The problem with a conference blog is that in order for it to be timely,  it tends to be an instantaneous download of your notes rather than a more considered reflection or analysis of what you heard, saw and thought during the day. That said, here's an attempt at a summary of the key bits that I took away from the event and what I might do with them.

 

Engagement

 

The overarching theme was consumer engagement, and certainly many of the delegates I spoke to were enticed there just to hear more about that angle, particularly the promised keynotes of Dr Joe Plummer (pictured left) of the US Advertising Research Foundation and Dr Robert Heath (pictured right) of the University of Bath. 

 

Our morning chairman Terry Prue (HPI Research Ltd) kicked off the day with a definition – ‘engagement is turning on a prospect to a brand idea’ – and exhorted us to be open minded and prepared to see the topic approached from different angles, including a few sales pitches.

 

Certainly, a good spread emerged. Some presentations were theoretical, some about the practicalities of new methodologies, some techniques and several case histories. And there were an inevitable couple of sales pitches, which to my mind are superfluous as the product or service should speak for itself in these situations.

 

Within that, two topics cropped up repeatedly from various speakers. Firstly, the fact that the old linear model of communication theory (thinking?feeling?attitude change?decision) is no longer viable vs. the new ones. And we were shown virtually any permutation of the order of effects, except perhaps the original, with lots of arrow laden diagrams to demonstrate