Advertising Week DC was a great success and featured many dynamic and insightful speakers. The 16 events/sessions received a total of 4,789 registrants, an increase from 3,134 registrants at Advertising Week DC 2007. All of the sessions were extremely well attended and praised by attendees. We have a number of photos from the multi-day event and, below, are a few highlights from the event from Bennett Richardson.
Steve Forbes: Forbes, pictured above, was slated to make a speech about “Branding in an Era of Technological, Political & Economic Turbulence.” Given recent events, Forbes changed things up and spoke simply and openly about the current state of the American Economy. Forbes’ tone was frank, yet optimistic. He concluded with a look to the future: if accounting regulations are tightened and rules against short-selling are enforced then we will quickly get through it: “These are person-made mistakes. They are not systemic. We will get through this if we make a few major changes, but changes. We have done this before.”
Tim Ellis: The new-to-town VP of Marketing for Volkswagen shared secrets and insight into one of the world’s most iconic and loved brands. He highlighted memorable campaigns and gave a sneak preview into VW’s new minivan campaign- which will prove to be minivan advertising like the world has never seen before!
Chris Matthews: Matthews, pictured above with Cary Hatch, was the featured speaker at the luncheon on September 17, and he answered dozens of questions from attendees on politics and the election. Matthews was candid about the successes and failures of both candidates, and he encouraged people to vote like their grandkids, not their grandparents, as today’s leaders will affect the world that our grandkids will inherit. A member of the audience asked Matthews what he would tell the next President to do. He replied, “Rebuild America. Invest in the public sector.” He went on to suggest that America was struggling domestically because, unlike many developed countries, we are not constantly reinvesting in our infrastructure.
Social Networking Panel: One of the most anticipated and highly attended panels was the Social Networking session, which included senior staff from Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. Tim Kendall, Director of Monetization at Facebook, stood out as the most interesting on the panel. Tim discussed the progression of how people get information online, and argued that after search, which is currently the great platform, “the next layer that is going to get built out across the internet is this social layer.” He went on to discuss how social networks interact with content online to drive the increasing importance and use of social networking sites.
Marian Salzman: Salzman is Partner and Chief Marketing Officer at Porter Novelli Worldwide, and she is also known as a world-class trendspotter who is credited with coining and popularizing the term “metrosexual.” Like Forbes, Salzman’s presentation was extremely topical and focused on how recent economic troubles affect consumer habits and how this progress over the coming weeks and years. She discussed the shift away from conspicuous consumption toward a “less is more” philosophy. She identified the need for marketers to “reignite desire” for their brand or product as consumers continue to cut back and incorporate environmentalism into their decision-making around spending.
Robert Wong: Wong, Executive Creative Director for Google Creative Labs, spoke about his experiences in the Creative side of advertising and his role of Executive Creative Director at Google. His entire speech was a fascinating look at the life of a creative at Google. He talked about the social contract that users have with Google and the mutual dedication that Google shares with its users, and he also touched on branding in general. He discussed the need for brands to have strong “brand DNA,” and that for the best brands their branding is “not the icing on the cake, but it is the cake – it is the eggs, the butter, the flour…you look at every little behavior in each corner of the company and inject that, and reflect the very best DNA of the people that make up that company or that brand.”
Advertising Week DC 2008 was an impressive gathering of marketing professionals from all corners of the industry; session audiences were made up of ad agency staff, media salespeople, marketing professionals from companies large and small, PR professionals, journalists and other area businesspeople. Each speaker brought something new and interesting to the discussion, and attendees left with a diverse and informed perspective on what is happening right now in the industry and what might be happening in the near future.
(Bennett Richardson served on the Steering Committee for Advertising Week DC 2008 and directed new media and online outreach efforts for the event. He is an Associate at GMMB.)