Convergence 2010 Vancouver

This past week I attended Convergence 2010 which is a full day conference that bring together savvy marketers into one building sharing thought provoking ideas in the marketing field. This was my third year of attending and each year I gain a greater appreciation of marketers. It’s not just about coming up with new ideas or campaigns, it’s all about how you deliver your message and the mediums you use to achieve this.

Social Media has pushed the boundaries, yet there is always the core value of relationships that will always make a campaign work.

Listening to Marc Gobé of Emotional Branding speak about emotional branding was a great way to kick off the day. He’s ideas on how to make certain generations emotionally connect with your brand were inspiring, and this coming from a sales guy that doesn’t work in a marketing department. He also showed how business in San Paolo, where outdoor billboards are now banned, are using art and architecture to attract customers into their stores. By making their outside store visually appealing they were able to increase their sales.

As most conferences these days there were discussions on how social media is playing a bigger role in marketing and how organizations are incorporating this more and more into their corporate structures.

Mobile marketing also played big this year, with Apple’s introduction of the iPad and smart phones becoming more popular, these are becoming great tools for marketers to use and be apart of. It seems that creating an app for your brand is the way to go as it allows for a greater consumer experience and allows them to be more apart of your brand. Granted the iPad panel with Scott Michaels, Vice President, Atimi Software, Jason Snell, VP & Editorial Director, Macworld and Olivier Vincent, CEO, Canpage didn’t convince me on getting an iPad (at least not just yet).

The day ended off with Dr. Ginger Grant of Creativity in Business Canada Inc. speak about creating a Brand Experience through Storytelling was a great way to end off the conference and wrap things up nicely. Dr. Ginger Grant is one smart cookie!

Thanks to COSSETTE West for inviting me to attend.

You can see more photos of the day on my Flickr Convergence 2010 set.