m-squared conference

Today was Influx Insights (aka Butler Shine Stern) M-Squared conference on the future of marketing. On the whole the speakers were very interesting, though (as is often the case) they were more focused on what they were doing now to determine the future vs. any projection. If there was a theme, I would say it was the idea of opening the brand to consumers - whether it be through open content or consumer definition of the brand. I've tried to summarize my impressions of some key speakers but I am still letting my mind sift through my thoughts, so bear with me :)



Josh Quittner is the editor of Business 2.0 and talked about his magazine's foray into blogging and how what I would term "open online journalism" is actually helping boost sales. Quittner's first observation was that Business 2.0 subscriptions actually jumped higher when they made content free vs. when the publication first jumped on the web. Secondly, he told all of his journalists to start a blog and is using the blog content as the basis of Business 2.0's own blog (and magazine) content. Both observations point to the devolution of content creation and readership to the "individual" or public level (not to mention the fact that it works as a retention tool to keep journalists at a magazine - Quittner already lost Om Malik to a blog, though Malik still contributes to the magazine). The most pertinent question from the audience was where that left the business 2.0 brand??

The other journalist present was John Batelle , CEO of Federated Media and author of The Search . His main point was that content is no longer the proxy or symbol for an audience because people are declaring their interests directly through search. This makes search engines the distributor of attention and makes that attention more available for big and small firms alike. In addition, the fact that search is the new language of navigating the world means that conversations are more likely to be driven by permission (consumers asking for information) than interruption.

From the corporate side, Chip Connelly of Joie de Vivre hotels was one of the most interesting speakers from that side of the fence. He pointed out that chain hotels (as well as companies from McDonalds to Avis) are built on delivering a consistent experience but that this creates no emotional connection with consumers. Each of his boutique hotels is modeled on the theme of a magazine with the idea that a magazine represents a total lifestyle brand that people can self-actualize towards. In fact, he framed his whole presentation using Maslow's triangle , including the way to treat employees (money is equivalent to safety, recognition equivalent to esteem and meaning equivalent to self-actualization). The point about using magazines as a model for the brand, according to Connelly, is that they give enough structure to guide people but add enough complexity to the brand (his words) to make it interesting.


Finally, I would be remiss if I did'nt mention Jim Riswold's presentation. The combination of the great art and the heartfelt story of his illness, recovery and then further illness just put advertising in it's place - fairly unimportant.

There were other good presentations - particularly Jim McDowell talk on how Mini were focusing on their customer base as the engine of the brand vs. attracting new people to it (as a way to avoid becoming a fad), but a lot of this has been covered elsewhere.