Just back from the WOMMA Summit in Music City – and I have to admit, I’m in the midst of post-conference sensory overload. But while I’m ‘processing’ my Nashville experience, I thought I’d share a few quick sound bites that capture the spirit of the conference.

An energizing opening montage of the year’s Most Talkable Campaigns set the tone, underscoring the need for break-through creative.

Understanding Your Targets

Three thought-provoking gems posed by the ever-entertaining keynote Jay Baer, author of Youtility:

  • “Is your marketing more interesting to me than my friends and family? Because that’s what you’re competing with (“everything”) as ‘friend of mine’ awareness replaces top of mind awareness as a driving marketing principle.”
  • “Radical transparency is one of the best ways to gain consumer trust – the prism through which all business success must pass.”
  • “We are surrounded by data and starved for insights.

 

Cisco’s Heather Alter shared her POV on achieving relevance in the eyes of the B2B customer during the ComBlu break-out. To start, understand what most influences their content experience with your brand:

“Defining personas and digital body language when developing content along the buyer’s journey is a critical first step.”

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Rod Brooks, CMO @ PEMCO – on being hyper-local and using ‘insider’ humor to crowdsource content for their long-running Personalities of the Northwest campaign:

  “Our goal is to provide world class experience through hyper-   local engagement.”

  “Smiles lead to conversations.”

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Real-time, Relevant and Visual

Three rapid fire stats on the power of visual content offered up by Shoutlet’s Kira Sparks during an engaging Creativity Showcase featuring American Express, Finish Line and Delta.

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Judd Hooks from Delta shared his top 10 list on elevating content, most importantly:

“Real time social is tablestakes. The trick is to be culturally relevant and true to your brand.”

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And because it’s not always good news in the Twitterverse, SmartCar’s Eric Angelou and Razorfish’s Ryan Duffy shared the great “Poop tweet” case study as a model for clever-countering naysayers on social. Close coordination with legal and internal teams enabled the brand to respond quickly and to great effect — 22 mil impressions, 2000% increase in Twitter mentions and a #1 position on Reddit in just 3 days.

“There’s a love-hate relationship out there with smart cars. The key is to reframe the conversation to show off your personality.”

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And one last notable quote from Shabnab Mogharabi at Soulpancake; on nurturing the creative spark.

“Every day, we get up and dance at our office to create a joyful environment. Joy is a catalyst to ideation.”

Wishing you the joy to get up and dance!

Cheryl Treleaven

Cheryl Treleaven

Principal

Engaging your customers is at the heart of successful marketing programs. For more than 20 years, Cheryl has been building and executing content and thought leadership strategies designed to do just that. She is excited to be applying that well-honed skill to a help companies like Microsoft, Cisco, 3M, Intel, Capital One and Barclaycard tap into their stakeholder communities and build sophisticated content strategies.

Her experience base spans a range of industries – from technology and financial services to retail, travel, consumer products and healthcare. Cheryl has served as an integral member of her clients’ marketing teams, providing counsel on marketing and brand strategy, thought leadership, media relations, product introductions, and event management.

Prior to joining ComBlu, Cheryl spent 10 years leading corporate marketing for large, complex organizations.