Trends, Transitions, and Transformations - The New Normal

ECONOMIC OPENING KEYNOTE – TRENDS, TRANSITIONS, AND SURPRISES
Johan Gott is director of the A.T. Kearney Global Business Policy Council, which assists global executives in monitoring and capitalizing on macroeconomic, geopolitical, socio-demographic, and technological changes worldwide. This opening keynote will explain why the course of the economy over the coming years is going to surprise us with the United States continuing to grow faster than other developed economies, booming at annual growth rates around 5 percent before the end of this decade. Additionally, with the latest data from the demographic revolution now unfolding around the world, it will touch upon China's pace of growth. Lastly, the session will cover the revolutionary ‘sweet spot' technique for predicting when and where particular markets are most likely to show the most-promising growth rates.

Johan Gott
Consultant 
A.T. Kearney Global Business Policy Council

OPTIMIZED MARKETING ROI THAT LED TO A STRATEGIC TRANSITION – A DUPONT CASE STUDY
The impact of the global economy, increased competition, and the explosion of digital and social media channels required a significant shift in mindset to optimize marketing ROI. Marketing budgets were either reduced or held to pre-recession levels. Maneuvering through the economic downturn and transitioning to sustainable growth presented an opportunity. With a laser-like focus on marketing the DuPont master brand,  leveraged its strategic investment to transition from short-term approaches to implement long-term strategies to build brand equity and grow selected markets. The steps taken differentiated the DuPont brand and created a ‘halo’ effect for more than 1,700 products in diverse markets worldwide. This has put DuPont on path for even greater growth in 2011 and beyond.

Heide Rowan
Global Brand Director, Corporate Marketing
DuPont

AND THE WINNER IS...– THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
Named after advertising legend David Ogilvy, The ARF David Ogilvy Awards for Excellence in Advertising Research annually celebrate his spirited advocacy of research in making good advertising better, recognizing the role of consumer research in creating successful advertising.

The ARF David Ogilvy Awards were inspired in 1993 when Coca-Cola sought the ARF's assistance in integrating research into their advertising development process. So successful were the process and results that even the creative agencies embraced it.

The U.S. Postal Service was recently awarded the Grand Ogilvy Award for its Priority Mail "If it fits, it ships" integrated advertising campaign. This presentation addresses the approach USPS used to ensure rigorous campaign development and execution. It will cover the multi-phase research program used to develop the overall communications strategy and the development from rough to finished forms, of the specific ads. USPS's approach to developing an integrated media plan along with a multi-channel response program will be discussed as well. In addition to winning the Grand Ogilvy Award, the Postal Service also won a silver EFFIE Award – USPS marketers are good!

Joyce Carrier
Manager, Advertising, Media Planning and Promotions
United States Postal Service 

Dave Lockwood
Group Solutions Planning Director
Campbell-Ewald

Greg Whiteman
Manager, Market Research 
United States Postal Service

HOW POLITICS IS IMPACTING AND TRANSFORMING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
The forces of change that were promised to transform Washington a year and a half ago continue to dictate events. The most significant modifications to the authority of the Federal Trade Commission in a generation were recently considered by Congress as part of the financial reform legislation but were not ultimately adopted. The Chairman of the FTC and two principal Congressional chairs are still pushing for their passage. Industry also is being pressured to develop a broad self-regulatory regime for privacy, both online and offline, under threat of regulatory action by the federal government. Meanwhile, with both federal and state budget deficits ballooning, there is always the possibility for a major advertising tax fight. This session will provide insight and key learnings into all of these events and more.

Dan Jaffe
Executive Vice President, Government Relations
ANA

THE JOURNEY TO SUSTAINABLE GROWTH THROUGH A BRAND TRANSFORMATION
As SEI entered the 21st century, it was faced with the issue of how to move from a modest-sized firm built on growth spurts to a much larger one able to generate substantial, sustainable growth and profits.

At the heart of this were three issues:

1. How to better position the SEI brand;
2. How to re-align its structure and core processes;
3. How to re-brand the company without destroying the entrepreneurial culture responsible for its success to date.

Ten years later, SEI has a clear focus on its role, a sharply changed business model and compelling strategies across all of its markets. Through this high-level session attendees will gain insight into the power of SEI’s re-branding effort and how market knowledge and innovation played a major part in SEI’s success.

Mark H. Samuels
Chief Marketing Officer
SEI