucket list. I left the conference energized and excited about where our industry is headed.
Many presentations debated whether traditional MR is dead. Speakers discussed what companies can do to better connect with consumers as traditional approaches evolve and new brand engagement opportunities emerge. These of course are the 64 thousand dollar questions when it comes to that coveted and endlessly fascinating consumer, The Millenial, who interact with brands differently than age groups before them. Jean Enloe of 3M described the challenge when talking about Scotchgard's mission to get Millennials to use their sponges.
Other standout presentations included Ford’s Nicholas McCracken (who spoke about how understanding the customer brand experience fuels innovation) and Millward Brown’s session titled Consumer Theater: Using the Power of Improv to Unearth Big Ideas. In this memorable presentation, Ellen Fenwick shared the stage with Second City to demonstrate how applying improv as a ‘methodology’ can help consumers open up about experiences… yes, real improv!
So many big ideas discussed. So many refreshing takes on presentation format. The event gave me lots to think about as I headed home. Where do we as a company stand in the ‘Traditional MR is Dead’ debate? Do we believe this too? I have to emphatically say no – at BuzzBack we think it’s quite the opposite. If anything, this conference illustrates that there’s newfound energy around insights, and the rallying cry is about 'putting people first' when building the brand (something we hear Unilever say often when discussing the need to connect with consumers).
In fact, we had a great interactive session at IleX around how companies can ignite and stoke brand love in their consumers. Watch this space to learn how you can build brand love too when we present our latest webinar on the subject…