Conversations About the Future of Advertising

April 2: Barry Judge and Jeff Steinhour for CATFOA+

2011-12-27T10:39:00.000-06:00

The fifth season of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising kicks off Monday, April 2, 2012 as we welcome Best Buy's CMO, Barry Judge (above left), in conversation with Crispin Porter + Bogusky's President, Jeff Steinhour (above right).

Barry and Jeff will discuss a range of topics, potentially including the evolution of client/agency relationships, products, services and content as marketing and the role of design across brand strategy, product development and community engagement.

It's going to be CATFOA+, and we're excited to host this special event at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. So be sure to carve out some extra time the evening of April 2 to survey all the student portfolio work while you're on campus.

Event details:

CATFOA+ with Barry Judge and Jeff Steinhour
Monday, April 2, 2012
Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 2501 Stevens Avenue, Minneapolis
Doors at 5:30 p.m.
Conversation starts at 6:30 p.m.
This event is free and open to the public, no reservations required, with grateful thanks to MCAD and MIMA for their ongoing sponsorship.

Bios:

Barry Judge is executive vice president, chief marketing officer for Best Buy Co., Inc., a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products and services. In this role, Judge provides overall vision and leadership to all areas of marketing for the enterprise, including brand management, customer research and development, trend, promotions, advertising, marketing communications, internal communications and public affairs. Judge also holds a leadership role in Best Buy’s overall strategy and development in the U.S., Asia and Europe. He began his career at The Direct Marketing Group and has held positions ranging from marketing assistant to product group manager with Young & Rubicam, Coca Cola USA, The Quaker Oats Company and the Pillsbury Company. He also served as vice president of marketing for Caribou Coffee Company. Judge has a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s degree in marketing from the J.L. Kellogg School at Northwestern University.

Originally from Colorado, Jeff Steinhour joined CP+B in 1993. After two years as an account supervisor at CP+B, Jeff was named director of account management in 1995, and became a partner in 1997. In October 2010, he was promoted to president and is now responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company, overseeing all clients and agency staff. Jeff is a member of the Board of Directors of VCU Brand Center in Richmond, Virginia, and also serves on the Board of Directors of both the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the School of Communication at the University of Miami.

2012

2011-11-01T22:56:00.003-05:00

Welcome to the 5th season of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising (CATFOA), co-sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association. Specific dates and speakers are being organized and will be announced here.

Many thanks to our amazing audiences and 20 outstanding speakers from the past four years (see below). We look forward to bringing even more awesome to the Twin Cities in 2012. Stay tuned.

Monday, May 2 update: Dennis Ryan and Jim Cuene

2011-05-02T11:59:00.001-05:00

Life happens.

So we're calling an audible, as Matt Howell can't make it to Minneapolis tonight.

Instead, we're very fortunate to close out the 2011 edition of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising with two very insightful gentlemen (L to R): Dennis Ryan, the new Chief Creative Officer at Olson and Jim Cuene (@jcuene), Director - Interactive Marketing for General Mills.

Tonight promises to be vibrant and new—just the kind of energy we need to get spring moving.

Please join us at 6:00 p.m. (doors at 5:15 p.m.) at the Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 North First Avenue, Minneapolis. No reservations, and it's free because CATFOA is generously sponsored by MCAD + MIMA.

Monday, May 2: Matt Howell - "Agencies: Welcome to the Software Business"

2011-04-25T17:16:00.000-05:00

Please join us for the fourth and final episode of the 2011 edition of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising on Monday, May 2 when we welcome Matt Howell (@mrhowell), newly minted Managing Partner, Global Chief Digital Officer at Arnold Worldwide.

Whether they like it or not, ad agencies are getting into the software business. And this means change. The structures and processes that guided us for the past 50 years won't work for the next five. Matt will discuss how agencies can change to keep pace with consumers and technology.

Matt has built his career at the intersection between marketing and technology. As Managing Partner, Global Chief Digital Officer at Arnold, Matt leads digital teams across the agency's global network. He arrived at Arnold from years at Modernista!, where he left as President. While there, he managed the agency's transition from a focus on traditional to interactive media and technology. Previously, Matt spent seven years at R/GA. In his last four years at R/GA, he ran the Nike engagement and oversaw award-winning work on products such as Nike+, NikeiD and the Nike Online Store. He was also a part of the agency's expansion into Stockholm, Sweden. Matt began his career in traditional advertising at Ogilvy & Mather in London before transitioning to digital marketing in 1996. Since this time, he has overseen work for clients ranging from AT&T to Sony to Cadillac to Prada. Over his career, Matt’s work has taken top honors at Cannes, the One Show, the Clios, and others, and has been featured regularly in Communication Arts and Creativity. He also sits on the Board of Directors at Boulder Digital Works at the University of Colorado, where he is a frequent lecturer.

This event is free. No RSVP required. Just show up!

Like our previous 18 speakers, Matt will appear at the Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 First Avenue North in Minneapolis.

Doors open at 5:15 p.m. Matt's presentation starts at 6:00 p.m.

Many thanks to MIMA and MCAD for their generous sponsorship!

(Maybe you're asking yourself, "Hey, wasn't Andrew Keller supposed to close the 2011 CATFOA series? He was. But he had to cancel. And so it goes. We're thrilled Matt was able to fit us into his schedule.)

