August 17, 2017

#FigDigThrowback: Summer Digital Marketing Conference

It’s Throwback Thursday! We take a look back at our Summer Digital Marketing Conference and revisit the key insights from some of our fabulous speakers that joined us on the day, from a broad range of brands, charities, and agencies.

Driving Relevancy At Scale: Big Brands Can Be Innovative

Pollyanna Ward, Digital And Social Media Manager of Biscuits at Mondelēz International explains why our opinion of innovation needs to be refreshed. Using examples from Mondelez’s innovative marketing of Belvita biscuits, Ward proves that all brands can be innovative, whether big or small. She shares her key learnings from this innovative project, including the importance of routing brand positioning clearly when delivering your brief and being transparent with your team. Belvita were able to achieve a 6 per cent UK growth during the campaign period, and a 15 per cent growth following it – watch the full video to learn more of the key elements that made this campaign so successful.

Corporate Content? Keeping A 300 Year Old Company Innovating

How does one of the biggest companies in the world ensure it stays at the forefront of innovation? Alex Saunders, Director of Digital Communications at GSK, explains why data is the main area GSK is innovating in, and why this is important to keep up with competition. The reputation of the brand is one that must be carefully built and maintained. The first step of this reputation is in digital communications, which is “the shop window of the organisation”. Saunders gives us a lowdown on how GSK leverages every scrap of data, and successfully employs a user survey tool to maintain an excellent reputation.

Growing Through Self-Disruption

Michel Koch, CMO and eCommerce M&A Consultant at TIME Inc. explains how TIME Inc. dealt with a declining market, and had to look at its business in a new way to enable change and transformation. Searching for efficiencies in your business is essential – using examples of the brands expansion into niche sectors and igniting various passion points, Koch highlights that growth will happen if you look at your business with a fresh mind-set and are willing and prepared to move in different places.

Paid Search In Your Customer Lifecycle

Luca Senatore, Director of Strategy at Genie Goals, recommends that a business should proactively take different approaches to its competitors in order to stay ahead in paid search. Using examples of Genie Goals’ projects with brands such as a Mamas and Papas, he explains how to create ad copy that speaks the user’s language, matches their psychology, and considers customer lifestyle. He encourages businesses to allocate 20 per cent of their time to taking on strategies that no one else is doing, in order to stand out from the crowd and get noticed.

The World’s Greatest Marketer

Jeremy Waite, Evangelist at IBM Watson Marketing, introduces us to IBM Watson, the world’s most powerful marketing AI, and gives a live demonstration of its capabilities. This tool can quickly pick up the conversations and emotions of an organisations’ digital presence, and the emotions its audiences are expressing. Waite explains how it can increase the efficiency of marketers – for example, measuring every campaign, metric, and record to rank the success of your campaign compared to others you have run. Is this the world’s greatest marketer? Watch the full presentation to hear more.

Uncovering The Story Behind Every Email Click

How can you make your email marketing great again? Robert Simons, Group Head of CRM at Treatwell, shares his insights on the importance of tapping into the purchasing behaviours of your customers in order to tackle unsubscription rates and improve the relevancy of your emails. Simons shares six steps to achieve this, which include establishing KPIs, capturing more data, and using existing data more wisely. By following this strategy, Treatwell managed to achieve a 4.75 per cent increase in open rate. Watch the full presentation to find out how you can achieve significant results with your existing tools.

FOUNDERS PANEL: Striking Gold With The Latest Innovations, Trends And Digital Marketing Strategies

The Founders’ Panel brings together four market disruptors, Rachel Carrell, CEO at Koru KidsRob O’Donovan, Founder of CharlieHRDylan Bourguignon, CEO of so-sure, and Nikhil Shah, Co-founder of Mixcloud. As companies disrupting childcare, HR, insurance, and radio, the four founders offer exciting tips and tricks based on their diverse experience of disruption, and the various tools they are using to innovate and personalise their brands’ service. Putting the customer at the centre of their services allows all four disruptors to offer fresh, innovative solutions to everyday problems – watch the full video to learn more of their insights.

CHARITY PANEL – Disrupting Digital: How Are Not-For-Profit Organisations Creatively Overcoming Tightening Marketing Budgets

Our diverse Charity Panel discusses the creativity that flourishes when budgets are diminished – featuring James Brotherhood, Marketing Director at YMCA, Alice More O’Ferrall, Digital Engagement Manager at WWF UK, and Kate Dale, Head of Brand and Digital Strategy at Sport England. They share their insights on how to listen to your audience well, how they have executed a range of successful marketing strategies under limited budgets, how to achieve cut-through with content, and the importance of encouraging user-generated content. These topics are demonstrated by a broad range of examples from each charity: from Sport England’s swimming pool improvements as part of ‘This Girl Can Swim’,  YMCA’s revealing survey of young people, and WWF’s campaign to save the Vaquitas of Mexico. All three marketers are able to draw helpful similarities between their campaigns and offer advice on how to put yourselves in the shoes of your audience and produce content that will resonate.

Click here to read part one, part two, and part three of the Figaro Digital Marketing Conference Roundups.

All of the presentation videos can be found here.

In the meantime, why not check out our events calendar for details of more fantastic thought-leadership events to help your business get to the next level.