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

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"

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

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

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

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

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)

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.