Monday, April 4: Anders Sjostedt - "F*CK DIGITAL"

2011-03-10T00:24:00.000-06:00

UPDATE: Video from Anders' presentation is embedded at the end of this article.

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Join us for the third session of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising on Monday, April 4, 2011 when we welcome Hyper Island USA Managing Director Anders Sjostedt (@anderssjostedt).

Based on Hyper Island's very recent experience counseling marketing and ad agency executives, it's easy to understand why agencies express worries their digital efforts aren’t sufficient. In fact, whole floors of agency executives hope to retire—without really having to care about all that new technology stuff. The sentimentally inclined lament the loss of art and beauty in their work, often laying the blame on data, measurements and Facebook chats.

Meanwhile, CMOs are equally worried they’re not able to ask the right questions when being presented with Google search optimization strategies, that they don’t know how to trust the increasing flurry of agencies that advise them through more fragmented channels.

What most agency and marketing leaders have in common is that they really just want the whole digital thing to go away.

But there is still room for beauty and enchantment, argues Sjostedt. Everything doesn’t have to be squeezed into 140 characters. Digital is not the message.

What digital does is change the way societies, humans, and consumers interact. We have to build our organizations accordingly. Creativity doesn’t have to suffer, but be sure, both you and your organization will have to get ready for a serious digital, uhm, f*ck.

Based in Sweden, Hyper Island is a global leader in training within the digital/interactive field. As the Managing Director of Hyper Island USA, Anders Sjostedt is in charge of building and expanding the organization throughout the US and heading the company’s Global Business Development. Previously, Anders was Director at Swedish Creative Industries and CEO of Sweden's largest business incubator, Minc.

This event is free. No RSVP required. Just show up!

Like our previous 17 speakers, Anders will appear at the Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 First Avenue North in Minneapolis.

Doors open at 5:15 p.m. Ander's presentation starts at 6:00 p.m.

Many thanks to MIMA and MCAD for their generous sponsorship!

Monday, February 28: Julie Roehm - "Fearless in the Face of Marketing Complexity"

2011-02-09T17:40:00.000-06:00

UPDATE: Video of Julie's presentation is embedded down below.

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In the digital age, successful marketing organizations embrace and leverage the complexity wrought by interactive technologies—they're fearless in the face of empowered consumers and ever-changing media. On Monday, February 28, our second CATFOA speaker, Julie Roehm (@jaroehm), will bring decades of global marketing experience to the Twin Cities to discuss the advantages of her fearless approach.

Julie spent six years as a brand manager at Ford, before serving as Director of Marketing Communications for Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge, overseeing $2.1 Billion in marketing investment—earning praise from Brandweek as its 2004 Automotive Marketer of the Year. Also in 2004, Julie was inducted into the AAF Advertising Hall of Achievement for outstanding performance in the field of marketing and advertising to executives under 40 years old. She then moved to Wal-Mart, as Senior Vice President of Marketing Communications, with responsibilities for its $800M marketing budget. Julie currently serves as a marketing advisor and consultant through /Meta LLC for start ups, media companies and corporations including Sports Illustrated, Time, Credit Suisse and ADP. She is an official AOL blogger and commentator for Fox Business News.

This event is free. No RSVP required. Just show up!

Just like our previous 16 speakers, Julie Roehm will appear at the Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 First Avenue North in Minneapolis.

Doors open at 5:15 p.m. Julie's presentation starts at 6:00 p.m.

Many thanks to MIMA and MCAD for their generous sponsorship!

Monday, January 31: Ana Andjelic - “Do We Need a New Definition of Creativity?”

2011-01-27T23:18:00.000-06:00

UPDATE (Feb 10): Video of Ana's presentation available at the end of this post.

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Join on Monday, January 31, at 6:00 p.m. for the inauguration of the fourth season of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising, co-sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association, when we discuss rewriting the creative dictionary with Ana Andjelic (@andjelicaaa), Senior Planner at HUGE, Inc.

The creative of the digital world is vastly different from its traditional predecessor; where creative once represented the astounding idea comprised of art and copy, or a brand identity turn cultural icon. Now the best work is about coming up with relationships and interactions that connect people into networks — potentially never ending, always in beta. The era of strategic creative has begun, and the best campaigns are being executed by the most unlikely of sources. Let's have a conversation with Ana as she shares her insights from Groupon, Best Buy Shopkick, SCVNGR, and more — illuminating how brands can leverage new approaches to great effect.

Ana works as Planning Director at HUGE, Inc. Prior to joining HUGE, she worked at AKQA, Razorfish, The Barbarian Group, Create The Group and Wunderman for clients Citibank, Nokia, CNN, Kashi, Maybelline, Unilever and Burberry among others. She is a frequent contributor to AdAge, and her articles often inspire fierce discussions in the industry. Ana regularly shares her thoughts on digital marketing on her blog, "I [love] marketing." She was a guest on Bob Knorpp’s The Beancast in November 2009, and presented “What is Digital Creativity?” at Miami Ad School in October 2010. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University. Her dissertation, “Google Doesn’t Have a Jingle: How Digital Media Turns Brands Into Behaviors” is currently being reviewed for publication by Palgrave.

