2020 Agenda

Sounding Extraordinary after 95 Years: The Evolution of a Brand

Learn how a brand that started as a radio parts company in downtown Chicago in 1925 and evolved into a global leader in audio with some of the biggest musical artists, world leaders, entertainers, news outlets, educational institutions and businesses as loyal customers. And when artists and news anchors alike had to pivot to broadcast from their home this spring, learn how Shure ensured they could still be heard.

From microphones to wireless Bluetooth headphones, learn more about the challenges and opportunities of re-inventing a legacy with an inspirational re-branding campaign, a marketing rollout with a major music superstar and the need to adapt overnight to support changing market.

Thought Leadership and SEO: The 3 key elements of influence and visibility for individuals and brands

Everyone wants to do it.

But no one really knows what it is.

So what is thought leadership? What isn’t it?

And how does it affect search rankings?

This presentation is a data-rich perspective on the oh-so-popular topic of thought leadership, filled with practical takeaways for becoming an authority. And it’s all about the relationship between thought leadership and SEO.

We’ll see how the research answers these questions and informs the tactics.

• Whether brands be thought leaders (and whether thought leadership can be outsourced)
• Whether you need to publish research or strong opinion pieces
• How thought leadership content attracts links and authority, rankings and qualified visitors

You’re about to learn how a personal brand combines with content to drive big wins in SEO.

Strategic Opportunities and Risks for Global Brand Management

Any brand with a digital presence is “global” by definition. But the crossing of international and cultural borders online doesn’t mean that the brand automatically understands the consumer behavior, ethics, and commerce rules in other territories. Brand managers must now consider a wider range of opportunities and the inherent risks of each. Not being fully prepared for a global audience and conversant in its risks, particularly in light of citizen activism, can hurt the brand and its owners. As two experienced practitioners and conference presenters who also teach, we’ll explore how to best build and maintain a brand within the new global landscape. Walk away with a clear picture of the new state of Global Brand Management theory, practices, issues, and tools as well as with a manageable approach to the development and management of a brand that aims for a global reach.

Reinvention: Creating Growth in an established brand by Differentiating Services and Expanding Reach

Reimagining Your Digital Marketing Channels

With 25+ years of digital marketing under our belts, brands and professionals have built perceptions of what works best for what. The truth is, digital keeps evolving and we have to constantly rethink what is possible and what might even be overlooked. Backed by his latest research and great examples, long-time creative executive and digital strategist Mat Zucker will share how evolved enterprises can use various owned touchpoints (web, social, search, PR, events, chat) in fresh, new ways to connect.

Building and Pivoting a Brand for a New “Normal” in Real Time

Rarely do marketers get the opportunity to shape a brand, its values and culture from the ground up. Nature’s Fynd’ CMO Karuna Rawal will share what it takes to build a brand from a blank sheet of paper and ensure it is authentic, sustainable and differentiated amongst a crowded and competitive landscape – only to find that everything in our environment and culture has shifted with COVID and now with Black Lives Matter. Karuna will share how the company continues to keep its pulse on the consumer and reimagine their brand in real time as they get ready to come to market.

Morningstar: Creating an authentic employer brand experience that delivers results

What do you do when your enviable company culture isn’t expressed outside of your doors? How do you persuade a global team that the workforce experience matters and ultimately drives better client outcomes? Bringing together the fundamentals of modern marketing, brand strategy and workforce data, you’ll learn how a global company transformed their employer brand, mission and workforce communications to create an exceptional employee experience.

Leveraging the Power of Your Brand through Interaction Fields

Most brands today focus on competition and disruption instead of collaboration, participation, and engagement. They focus on transactions, instead of interactions. They seek to optimize or extract value rather than share it. The future is going to be about creating value for everyone. Brands that solve immediate challenges of people today and also the major social and economic challenges of the future are the ones that will survive and grow.

Timeless and Timely: Five Fundamentals Brand Marketers Need to Draw on Today

Drawing on four decades of brand building and brand turnaround experience, Tonise Paul, Chairman of Energy BBDO, will share five timeless fundamentals that she has seen make the pivotal difference between brands that thrive and win and ones that languish. Changes in technology that have transformed our brand building capabilities have made these fundamentals even more crucial. These fundamentals have also proven to be the hallmark of brands that have shined during COVID-19.

COVID 19 – Confined Creativity Redefined

Peter will share the five principles he established at the beginning of work from home to ensure creativity and connectivity were not compromised. As he and his brand design team enter week 16 of working remotely, he will discuss how the principles have helped successfully guide and drive complex brand design initiatives across AT&T, a Fortune 9 and $180 billion global modern media company.

Re-vision Your Insights Program

With the ever-changing social, political and financial landscape in 2020, the role and value of insights will be (and has to be) re-visioned.

The momentum to help guide and steer the organization is now. Be agile, adaptable and fully embrace the role of the advisor in these uncertain and complex times.

Humanize Your Brand with Internal Influencers, 7 Steps of Employee Advocacy 2.0

From big brands to small business the hottest trend of Influencer Marketing it to look inside your own business. Dean DeLisle, Digital Transformation Enthusiast will take you through the 7 steps they use to convert brand advocates to true Social Thought Leaders, without breaking the bank. You will learn how to build trust on the outside while creating a fun, team-based culture on the inside. No matter where your organization is at in your digital journey, you will walk away with some easy cool next steps. Dean will also cover a few case studies and results from current projects. This session will be fast and furious and oh, all attendees will get access to a fast track course for when you are ready to roll out your program.

Creating a Unified Brand Experience

Each of the hundreds of interactions your customers have with your company combine to create your brand experience. You will motivate customers to give you more business when all customer touchpoints blend together to create a Unified Brand Experience. In this session, Steve Yastrow will describe how you can create a unified brand experience to communicate your brand promise to your customers at all customer touchpoints.

Key Takeaways:

• Concrete ideas to identify and address the gaps in your current brand experience
• Tips to motivate customers to give you more business by helping them understand your value
• Tools to increase team engagement by inspiring them to “Be the Brand”

B2B Innovation – What Works and What Doesn’t

At its most basic level, innovation attempts to deliver what customers want or need in a novel “package” that causes them to purchase your solution over the available alternatives. In a relatively stable environment, this is challenging. The moment we are facing as a nation and a world makes the task of innovating that much trickier. However, after a lifetime in B2B innovation there are a few common themes that greatly improve the likelihood of success. Innovation is never simple but there are a few concepts that marketers can use to take some of the mystery out of one of the marketing function’s key deliverables: creating innovative solutions that spur customers to buy again and again.

Dr. Cadet has worked with big brands and agencies alike, bringing strategies that brand marketers need to support the Black community and commit to authentic change.

BrandSmart Awards Presentation

Get inspired by the winning brand launches, reinventions and more

Learn more about the BrandSmart Awards.