It’s time to ask the big questions. And I’m going to ask them from the stage.
[It’s exciting: next week I co-chair and deliver a keynote at the Social and Mobile Monetization Conference, Shanghai.]
I don’t suppose I’ll get the answers I’m looking for. So I’ll propose my own answers to the questions!
Maybe I’ll get away with keeping my own opinions unchallenged. That said, I’ve seen some of the names, job titles and companies of the paying audience, as well as the other speakers at the event, so I expect they’ll be quick to air their thoughts. At least, I hope so.
Anyway, here are the questions that I’m posing in the marketing materials for the event:
Searching for answers to big questions about the business behind brands – in the context of social and mobile.
Since the world is changing so fast, how come we – the marketing community – aren’t adapting as fast? We’ll revisit the paid, earned, owned media debate and we’ll talk about the data that we should be using to help us adapt
Why is everyone wasting money? John Wanamaker asked which 50% of advertising dollars was being wasted; WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell said last year that advertisers waste between 15-25% of their budgets. If we’re going to monetise all the media available – especially social and mobile – then we need to know how to answer this
Where is technology taking us? The consumer journey demands that we tell “the non-linear story” both online and offline. We need to use technology and data to map the online and the offline journey. And today we can already. Let’s talk about where else technology is taking us
How do we keep abreast all these new challenges, new technologies and changes in the digital landscape? We’ll share a checklist to success in today’s multi-regional, multi-audience, multi-product, multi-media business environment.
Listening to stories 
Feb 27, 2014 at 7:43 am
James – good luck. Rev them up! A few more thought provoking questions for you:
What are brands doing about creating quality content that truly is relevant to consumers? (And how are they measuring that it’s relevant and effective?) eg: The Economist does a great job of staying true to its brand and is now harnessing the power of data driven relevance.
How are brands planning for the non-social era (I predict we’re over social media and entering the anti-social media era)?
Why are so many marketers still insistent on lists if features in their Marcomms rather than investing in benefits? Do brands have single minded benefits any more or have we been trained by the technology revolution to believe that multiple features/benefits are the standard now?
Feb 27, 2014 at 11:10 pm
Hey Anton… am also a big fan of the ‘digital ecosystem’ that the economist has built over the years.
You’re not alone in your “social era” will come to an end… https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140224190309-95015-why-facebook-is-killing-silicon-valley
Thanks for dropping by… and commenting too.