Once again, we'll be at the Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 First Avenue North in Minneapolis.

The event is free. No RSVP required. Just show up!

Doors open at 5:15 p.m. Ana's presentation starts at 6:00 p.m.

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Here's the CATFOA video of Ana's presentation on January 31:

Just announced: February 28 CATFOA to feature Julie Roehm

2011-01-13T20:56:00.000-06:00

Stop shoveling.

We're excited to announce the fearless, resilient, dynamic and even unruly Julie Roehm will be our fourth CATFOA speaker on Monday, February 28 at 6:00 p.m. at the Fine Line Music Cafe.

More information to come very soon.

In the meantime, don't miss Ana Andjelic coming soon on Monday, January 31.

2011 CATFOA season to begin Monday, January 31

2011-01-04T15:05:00.000-06:00

We're excited to announce the complete line-up for the fourth season of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising (CATFOA), proudly co-sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association.

2011 will bring four unique perspectives on "the future of advertising." We're proud to post our four speakers today:

Monday, January 31, 2011

Ana Andjelic, Planning Director, HUGE

Monday, February 28, 2011

Julie Roehm, Marketing Strategy Consultant and 2004 Automotive Marketer of the Year (Brandweek)

Monday, April 4, 2011

Anders Sjostedt, Managing Director, Hyper Island USA

Monday, May 2, 2011

Andrew Keller, CEO, Crispin Porter Bogusky

All four events will take place, as usual, at the wonderful Fine Line Music Cafe on First Ave N in Minneapolis. Doors at 5:15 p.m., speakers start at 6:00 p.m.

Admission is free. No reservations needed. Just show up, enjoy each other's company and ask intriguing questions to keep the conversation going.

Thank you everyone for your continued enthusiasm for CATFOA!

(More info on each speaker, including our fourth, and their take on our theme will appear here shortly.)

Rock.

What do you think about Fast Company's "The future of advertising?"

2010-11-30T14:09:00.000-06:00

The most recent issue of Fast Company magazine is on the street. We were excited to see Danielle Sack's piece titled, "The Future of Advertising." Good fodder here for those of you beginning to think about the 2011 edition of CATFOA.

A couple of comments stick out for us. How about you?

"'The irony is that while there have never been more ways to reach consumers, it's never been harder to connect with consumers,' explains (Brad) Jakeman, chief creative officer at Activision. The death of mass marketing means the end of lazy marketing. At agencies, the new norm is doing exponentially complex work. Think of the 200 Old Spice YouTube videos whipped up by Wieden+Kennedy in 48 hours. 'Creating more work for less money is the big paradox,' says Matt Howell, president of the Boston agency Modernista."

Howell's quote is likely the most telling. It's noble to draft the new treatise and brave the edge, but ultimately people expect a fair paycheck for the effort. As Seth Godin stated recently, the challenge of the Internet is "either you do something I can't do myself (or get from someone else), or I pay you less than you'd like."

"At a time of shrinking budgets, chief marketing officers don't know where to turn. They have little confidence that old-world agencies know how to navigate the chaos, and they don't know which newcomers to trust.

With clients in a tailspin, the very role of agencies is in question.

Squeezed by clients, agencies are also beset by a host of new competitors attacking from every direction."

Sounds like fun! The quotes in Fast Company from Hyper Island convey these sentiments with greater emotion. We are in an era graced with great change and even greater creativity—but at a cost to old ways, comfortable assumptions and lazy habits. As the esteemed writer Robert Grudin put it back in 1991, “Creativity is dangerous. We can not open ourselves to new insights without endangering the security of our prior assumptions. We can not propose new ideas without risking disapproval and rejection.”

Great to see our friend and previous CATFOA presenter Edward Boches quoted heavily as well!

2011 CATFOA series coming soon

2010-11-17T12:06:00.000-06:00

Hello, friends and fans of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising.

Good news! MCAD and MIMA have agreed to sponsor us again in 2011.

We'll be back with four awesome speakers, likely in February, March, April and May, 2011. Exact dates to be announced very soon.

We'll also be returning to the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis, because they're awesome.

Stay tuned. And thanks so much for your enthusiasm!

- Tim

Colleen DeCourcy, Monday, May 10, 2010: "The Rise of Craft and the Fall of the Campaign"

2010-04-25T17:13:00.000-05:00

+ + + + + + +

UPDATED AGAIN: Video from the conversation with Robert Stephens and Dan Beranek embedded below.

UPDATE: We're calling an audible. Unfortunately Colleen had to cancel her appearance, so we're bringing in Robert Stephens (@rstephens), Founder & Chief Inspector at Geek Squad and Dan Beranek (@dantronic), Social Media Channel Planning Manager at Target, for a conversation around "Retail in the Age of Empowered Consumers." It's going to be awesome. Same date, same time, same location, same "free"—different speakers. See you there!

+ + + + + + +

It's time to talk about Technology as a Creative Craft.

Join us on Monday, May 10 for the final installment of the 2010 edition of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising—as we welcome Colleen DeCourcy (@decourcy), Chief Digital Officer at TBWA Worldwide.

