By Bob Siegal, Prager and Fenton LLP
Now that the 2009 ANA Masters of Marketing Conference is behind us we finally have a chance to catch up on our sleep while we reflect and process an enormous amount of content.
Of course I must give kudos to Bob, Bill and the ANA team for staging a great conference. The fact that 1200 people attended was itself a very pleasant surprise and I think the sheer number made us all feel that perhaps the American economy really had turned a corner.
I for one want to especially thank the on-site FedEx office who helped solve the inevitable issue of what to do with all the paper, books, pads, bags, Yahoo commuter mugs and assorted tchotchkies one is want to accumulate after four days. Thanks too to the skycap who was nice enough to just pocket my gratuity and look the other way at what was clearly my seriously overweight bag.
Having started my career as a journalist with People (yes, it counts as journalism) and NBC News, I am always inclined to informally interview my fellow attendees to see what resonated with them. While this conference typically yields a tremendous amount of usable content – almost every CMO has at least one worthwhile nugget of wisdom to impart (although the consensus seemed to be it often was not the answer to Bob’s final “take-away” question) – this year the reaction to the speakers seemed markedly different than in years past.
While there are always high and low points - some speakers and events simply stand out above others – it was interesting to note that so many of the speakers inspired such visceral reactions among the attendees.
Like fear. More than one meal table – mate expressed the notion that while they admired Eric Ryan (and I am assured he only looks like he’s fifteen) and what he’s accomplished at Method, they couldn’t imagine either working for or servicing a company who asks its potential employees “How are you going to keep it weird?” The fear was that if this is truly the future of American business, where do those who don’t know how to keep it weird fit in?
Or amazement. Like me, most of those I spoke with had no idea there actually was a “new” Kodak, having assumed other than producing motion picture stock, the “old” Kodak was essentially soon joining the ranks of Studebaker. It wasn’t just that Jeffrey Hayzlett’s presentation was engaging and entertaining – which it was - it was filled with a string of facts that were totally eye-opening for most of us. Of course it was also filled with images and interviews that left some in audience filled with emotion and wiping their eyes (no, not me, I had an eyelash).
Interestingly too, while Sunday morning is often perceived as time for either sleeping in, hasty good-bys or early flights home, those of us who stuck around (in fairness I only had a 90 minute flight) were treated to some worthwhile content courtesy of Diary Queen’s Michael Keller, Dunkin’ Donuts’ Cynthia Ashworth, Dial’s Brad Casper and especially Fender’s Richard McDonald. Sure he was untraditional – correctly assuming he was the only CMO to present that had been out jamming with Alice Cooper Saturday night, the only CMO to present in shirt sleeves, the only CMO with an arm full of tats (although both IBM’s Diane Brink and General Mills’ Mark Addicks were wearing long sleeves, so who really knows?) what made him so worthwhile was his unbridled passion for his brand and his job. A nice finale to his presentation, the conference and an unabashed treat for the audience was when Richard presented a Stratocaster to the conference attendee for her friend's 13 year old son. That was both an incredible “Kodak moment” as well an outstanding example of audience engagement. And once again people were wiping their eyes, although my excuse is that I was simply overly tired….
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