More and more, marketing today is about connecting the dots. Whether it is developing real 1:1 relationships, integrating brand communications across multiple channels or leveraging social networks, the job of marketers is to understand, experience and connect.

And so it was with the 2010 BCAIM Contagious Conference. By bringing together the brightest minds in marketing for a day of insights and sharing, we at Concerto saw the opportunity to leverage this brain trust for everyone’s benefit. Throughout the conference we asked delegates topical questions about the state of marketing today, gathering those insights electronically in real-time.

This Contagious Conference report is a compilation of those survey interactions; taking the pulse of the Contagious participants. Intentionally graphic in nature, we trust you will find the dots we’ve connected to be both interesting and thought provoking.

Enjoy the read. Learn from the insights. Share the results.

Perhaps with a little more certainty about your industry, your peers and your opportunities, you will have some inspiration to connect the dots for your own brand.

Rob Dawson, PartnerConcerto Marketing Group Inc.

About Concerto

Concerto Marketing Group is the first firm in North America to perform market research, strategy development and brand communications together with one outcome in mind – market certainty. Concerto’s deeper insights drive measurable marketing results.

con + certo = with + certainty

About Contagious

BCAIM’s Contagious Conference 2010 brought together our generation’s most powerful marketing minds and trendsetters in one venue on November 19th, 2010 in Vancouver. This one-of-a-kind conference aimed to provide the most innovative, compelling and talked about content. The sharing of ideas and points of view was not only encouraged, but embraced.

About this report

Concerto conducted a real-time survey of delegates using handheld electronic devices during the 2010 BCAIM Contagious Conference in Vancouver. Over 200 attendees took part in this survey about key issues, trends and topics impacting marketing professionals and our industry today. Participation was voluntary and results should not be extrapolated beyond the walls of the 2010 Contagious Conference.

When were w

e born?

Use of social media to hear

what customers are

saying.

“The demographics of our customer base skew to the seniors market. As such, investment in the latest and greatest digital innovations just don’t pay off for us. It’s only now that we are seeing older demographics embrace online channels and social media are we actively taking steps in that direction.”

Mike goerzen, avp marketingcoastal community credit union

Digital innovators and early adopters are more likely

to view youth as their best market

prospects.

“We strongly feel that the youth market offers an extraordinary amount of growth potential for us from a market share perspective... The youth demographic is a fundamental part of the new Connected World we live in and they’re not just using new technology in exciting ways – they’re using it together with other products to change the rules of how they connect and engage with one another. This kind of connectivity-thinking is paramount to our organization’s strategy and influences the new products we want to carry and offer to our customers across Canada.”

Angela Scardillo, Vice president of Marketingbest buy, canada

Use of social media to hear

what customers are

saying.

“The demographics of our customer base skew to the seniors market. As such, investment in the latest and greatest digital innovations just don’t pay off for us. It’s only now that we are seeing older demographics embrace online channels and social media are we actively taking steps in that direction.”

Mike goerzen, avp marketingcoastal community credit union

Digital innovators and early adopters are more likely

to view youth as their best market

prospects.

“We strongly feel that the youth market offers an extraordinary amount of growth potential for us from a market share perspective... The youth demographic is a fundamental part of the new Connected World we live in and they’re not just using new technology in exciting ways – they’re using it together with other products to change the rules of how they connect and engage with one another. This kind of connectivity-thinking is paramount to our organization’s strategy and influences the new products we want to carry and offer to our customers across Canada.”

Angela Scardillo, Vice president of Marketingbest buy, canada

ourcareers &

passions

“The thing about work life balance and money is that they are never more evident than when they are missing. I subscribe to the Dan Pink school of thought on compensation – pay people enough that money is officially ‘off the table’ and they aren’t constantly keeping one ear to the ground for better opportunities. When they make sacrifices for work – acknowledge them as being above and beyond.”

Peter Reek, PrincipalSmart Savvy

“BC Dairy Foundation’s approach to marketing is mostly brand driven. The organization is unique in that we do not have control over packaging, direct sales and product marketing. While we do not have access to direct sales results we still attach key metrics to our campaigns. We measure both qualitative and quantitative results such as earned and paid media impressions, campaign attitude, aware-ness and intent to purchase, social media engagement/conversations joined/blogger outreach/fans/followers as well as pre and post promotion sales and awareness. As a brand driven organization, we rely on our consumers’ response to measure our success.”

Liz gursky director of communication & market developmentbc dairy foundation

“Simply put, trust in our brand is key to what we do and how we do it at Newalta. Our people have worked hard to build a solid foundation of trust and we see the brand as being the representation of how well we are doing at living our value and delivering on our promises. Though we’d like to believe the equity in our brand would carry us through any disaster-type scenario, we make crisis planning and emergency communications a top priority and continually refresh and update these plans as we grow our business and expand services.”

jesse CadotteManager, Corporate Communications & Community RelationsNewalta Corporation

The BC Association of Integrated Marketers and Concerto Marketing Group wish to thank everyone who participated in the 2010 Contagious Conference. From the conference speakers, event organizers and volunteers to the engaged audience of delegates, the conference was a unique gathering of marketing minds.

“Kraft Canada stays on top of consumer needs and cultural trends so we can be sure we are leading the Canadian food industry in serving up innovation that will drive sustainable business growth and delight our consumers. Investing in marketing excellence and innovating and brand building is always (even during tough times) a top priority. Our retailer partners and our consumers expect nothing less, and we deliver.”

janine keogh, vice president, consumer insight & strategykraft canada

colin macphail, director membership marketingbcaa

“The issue with BCAA is typically resources. We do not have enough to do all the things we want to. We need to see that a new practice can add value before we can justify allocating scarce resources into testing.”

“Social media plays a part in all of our lives, whether we realize it or not. We search for highly rated restaurants online, we both ask and give our peers recommendations on everything from plumbers to designers, we are participants in an ongoing social dialogue. Leveraging this for our clients and our brands means that we have to not only be keen listeners, but be willing to give a voice to a brand and stay involved in relevant conversations.”

Courtney johnston, client service managerconcerto marketing group inc.

www.concertomarketing.com www.bcaim.org