Colleen notes, "Today we're immersed in social media and crowd sourcing, but those aren't the only futures of advertising." Her presentation will help us navigate where we are right now as a society trying to work together and process information. What do we do in this environment, as consumers and marketers, where "the big idea" is under siege? Colleen believes part of the answer is craft. Interfaces. Collaborative creativity. "We are looking at a future where the best thing we can do for a consumer is to make things for them that they can't make for themselves," she says.

This final CATFOA event for 2010 will take place, as usual, at the Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 First Avenue North in Minneapolis.

The event is free. No RSVP required. Just show up.

Doors open at 5:00pm. Colleen's presentation starts at 6:00pm—sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association.

Hashem Bajwa, Monday, April 19, 2010: "Look out, the future is all around us!"

2010-04-12T19:51:00.000-05:00

UPDATED--Video of Hashem's presentation embedded below.

Evidence abounds—300,000 iPads sold in one day, a seemingly endless proliferation of smart phones, the ubiquitous Facebook and Twitter networks, and whatever the mad scientists are cooking up next—which suggests we're living amidst the future, today. As Director of Digital Strategy for Droga5, Hashem Bajwa (@hashembajwa) is charged with living part of his life in the future, the better help his clients decide how to act today.

On Monday, April 19, Hashem will talk about his adventures as an agency professional that’s nurturing and cajoling organizational change, advising and leading brands, and attempting to figure out "what's next? (and why should we care?)." Hashem will discuss how agency structure and leadership can affect digital strategy positively and negatively; how and why clients are reacting to "digital" strategy; and his thoughts on the future of advertising and the ad agency.

Prior to joining Droga5, Hashem was Digital Strategy Director for Goodby Silverstein & Partners. At Goodby he was part of the central team that led the agency’s digital transformation and interactive work across all clients at the agency. His career began at the United Nations in 2000 working on global communications, and in 2003 he entered advertising at McCann Erickson as an account planner until joining Goodby in 2005.

Hashem studied international affairs at New School University in New York and brand strategy at Art Center College of Design. Hashem does not have any children or pets...but he does have a robotic dog.

This is our third event in the third season of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising. As usual, we'll be conversing at the Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 First Avenue North in Minneapolis.

The event is free. No RSVP required. Just show up.

Doors open at 5:00pm. Hashem's presentation starts at 6:00pm—sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association.

UPDATE: Here's the video of Hashem's presentation...

Faris Yakob, Monday, March 8, 2010: "Stuff that doesn't work properly: How technology changes the nature of advertising"

2010-02-09T10:48:00.000-06:00

UPDATE: Video of Faris' presentation embedded below.

On Monday, March 8 Faris Yakob (@faris), the former Chief Technology Strategist at McCann Erickson NYC, will be talking about what technology actually is [and what his job was], why it scares people, why everything changes this year, how advertising has to adapt to a post-scarcity media environment, and what cultural latency is.

Prior to McCann, Faris was the Senior Strategist and Digital Ninja at Naked Communications; a Speaker at the MIT Convergence Culture Consortium; and a Strategic Media Planner at OMD.

Learn more about Faris' many interests and endeavors here.

This is our second event in the third season of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising. As usual, we'll be conversing at the Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 First Avenue North in Minneapolis.

The event is free. No RSVP required. Just show up.

Doors open at 5:00pm. Faris' presentation starts at 6:00pm—sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association.

Edward Boches, Monday, February 8, 2010: "Re-Inventing The Ad Agency, Re-Inventing Yourself"

2010-01-12T23:08:00.000-06:00

Update: Video of Edward's presentation at the bottom of this post.

This is how we'll kick-off the third season of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising—with an impassioned presentation by Edward Boches (@edwardboches), Chief Creative Officer/Chief Social Media Officer, MULLEN (Boston) on his personal evolution as an agency leader in the face of historic change.

Edward believes everything has changed, but the real change is the individual's new power, influence, participation and control: both as a consumer and individual.

So, what does that mean for agencies and marketers in 2010? Edward will speak from 20+ years as an national agency creative director and executive on the classic innovator's dilemma—how do you change into something new without losing the value of something established?

All this and more will be wrestled to the ground on Monday, February 8, 2010 at the Fine Line Music Cafe 318 First Avenue North in Minneapolis.

The event is free. No RSVP required. Just show up.

Doors open at 5:00pm. Edward's presentation starts at 6:00pm—sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association.

BIO: Edward is one of Mullen’s four original partners. Over the last 26 years he has helped define the agency’s creative standards, established its public relations group, integrated digital design and production into all of the agency’s operations, and most recently launched its growing social media practice. The latter -- comprised of strategy, PR, content and analytics -- is both a department and a mindset working to master marketing in the new consumer-driven world. Along the way, Edward has been an award winning copywriter, a celebrated creative director, and a never-ending advocate for ideas that build businesses. His work has introduced new brands (Nextel, Monster.com, Lending Tree, Oxygen Media) and invigorated established companies (Timberland, GM Credit Card, Stanley, Four Seasons). During his tenure, Mullen has grown from a 12-person creative boutique to one of the country’s top 25 agencies, with 600 people in four offices. Edward is also the Editor in Chief of TheNextGreatGeneration.com.

Announcing CATFOA 2010

2009-12-04T21:36:00.000-06:00

UPDATED with final roster!

