CATFOA with Faris Yakob - July 19 2017

He's back! Seven years ago strategist (and now author) Faris Yakob regaled the CATFOA audience with thoughts on "Stuff that doesn't work properly: How technology changes the nature of advertising," during our third year of hosting speakers.

After traveling the world, working nomadically, Faris returns to Minneapolis on Wednesday, July 19, 2017 at 6:00pm at the Fine Line Music Cafe to talk further about the future of advertising -- presented by the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association, sponsored by BBDO MPLS and Fredrikson & Byron.

>> REGISTER NOW TO ATTEND

Faris will leverage his global experience to talk about four key themes, which present challenges and opportunities for the advertising and marketing industries: Attention Collapse, Everything is PR, The Great Blur and Integrative Branding. He'll share useful insights from his experiences developing strategies, creative briefs and presentations inside agencies and marketers all over the world. And he'll reference themes from his 2015 book Paid Attention.

It's certain to be a very useful and engaging event for strategists of all stripes, brand planners, insights junkies, design thinking aficionados and all manner of idea people.

Don't miss it!

Conversations About The Future Of Advertising
with Faris Yakob
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Fine Line Music Cafe
318 N 1st Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55401

5:30pm - Registration
6:00pm - Presentation

Presented by MIMA. Please register to attend. 

CATFOA with Peter Nicholson, CCO Periscope - August 17, 2016

UPDATE:  Many thanks to the 120+ attendees and especially Peter Nicholson for elevating our 24th Conversation About The Future Of Advertising.

Click here to watch the video from the August 17 event via MIMA.org.

* * *

Here we go again (but with a twist for you CATFOA loyalists). This time the Conversations About The Future Of Advertising speaker-series features Periscope’s newly minted Chief Creative Officer, Peter Nicholson. We're going to talk about the difficulties of change (see below). Doors open at 5:30pm on Wednesday, August 17, 2016. The twist? We're in a new location: The Minneapolis Event Centers' Riverside Ballroom next to St. Anthony Main. (Loyalists: please don't go to the old venue.) Huge thanks to the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association for hosting this event.

YOU MUST REGISTER TO ATTEND >



Peter Nicholson has led an impressive 20+ career in creativity and ideas and leadership -- from Leagas Delaney to Goodby Silverstein, Deutsch, JWT, McKinney and now here in Minneapolis at Periscope.

On August 17 we're going to talk with Peter primarily about change management. It'll be a useful conversation for agency leaders, owners, creatives and pundits. 

Specifically, we'll talk about the challenges in making an agency or a marketing organization more fluent in the technology of modern advertising. We'll talk about how the efficacy of advertising has changed - and what that means for advertising ideas. And the changes in client/agency relationships, revenue models and staffing models. We'll also talk about what needs to change within agencies so there is a more even balance of genders and races (especially in leadership positions). 

It's going to be a rich, nuanced conversation. Don't miss it. 

AND DON'T FORGET TO REGISTER >

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

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.

That's a wrap. CATFOA 2009 series recap

(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"

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!

- - - - -

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