Nic will be discussing the impact digital and social media has had on the traditional Fairfax business and how they have adapted their culture and business model to best survive in a digital world. He will be discussing how Fairfax has embraced digital distribution and invested in mobile, tablets, online advertising, joint ventures and new areas of business.

Panellists:

• Lucinda Barlow, Head of Marketing, Google ANZ

• Stuart Spiteri, COO, News Digital Media

• Nicolas Chu, MD ANZ, Expedia

• John Ricco, Partner, PwC

With the proliferation of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, high-speed connectivity and the growth of online social networks, people now have the ability to access, create and share information and entertainment in real-time – anytime, anywhere. It’s a cultural shift that’s having a huge impact on the relationship between brands and consumers, with a growing number of firms looking at mobile and digital tools as a means of targeting specific offerings, products and services to the most relevant consumers in response to fast-rising customer expectations. But how do you make these changing expectations work for your business? And how do you effectively capture the value of the mobile, social economy?

Key takeaways
• Understand how your business can capture the value of the emerging mobile economy by investing in mobile solutions that deliver ROI and leverage disruptive consumer and technology trends
• Learn how organisations of all types can harness the power of social media to transform the way they respond to, interact with and shape the dialogue with their customers
• Improve the relevance of your offerings to key customer groups and individuals

The web has grown at breakneck speeds in recent years, and the way in which marketers need to approach it is ever-changing.  Digital intelligence is crucial to the success of your business – but how do you embrace this and ensure your organisation is collaborative in its approach? From optimisation to social media, this session, hosted by Webtrends' Mark Allison, will explore the latest landscape and consider how it is possible to revolutionise your online presence. 

You may not have noticed, but all across Facebook people are quietly whiling away the hours playing social games with friends, strangers and family, making new connections and entertaining themselves. In Australia, 4.5 million people take part in social games across Facebook every month. Dan Ferguson from Spiral Media will take you through this amazing entertainment phenomenon and show how brands across the globe and locally are generating success by using social games as a vehicle for brand & product messaging. Oh, and why using social games instead of other online channels means better results, happier customers and puts the FUN back in brand advertising. 

• Rob Bell, Founder and Managing Partner, XCOM Media

• Darren Sutton, Managing Partner, Strategy, XCOM Media

• Chris Chambers, Director of Digital Marketing, Tourism Queensland

When it comes to an overall digital strategy, email and social media are still often not key considerations for many marketers. And if they are in the mix, email and social media are often not thought about together.

In this session, we will look at how email and social media can best be integrated together as key digital activities and then go beyond that to explore the irrelevance of debating platforms and channels in today’s digital landscape. We will share our approach of conversation strategies as an evolution of content strategies, and explain our strategic focus on creating relevance and value for audiences and their connections.

XCOM client Tourism Queensland will also present their approach to email and social media, and how the integration of the two activities delivers both value to their audience and results for their business.

Key takeaways:

• Email and Social integration tactics

• Acquisition, engagement and retention strategies that deliver value to the audience and the brand

• Measures for success

The balance of power has shifted from Enterprise to the Customer. Frank and candid conversations about your brand, products, services and customers' experiences are occurring throughout the digital world. A new wave of digital natives are presenting themselves as both opportunity and challenge for the present and future success of your business. Are you able to participate in these digital conversations, anticipate and fulfill these customers' needs on their terms, while profitably growing your business?

TBC

Tablet computers and smartphones are making digital the new norm for media companies. Anywhere, anytime access to our favourite sports is becoming the rule, not the exception. See how ESPN is bringing Australian sports fans the best of international sport across more touch points than ever before. With the Australian launch of ESPN3 for iPAD, we are bringing our broadband sports network offering to a wider audience in the digital arena.

Key takeaways:

• Experience new digital sports solutions recently launched for the Australian market
• Talk with the team bringing these real world digital solutions to market
• Understand the challenges and opportunities these next media solutions create

In a world where consumer expectations are changing and technology is creating fundamental shifts in engagement with consumers, marketers can be distracted by the noise from what people tell them is important.

Darren’s presentation will outline that the more things change, the more they stay the same. He will show how Canon has maintained focus on what’s important to drive business results. The presentation will highlight how Canon has successfully incorporated the new world capabilities to drive consumer engagement and performance ahead on the market. This presentation will give attendees an approach on how to succeed in these challenging times through examining the success of the highly awarded Canon EOS brand work.

IBM’s recent 2011 CMO Study reveals the factors most impacting marketing today and found that customer collaboration and influence, device choices and social media all rank highest on the list of current priorities for CMOs. Yet few have evolved definitive strategies to deal with the transformative power of greater customer influence, and the simultaneous emergence of new technologies and tools for improved collaboration with consumers such as social networks and mobile devices. Drawing on findings from the study as well as his own experiences at one of the world’s largest organisations, Mark reveals how successful firms (including IBM) are adapting to this challenge – and why those who don’t are doomed to live, as the Chinese proverb says, in ‘interesting times’.