The insights will be deep and useful. The subject-matter diverse and relevant. The conversation inspiring and pragmatic. Here's the initial line-up for the 2010 Conversations About The Future Of Advertising speaker series. (We'll ultimately have four dates in all.)

Each sessions will occur, once again, on Monday evenings (doors at 5:00 p.m., events start at 6:00 p.m.) at the Fine Line Music Cafe on First Avenue North in Minneapolis.

And, as in years past, all events are FREE and open to the public due to gracious support from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association. We thank these organizations for their continued generosity and enthusiasm!

:: CATFOA 2010 Speaker Series ::

Monday, February 8, 2010

Edward Boches (@edwardboches)

Chief Creative Officer/Chief Social Media Officer, MULLEN

EdwardBoches.com

Edward is one of Mullen’s four original partners. Over the last 26 years he has helped define the agency’s creative standards, established its public relations group, integrated digital design and production into all of the agency’s operations, and most recently launched its growing social media practice. Edward also acts as chief advocate for TheNextGreatGeneration.com and speaks frequently on the merits of crowdsourcing.

(Click here for the MIMA event listing for Edward Boches.)

Monday, March 8, 2010

Faris Yakob (@faris)

EVP Chief Technology Strategist, McCann Erickson NY

Blog: Talent Imitates, Genius Steals

As Chief Technology Strategist, Faris is tasked with helping to work out how brands, people and technology can play better together. Before his current position, he spent 5 years being the Digital Ninja at communication strategy agency Naked Communications. As a strategist Faris has worked on brands such as Sony, Google, Yahoo!, Nestle and Virgin Mobile, in Sydney, London and New York. Faris regularly writes about brands, media, communications and technology for Fast Company, Contagious Magazine and Forbes.

(Click here for the MIMA event listing for Faris Yakob.)

Monday, April 19, 2010

Hashem Bajwa (@hashembajwa)

Director of Digital Strategy, Droga5

WhoIsHashem.com

At Droga5, Hashem works with brands to shape their digital marketing and helps to keep the agency and its creative work ahead by tapping into the latest innovations in technology, media and the web. Before joining D5, Hashem was Digital Strategy Director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. In 2007, Hashem was the youngest person to be named in AdAge’s “40 Under 40 to Watch”.

(Click here for the MIMA event listing for Hashem Bajwa.)

Monday, May 10, 2010

Colleen DeCourcy (@decourcy)

Chief Digital Officer, TBWA Worldwide

As Chief Digital Officer for TBWA Worldwide, Colleen is responsible for developing and implementing a global digital strategy throughout the TBWA network. Her areas of expertise range from digital postproduction and motion-graphics design to creative campaign development across digital platforms. Prior to joining TBWA, DeCourcy served as Chief Experience Officer at JWT, and as the Vice President and Chief Creative Officer at Organic. Colleen was the Cyber Lions Jury President at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in 2008.

(Click here for the MIMA event listing for Colleen DeCourcy.)

Follow @CATFOA on Twitter for future updates.

That's a wrap. CATFOA 2009 series recap

2009-05-19T23:29:00.000-05:00

(Image by Jamie M via Flickr)

And just like that, we're done. Another fantastic year of wonderful guest speakers, questions, insights and most important—useful conversation.

Thank you, Alan Wolk, Kristina Halvorson, Bob Thacker, David Armano and Michael Lebowitz for defining and evolving Conversations About The Future Of Advertising in 2009. We very much appreciated your enthusiasm, wisdom and energy.

(Image by Jamie M via Flickr)

Thank you, everyone who turned out, brought co-workers, clients and friends and helped spread the word. We live in an amazing community here in the Twin Cities, in large part due to your willingness to turn out and participate.

Thank you to our great sponsors—the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association, as well as the Fine Line Music Cafe. We all benefit from your generosity.

Here are just a few images from our 2009 series—many more can be found via Flickr.

Alan Wolk

Kristina Halvorson

(Image by Warren Parsons via Flickr - from An Event Apart Seattle '09.)

Bob Thacker

David Armano

Michael Lebowitz

We'll be back in January 2010. If you have recommendations for speakers in 2010, please contact Tim Brunelle at "tim [at] helloviking.com."

Michael Lebowitz - Monday, May 11, 2009: "Living in a Post-Advertising World"

2009-05-05T15:41:00.000-05:00

UPDATE: Video recap from the event is embedded below (scroll down). Thanks to all who turned out! It was another great crowd. Thanks especially to Matt from MIMA for the cupcakes.

This is it! Our final speaker for the 2009 series is Michael Lebowitz, CEO of Big Spaceship. He'll be joining us this coming Monday, May 11 from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. (doors open at 5:00 p.m.) at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis.

No RSVP required. Admission is free.

Michael founded Big Spaceship in 2000. An architect and board member of SoDA (the Society of Digital Agencies), he is also a member of AIGA's Visionary Design Council and the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences.

An innovation-led digital creative agency, Big Spaceship partners with brands to create deeply engaging experiences, products and relationships. Telling stories and starting conversations across the digital landscape, the company has garnered many accolades for its work, including One Show, Clio, Webby and Cannes Lion awards. Big Spaceship holds more FWAs than any other firm and was the first American agency inducted into the FWA's Hall of Fame. Big Spaceship's work for Epson, Sony Pictures, HBO, OfficeMax, Adobe, Corona, NBC Universal, Ford, Target, Royal Caribbean, Nike, Coca-Cola and LG demonstrate a strong breadth of strategic thinking, creativity and production in the digital space.

