Day One – CMA National Convention And Trade Show Or What I Learned From Kevin Roberts

We’re off to the races.
The first part of this morning I was teaching an intensive session called Marketing For Entrepreneurs And Small Business with my co-presenters, John Swettenham (General Manager, Marketing, Parcels Division at Canada Post Corporation) and Alan Flint (Vice-President, Membership Marketing & Services at the Canadian Marketing Association). We had a group of about twenty-plus marketing professionals and I tackled the subjects of how to market your business online as well as one of my favorite topics – how to build your business by building better relationships. Networking is not just for computer systems.
The highlight of my day was hearing Kevin Roberts. Roberts is the CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi as well as author of the books Lovemarks – The Future Beyond Brands and his latest, Sisomo: The Future On Screen.
Roberts is very comfortable on stage. His passion shines, and he supports each idea with some form of TV ad that drives his thought home.
Here are my notes from Kevin Robert’s keynote: Emotional Rescue: Winning in the Attraction Economy.
– We are now in the age of the idea.
– Advertising is all about engagement.
– An ad is only effective if the consumer really wants to see it again (love this).
– Ad people have to move from being directors to being connectors.
– All media will be interactive.
– Sick about hearing the term ROI – he feels it should be changed to Return On Involvement.
– We need to measure how consumers feel when they see our marketing – how it moves them.
– The people are out there and marketers need to learn how to connect with them.
– Consumers will decide if the brand lives or dies.
– The big difference will be intimacy, not touchpoints.
– The consumer is looking for relationships not transactions.
– We are in the Consumer Republic – where the consumer is boss.
– It’s no longer about the Big Idea – it’s about the B.F.I. (do you own word play here).