About the Topic

Before you shift your strategy – and your budget – to embrace the latest trends in marketing, you’ll want to attend MarketSmart 2008.

SESSIONS/SPEAKERS

7:45 AM
Registration

Continental Breakfast and Networking

8:30 - 8:45 AM
Opening Remarks

8:45 - 9:45 AM
Everything Matters: Fundamentals of Experiential Brand Building

Scott Bedbury, Author of A New Brand World

There’s never been a more important time to transcend the physical dimension of our products or services and create lasting emotional experiences that will set us apart from the pack. If anyone knows this, it’s Scott Bedbury.

Scott will share best practices in how to create compelling brand experiences that help generate greater loyalty with both customers and employees. You’ll understand the principles and processes that can be applied to any business -- B2C, B2B, big or small -- and you’ll see case studies for brands like Starbucks, Nike, Starwood Hotels and more.

10:00 - 11:00 AM
Marketing from the edge, bringing your company to Second Life

Catherine Smith, Director of Marketing of Second Life

In the five years since it launched, Second Life continues to generate real results for cutting-edge marketers. The virtual world -- built on 3D user-generated content, money-making avatars and the promise of a virtual "new you” continues to flourish with residents spending over 25mm hours inworld last month, and spending US$1.3mm per day.

Today brands, educators, governments and entrepreneurs are all taking advantage of Second Life's flexible platform and tools to engage with their communities, prototype new products, hold events and meetings and training sessions, teach classes, make movies, and more.

Don't worry if you haven't experienced Second Life for yourself yet. This session will cover the state of virtual worlds today, how marketers and companies use Second Life and how you can take advantage of this vibrant, open environment to achieve very real business goals.

11:15 - 12:15 PM
Evolving a company brand...beyond (and including) sustainability

Shannon Hughes, Director, Public Affairs of Weyerhaeuser

Weyerhaeuser is known for growing trees for the past 108 years, and it’s a traditional, stable company. After a decade of communications focused on environmental stewardship, the company needed to evolve its brand and messages to be relevant to the 21st century. So, how is Weyerhaeuser making a unique contribution to a "greener" world?

Hear how we landed on points of differentiation and what needed to change within the company in order to truly realize the potential in trees to solve some of the planet's most difficult challenges.

12:30 - 1:45 PM: Lunch with DRY Soda
Selling a soda or a way of life?

Jeanette Thebeau, Chief Marketing Officer of DRY Soda

Today’s lifestyle brands embody the values and aspirations of a group or culture, supplementing the core identity of their customers.

Jeanette Thebeau will tell you how to tap the emotional consumer connection to build a lifestyle brand — from gaining momentum and executing the unexpected. From engaging the aspirational consumer to listening to your gut intuition. And most important, knowing when to say “no.”

2:00 - 3:00 PM
Managing Crisis Communications with "Flying" Colors

Sonja Hagen, West Coast Marketing and Sales Manager of JetBlue

JetBlue certainly isn’t the only airline to have suffered a major mishap with customer service recently. However, after the February 2007 storm that left customers stranded on runways for hours, the company spent a fair amount of time under the media spotlight.

This attention wasn’t due to the incident, but the masterful way JetBlue handled itself during the following weeks. Join Sonja Hagen, JetBlue’s West Coast Marketing Manager, for a lively discussion of JetBlue’s handling of the crisis and walk away with valuable tips on how you too can rebound from even the most damaging of incidents in your industry.

3:15 - 4:15 PM
Blazing the Trail of Brand Loyalty

Jennifer Beard, Director of Advertising of REI

REI has a devoted customer base – not only are they loyal, they’re active enthusiasts of the brand.

Jennifer Beard will share ways for you to differentiate your brand in an increasingly competitive and cluttered retail environment.

She’ll take you beyond the buzzwords and hype to create meaningful customer marketing strategies that build deeper, long-term relationships. Plus, she’ll help you break down channel barriers to create great customer experiences, no matter how your customers choose to interact with your business.

4:15 - 4:25 PM
Closing Remarks

4:30 - 6:30 PM
Cocktail Reception & Networking

About the Speaker(s)

Speakers from Second Life, Weyerhaeuser, DRY Soda, JetBlue, REI, and Scott Bedbury author of "A New Brand World".