On Monday, Michael will speak on "Living in a Post-Advertising World." He'll touch on getting rid of the mindset of making "ads that people will love" and focusing, instead, on an understanding of creating a value exchange between brands and their audiences. Michael will also talk about the major infrastructure issues facing advertisers and agencies—noting these challenges encourage opportunistic thinking: "Never waste a good crisis." Finally, he'll discuss shifting from campaign thinking to persistent strategy that affords us the ability to make products and experiences of incredible value.

Don't miss this final event in our 2009 series. Michael's presentation promises great insights, examples and inspiration. Bring your friends and co-workers!

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Here's the recap video of Michael's presentation from MIMA Live (Michael's presentation begins about eight minutes in):

David Armano - Monday, April 27, 2009: "The Future of Advertising. WTF?"

2009-04-17T16:10:00.000-05:00

UPDATE: What a great crowd last night! We had around 200 show up. The video of David's presentation is embedded at the end of this post.

David Armano, newly Senior Partner at Dachis Corp (previously VP Experience Design at Critical Mass), and blogger at Logic+Emotion, will be joining us Monday, April 27 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (doors open at 5:00 p.m.) at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis.

The event is free. No RSVP required.

David graduated from the Pratt Institute, studying computer graphics and visual communication, before starting a 14-year career in digital marketing and experience design. He's held creative and strategic leadership roles at Digitas and Agency.com, as well as Critical Mass, working for clients such as HP, Allstate, Fifth Third Bank, Miller Brewing, Grainger and Bally Total Fitness. David's work blends strategy with design to look for new opportunities around the evolving Web (otherwise known as Web 2.0) to enhance customer experiences and bring brands and people closer together.

David's blog, Logic+Emotion, is ranked in the Top 20 Media and Marketing blogs by Advertising Age. His writing and visual thinking have been cited by Forrester, The Boston Globe and Businessweek. (Follow him on Twitter @Armano.)

David's presentation: "The Future of Advertising. WTF?" will draw from his experience working with major brands in the digital space, connecting and mashing up advertising as PR, enhancing service design and integrating product innovation. He'll speak to the relevance of micro-interactions and macro word-of-mouth; the future of work—from silos and assembly lines to networks and signals—and the effects these forces are having on the (currently) fuzzy agency model. As always, David will discuss the power of value, utility and a good story, regardless of where it's communicated.

Read David's post about his presentation here. Lots of good set-up. And here's his slideshow:

This promises to be yet another engaging event. Carve the date into your iPhone. Don't miss it.

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Here's David's presentation from MIMA.org/live (the video starts approximately two minutes into his speech):

Bob Thacker - Monday, April 6, 2009: "Chewing Gum and Bailing Wire"

2009-03-22T21:05:00.000-05:00

UPDATE: Another fantastic turnout this evening! Many thanks to everyone who showed up, despite the Twins home opener, for Bob's inspiring presentation. A video recap of the event is embedded below.

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Bob Thacker, Sr. VP, Marketing & Advertising for OfficeMax, the man who brought Michael Graves to Target and commissioned ElfYourself.com, joined us Monday, April 6 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (doors

open at 5:00 p.m.) at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis.

Bob is infamous for exhorting his agencies to, "Don't make ads, make

news." And his career demonstrates the strength of that direction, including roles as Sr. VP of Marketing Services at Sears Roebuck, VP of Marketing at Target and CEO/President of BBDO, Minneapolis. Bob was twice selected by Ad Age as one of the

"Top 100 Marketers in the Nation," and was elected to the Retail Hall of Fame, which honors only one retail professional each year. He's figured out how to collaborate with traditional advertising and digital agencies and PR firms—from big shops to boutiques.

His career includes deep experience with media planning, campaign integration, marketing technology and the challenges and opportunities that come in collaborating with empowered consumers—not to mention figuring out how to achieve more with less.

Bob will be speaking about getting big ideas with small budgets, with obser

vations and insights from his career, focused through the lens of our turbulent times. Bob says, "I hope that I might enlighten and inspire the CATFOA audience to persevere and even prevail."

We've hosted seven events so far in this series. Here's the first that digs into the future of advertising from the client perspective. Check out this recent interview with Bob from Businessweek magazine for more insights. This is going to be

a fantastic event. Don't miss it.

Kristina Halvorson - Monday, March 9, 2009: "Content Strategy - The Care and Feeding of Your Biggest Brand Asset"

2009-03-02T17:38:00.000-06:00

UPDATE: Great attendance (150+) last night! The UStream video is embedded below, along with Kristina's slideshare.

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Kristina Halvorson, president of Brain Traffic and nationally-renowned content strategist, will be joining us Monday, March 9 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (doors open at 5:00.m.) at the Fine Line Music Cafe.

Admission is free. No RSVP required. And we'll have free food. So tell your friends!

Kristina's presentation, "Content Strategy - The Care and Feeding of Your Biggest Brand Asset," asks us to rethink our preconceived notions of marketing and how marketing gets done in the digital age.