This keynote session will explore the trends that are driving the massive disruption and changes in the marketing profession right now. In an era where tablet devices and smartphones are the norm for consumers and the organisations they engage with, new landscapes of opportunity have opened up for marketers. Shifting communication patterns open the way for deeper, richer, engagement – anywhere and anytime – and are impacting every aspect of customer interaction, from brand building to customer service, from identifying new markets to driving repeat business. We’re working in a brave new world.
 
But are you really ready for the digital revolution? Join Adobe’s Mark Phibbs as he shares his experiences and learnings and takes a close look at the latest techniques and tools available to create, measure and monetize the content, delivery and engagement that will drive breakthrough for your organisation. 

Social media doesn't change the message; it just speeds the depth and breadth of the truth about your company to the rest of the world. Social media robs companies of the time needed to 'spin' the message. Hence, the very nature of successful companies is changing around the world. SEOmoz is the world's brand leader in search marketing campaign management. This case study in corporate culture development and management and it's impact on the brand community will leave you filled with actionable ideas on how to mold your own department/company to thrive in the new community-based marketing landscape.

Marketers want to know what's being said about their products and their brands. Getting the information is easy. The difficulty lies in understanding what is important and what is clutter. Whether you currently have a monitoring plan in place or if you're in the process of decided on a monitoring solution, the benefit will come from having a clear understanding of what you want to accomplish. In this session, Dan Whetzel is the Director of Global Intelligence Operations at Melbourne IT, DBS will provide insight to help marketers understand what needs to be considered to implement an effective monitoring plan to avoid the "drinking from a fire hose" of data uselessness. 

Marketers can take advantage of LinkedIn in many ways, from leveraging the power of LinkedIn Groups (which allow you to contact other group members directly, even if they are not yet part of your network), to demonstrating your expertise via LinkedIn Answers, to undertaking targeted promotions through your company page, to building and enhancing the credibility of your company through recommendations and association.

Last year was a year of experimentation with regards to online video – and 2012 is likely to see further major shifts as an increasing number of companies look to move from website text to video, from TV ads to online video ads and from expensive, time-consuming video production to automated, scalable, personalised, effective online videos. Nonetheless, challenges remain, not least around ROI, personalisation, optimising video for the user's specific platform, reaching mobile devices and turning online video ads into an effective tool for brand-lifting. So what approach do marketers need to take to make a success of their online video strategies?

Key takeaways:

• Learn how to take a more focused approach to measuring the effectiveness of online video, at the same time as using qualitative metrics such as view rates, completion rates, number of videos viewed per visit, stickiness of video viewers, etc., and quantitative measures such as conversion rates and how many videos were indexed in Google
• Understand the importance of optimisation, and how new solutions are changing user interfaces to make videos more accessible, more exposed to search bots, and optimised in order to reach long-tail keywords

There is a new breed of shopper emerging that is empowered, informed and connected. They require companies to embrace multiple channels and react to the changing psyche of consumers. They are on the move and they spend more than most. They are the multi-channel shoppers. Yet despite many retailers adding online, catalogue, TV and mobile channels to their offerings, recent research shows that millions are being lost because the cross-channel experience does not meet the high expectations of these demanding shoppers. So why are so many retailers getting it wrong? And how can they improve?

Key takeaways:
• Discover why smartphones and always-on connectivity are driving consumers towards expectations of a seamless channel experience
• Discuss where the blind spots can occur in terms of channel integration
• Learn how the best retailers are approaching a rapidly changing landscape and building presence across both traditional and non-conventional channels

Are you operating a social brand or a social business? As consumer activity and interaction through social media continues to expand, your business will need more than just an official Facebook and Twitter account to keep up. Ben Kimber and Chris Gross from Vodafone Hutchison Australia will outline the way the Vodafone brand has managed significant growth in customer interactions, and the approach they are taking to build an integrated and scalable model for a future of even greater social interaction.

Guests:

• Claire Diaz Ortiz, Twitter

• Lucinda Barlow, Google

• John Batistich, Westfield Group

In this live chat show-style session, Adam Burns – iStrategy MC and Editor-in-Chief of Meet The Boss TV – interviews Lucinda Barlow (Head of Marketing, Google), Claire Diaz Ortiz (Manager of Social Innovation, Twitter) and John Batistich (Marketing Director, Westfield) about today's most pressing social and digital issues, examining the secrets of their success and gets their thoughts on the key trends to emerge from Day 1 of the conference.

Panellists:

• Suzana Ristevski, CMO, GE Capital

• Chuck Prewitt, VP of Business Development, Weather Underground

• Gillian Muessig, President & Co-founder, SEOmoz

• Stephen Lord, GM of Client Services & Marketing, Next Digital

Traditionally, B2C marketers have been the first to realise the benefits of social media marketing. But a study earlier this year by B2B magazine confirmed that B2B marketers are embracing social media marketing on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter in particular, with LinkedIn cited as the most important social channel. But as more and more brands engage via an ever-growing number of social media sites, the question of how to match up relevant information with the right people will become vital for businesses to succeed. So how do you cut through the chatter and provide a relevant experience in a B2B environment?

