I must have done something right during my presentation for the Digital Marketing Conference which is organized by the CMA – Canadian Marketing Association, as they just announced that I will be one of the keynote speakers for the 2007 National Convention and Trade Show.
The annual conference – which is the largest gathering of Canadian Marketers – is taking place on May 14th – 16th in Ottawa, Ontario at the Ottawa Congress Centre.
Full disclosure: I sit on the organizing committee for this conference and I have been asked to be a co-chair of this very prestigious event starting in 2008 (I gladly accepted that honor). I also got absolutely no favoritism. I filled out all of the requested documents – just like every speaker – and I wasn’t even at the meetings when the keynotes were decided. All true.
It will be all-new content and it is based on some new marketing concepts I have been grappling with. The title of the presentation is: Burn The Ships – New World Tactics for Marketers in a Digital World and here is a brief description from the CMA National Convention and Trade Show website:
“In understanding the new world of marketing, we need to rewind to the late 1400s. Hernan Cortez is a famed explorer. When Cortez arrived at the New World, many of his crew wondered what would happen to them in this strange new land? Cortez made a bold move: he burned the ships. There was no choice. It was time to create a new path.
Like Cortez, marketers must burn the ships. Every time a new channel arises, be it online marketing, Social Media or virtual worlds, we are far too fast to monetize the channel as if it were print, radio or TV.
Burn the ships.
New channels, like new lands, call for new tactics. Mitch Joel is your guide through the digital marketing world where the consumers are creating and in control of the brands.
Burn the ships.
It’s time to let go of integrating traditional advertising with technology. It’s time to look at how the consumers are consuming and what kind of advertising messages they are looking for during the engagement.
Marketers need to be willing to do what it takes to maximize all of these new marketing channels. There are billions of dollars at stake. Google, Skype, eBay, Starbucks, YouTube and many more of today’s super-brands have done little to no traditional advertising to build their empires.
It’s the late 1400s all over again. It is a New World.
Burn the ships.”
Should be fun.
In the meantime, Rich Hammond over at Writer’s Cramp gives a detailed overview of a presentation I gave last week to the PMCQ – Pharmaceutical Marketing Club of Quebec – over here: Writer’s Cramp – Six Pixels of Separation.
If you’re thinking of coming to Ottawa for the big conference, there is an early bird rate and you can be sure we’ll try to organize a Geek Dinner Ottawa as well as do some on-location Podcasting with the other speakers and attendees.
Get more details over here: Canadian Marketing Association – National Convention And Trade Show 2007.
I hope you will join me.