Often, the way we talk about content makes it sound like something that will magically create itself, an omnipresent commodity that can be StumbledUpon with ease. But what about our core marketing messages? How are we communicating - and demonstrating - our brand positions online? With our branded content, of course. Clearly, this content is a critically valuable asset that can make or break our customers' online experience. So why are agencies and their clients constantly forgetting to consider their online content until the eleventh hour?

You've heard a lot about how to 'listen' to the customer using social media. Content strategy creates a consistent, clear roadmap for your (ongoing) online communications. What should you publish, and why? Where? How? Who will own the content, both before and after launch?

This event promises to be a must-attend for anyone involved in marketing planning, strategy, budgeting, creation and production. Kristina will bring valuable insights for creative directors, media planners and account strategists - anyone with an interest in What Gets Said.

(Did we mention it's free? And there's free food?)

Kristina will look past today's "bright shiny objects" towards a future where a company's (and their customers') content is treated as a valuable asset, not an afterthought. You'll appreciate her challenging yet very useful insights, examples and suggestions.

(Here's the video from last night. Sorry about the lighting. The club was set up for Atmosphere's show later on.)

Alan Wolk - Monday, Feb. 9, 2009: Your Brand Is Not My Friend

2009-01-21T13:02:00.000-06:00

UPDATE: Huge thanks to Alan for making the trip to the Twin Cities. We had a great crowd on Monday for this event. Alan's presentation is embedded below, as well as links to coverage of the event. Plus, check out Alan's blog for his reaction.

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Creative Strategist Alan Wolk will be joining us from NYC on Monday, February 9 from 6:00 - 8:00pm (doors open at 5:00pm) at the Fine Line Music Cafe.

Admission is free. No RSVP required. And there will be food. Free food. How can you resist?

Alan's ongoing blog series, "Your Brand Is Not My Friend," will fuel his presentation as he shares his perspective on what he sees as the critical mistake brands make when entering the social media space: the assumption that they too can enjoy the cult-like following of a "Prom King" brand like Nike or Apple. This session will discuss what to do if you aren't among the 1% of brands who achieve Prom King status; the effects of The Real Digital Revolution (the ability of consumers to research products online and how this shifts the focus of advertising); and what the future of ad agencies might look like, in light of this.

This will be a great event for anyone working inside an agency and those who work with agencies of all stripes. Alan brings long experience working in a variety of ad agencies, large and small working on major branding campaigns, and has written extensively about becoming a "tradigitalist"—one who appreciates the (traditional) value ad agencies can bring to branding, but now works primarily within the new realm of digital marketing.

[UPDATE: Alan will also discuss this very recent story making the rounds in advertising regarding Eric Silver's apparent move from BBDO to DDB, chronicled with insight by former CATFOA speaker, Adweek Digital Editor Brian Morrissey.]

We hope to see you there!

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Here's Alan's presentation via Slideshare:

Links recapping this event:

The Wah Report

Interactive Snack

Evol's blog at The Image Lab

YAYBIA

Greg Swan

2009 Speaker Series

2008-12-08T00:20:00.000-06:00

This is going to rock.

For 2009, we've lined up an incredible roster to speak about the continuing evolution of advertising and marketing—from content strategy to user experience, cutting edge websites to new ways of thinking about traditional techniques.

Here's a quick preview of our speakers and when they'll be appearing. More details on their specific topics to come shortly.

We'll be back at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis. Like last year, everything happens on a Monday, starting at 6:00pm. And, of course, admission will be free, thanks to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association.

Monday, February 9

Alan Wolk

Toad Stool Consultancy

Monday, March 9

Kristina Halvorson

President

Brain Traffic

Monday, April 6

Bob Thacker

Senior Vice President, Marketing & Advertising

OfficeMax

Monday, April 27

David Armano

Vice President, Experience Design – Critical Mass

(and pundit at Logic+Emotion)

Monday, May 11

Michael Lebowitz

Founder & CEO

Big Spaceship

Thanks again to everyone who participated in last year's Conversations About The Future Of Advertising. 2009 will be just as awesome.

Stay tuned.

Season 1: Thank You

2008-05-01T15:57:00.001-05:00

Wow.

We had a little idea, and lots of people got involved to make it something much bigger.

Thank you!

It was an honor and a pleasure to welcome Jan Leth, Valeria Maltoni, Matt Dickman, Joseph Jaffe and Brian Morrissey to the Twin Cities. All of their presentations were insightful and inspiring, and we hope they fueled productive conversations in your work.

Many thanks to the leadership at MIMA and MCAD for co-sponsoring this speakers series, as well as to our corporate sponsors for the Join the Conversation book give-away, Internet Broadcasting, Carmichael Lynch and Hello Viking. And a special thanks to the 336 members of the Twin Cities Interactive Community on Facebook for their questions, ideas and assistance.

Also, a big thanks to Wendy and Rob and the Fine Line Music Cafe for their support in hosting all five events.

Stay tuned. We'll be back with Season 2 of Conversations About the Future of Advertising this fall. If you've got thoughts on subjects or presenters, please leave a comment.

Thank you.

Event #5: Conversations with Brian Morrissey, Digital Editor at Adweek

2008-03-20T12:18:00.000-05:00

On Monday, April 28, 2008 we're pleased to be welcoming Adweek's Digital Editor, Brian Morrissey, to our series, co-sponsored by MCAD and MIMA.

Prolific Twitter-er, blogger, marathon runner and journalist, Brian brings a wealth of experiences to our conversations about the future of advertising. He currently leads coverage of digital media and marketing for Adweek, and has covered the Internet advertising industry since 2000, working for DM News, ClickZ and the Silicon Alley Reporter. Brian regularly speaks at ad:Tech, iMedia Summit, MIXX, and AdForum, among other industry conferences.

Aside from his perspectives on the future, Brian will focus his presentation on building brands through utility, community and authenticity.

This event is free. No registration required.

Details:

Brian Morrissey presentation

Monday, April 28, 2008

6:00 PM - 7:45 PM

The Fine Line Music Cafe

Minneapolis

We'll be taking questions for Brian live during the event. You can also send them in ahead of time. Use one of the following methods to send a question. We'll do our best to answer them live as quickly as possible.

Twitter: "@catfoa" or "d catfoa"

Email & MMS: 5catfoa@drop.io

Or visit http://drop.io/5catfoa

Event #4: Conversations with Joseph Jaffe (April 14, 2008)

2008-03-20T11:34:00.000-05:00

We're very pleased to announce marketing pundit and author Joseph Jaffe will be with us on Monday, April 14, 2008, sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association and MSP Communications. The event starts at 6:00 PM at the Fine Line Music Cafe in downtown Minneapolis. Admission is free. Joseph will be making a presentation on "The Future of Advertising and Other Short Stories."

Joseph Jaffe is one of the most sought-after consultants, speakers and thought leaders on new marketing. He is the President and Chief Interruptor of crayon, a conversational marketing company specializing in community, dialogue and partnership. (Learn more about Joseph here.)

Joseph's latest book, Join the Conversation, is a must-read for marketing and advertising professionals. It offers the familiar blend of strong insights, witty commentary and useful advice found in his first book, Life After the 30-Second Spot.

The first 250 people to attend the event at the Fine Line will receive a free copy of Join the Conversation. Big thanks to our sponsors Carmichael Lynch, Internet Broadcasting Systems, Hello Viking and MIMA for their generosity in making the books available.

Details:

Joseph Jaffe Presentation

Monday, April 14, 2008

6:00 PM - 7:45 PM

The Fine Line Music Cafe

318 First Ave North

Minneapolis

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UPDATE: Here's a link to Jaffe's latest podcast, including his observations about being in Minneapolis with all of us.

Event #3: Conversations with Matt Dickman, Techno//Marketer (March 17, 2008)

2008-03-11T15:45:00.000-05:00

On Monday, March 17 we welcomed Matt Dickman, director of Digital Marketing for Fleishman-Hillard (Cleveland, OH) and author of Techno//Marketer, one of the top 150 marketing blogs according to Advertising Age.

Matt joined Fleishman-Hillard in January 2008 as a director in the company’s growing digital practice. He brings over 10 years of emerging media, technology and integrated marketing experience to this role. Mr. Dickman’s extensive experience working with traditional offline advertising and PR efforts affords him a strategic vision across marketing channels.

Matt's presentation focused on "Micromedia," and the rising power of micro-blogging, micro-broadcasting, consumer-controlled platforms. (You know, Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, flickr and Utterz, as well as gadgets, widgets and other redistributed marketing content technologies.) Here's his presentation, with audio commentary.

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Event #2: Conversations with Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent (March 3, 2008)

2008-03-11T15:36:00.000-05:00

Valeria Maltoni has been called a communicator, a marketer, and a Renaissance person. Her blog, ConversationAgent.com, is recognized among the world's top online marketing blogs.

Valeria is also a Fast Company Expert Blogger and a contributor to The Blog Herald and Marketing Profs Daily Fix. She is a co-author of The Age of Conversation, a groundbreaking eBook collaboration by 103 of today's top marketing writers. Valeria is a frequent public speaker on brand marketing, customer service, and building successful business teams. She publishes in both English and Italian.

Valeria's day job is the Director, Marketing Communications, at SunGard Availablility Services -- a company that specializes in keeping people and information connected.

Here's Valeria's presentation, "Potable Marketing," from Monday, March 3 at the second incarnation of Conversations About the Future of Advertising, co-sponsored by MCAD and MIMA.

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Event #1: Conversations with Jan Leth, Ogilvy (Feb. 4, 2008)

2008-03-11T15:09:00.000-05:00

Jan Leth is the Vice Chairman, Global Digital Creative for Ogilvy & Mather. He is based in New York, but travels the globe. Since 1996, Jan has overseen all creative development at OgilvyInteractive for IBM, Ameritrade, American Express, Coke and Cisco. He has won the Grand Prix at Cannes and the LIAA, the Grand Clio, Caples, Adtech, One Show, and Effies. He's chaired the One Show and Clios, and judged Cannes, Andy Awards, Adtech, Caples and Echoes.

Here's Jan's presentation, "Dada.Data.Alpha.Beta" from Monday, February 4, 2008 at the debut of Conversations About the Future of Advertising, co-sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association.

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