Key takeaways:

• Understand why it is essential you provide people with information you know they are interested in – and why they will quickly be ‘turned off’ if you don’t

• Hear how the best B2B firms are engaging their customers

Panellists:

• David Odgers, Marketing Director ANZ, eBay

• Justin Roche, Director ecommerce, Visa

• Paul Greenberg, CEO & Co-founder, DealsDirect Group

• Justine Coombe, Contiigo

In any business, customer loyalty can be fleeting, elusive and (occasionally) non-existent as customers shop around for the best deals. But it’s vital to any business that depends on consumers to survive, and pivotal in determining which companies generate the most profits and achieve high performance. So how can brands implement an effective loyalty scheme that builds engagement, creates brand advocates and drives both new and repeat business? This panel discussion will highlight how best-in-class companies are doing exactly this – and what pitfalls to watch out for.

Key takeaways:

• Ensure your customer loyalty marketing programs are creative, innovative and engage the customer on their level – and learn how to avoid stagnant loyalty programs
• Discover the importance of being part of your customer’s social media ‘conversation’ as a tool to listen, clear up miscommunication and enhance your brand
• Utilise customer loyalty programs as an instant response to your brand and understand the metrics needed to measure brand affiliation and loyalty

Online ad spend is set to overtake TV by 2016 in the US – according to Forrester, advertisers will spend US77 billion dollars online, with search accounting for 44% of that total. The public’s continued shift to online fuels the growth of Google as it continues to strengthen its position as the largest media company in the world. Last year Google earned US29 billion dollars. Yet almost all this growth is based on marketers targeting just 10% of the clicks. SEO is about capturing the remaining 90% – but it’s about much more than just about traffic. It’s about getting unparalleled insight into the behaviour of your customers, so you can not only make better online decisions but also better marketing decisions – ones based on facts, not opinions.  

Key takeaways:

• Understand the core principles of SEO distilled from 10 years of implementation experience that have consistently delivered results

• Understand how to find out what your customers really want and how they articulate it using well-tested techniques

• Understand how to properly translate these insights into a compelling content strategy that can drive online, social media and broader marketing activities that attract and engage your customer

As one of the most technically advanced countries in the world, Australia is an ideal market for brands and advertisers to take mobile beyond the app and develop rich media mobile and targeted advertising campaigns. In this workshop, Doug Grinspan, global mobile sales director, SAY Media, will lead an interactive discussion on making mobile campaigns that are both practical and strategic by finding the balance necessary to create engaging mobile experiences for consumers.

Key takeaways:

• Optimizing mobile campaigns by balancing reach with rich media experiences

• Methods of engagement: which is more effective, invitation or invasion?

• Blending entertainment with utility to funnel interest into purchase intent

It has always been true that you can sell more to your customers by engaging them better. But given the explosion in social networking, smartphone technology and a host of alternative consumer touchpoints, customer engagement has become more important than ever. Forward thinking businesses know this, and are increasingly moving from a model based on purely transactional relationships to one based on building communities of committed fans. So how can you make best use of your customer data? How can you use the explosion of mobile and social media technologies within your integrated marketing strategy to segment and target customers and maximise engagement and conversion? Find out what visionary organisations are doing across the globe.

Key takeaways:

• Discover what moves consumers from conversation to conversion

• Explore data, trends and insights on evolving consumer behaviors and channel preferences

• Look at keys to building and enhancing your multichannel marketing strategy. How do you use social as a research, segmentation and targeting tool? What is the impact of engaging through social?

• Find out how much traffic your website attracts, and the level of traffic your website garners from social, search and email compared to your key competitors

Social media and online media are transforming our businesses and personal lives. A revolution is clearly taking place in regards to how we communicate and collaborate. At present, few organisations can claim mastery over the tools and techniques or fully understand how to maximise social and online media to achieve specific business goals. However, for those that can, the rewards are massive. This workshop will discuss how to monitor social media effectively. Learn how to listen to online conversations, analyse your current social media position and reputation, understand the types of opportunities created through online conversations and how your organization can respond (sales leads, customer service, PR, SEO, etc.) and build rich and productive online relationships using simple tools.

Key takeaways:

• Equip yourself as the go-to person for answers about your business and what’s happening in your sector

• Give yourself the tools to provide actionable social media intelligence

• Enable you to deliver insights throughout your business; social media shouldn’t be constrained to one department

• Give social data high value in your organisation and make you look awesome in the process

The explosion of mobile everything offers big opportunities. Marketers are waking up to the urgent need to complement their online presence with mobile optimised content to take advantage of the ever increasing number of businesses and consumers browsing, researching, socialising and making purchases and payments on-the-go.

• 20% of Australian internet searches are now from mobile devices

• Nearly 80% of businesses don't have mobile friendly websites

• Buy 2014 mobile internet will overtake desktop internet usage

Already the lines between sales channels has blurred as Australians research products and services on their phone while standing in a physical store.

In this master class, Simon van Wyk will give you the facts and figures of a rapidly mobile nation. He’ll talk through the issues of delivering optimised content across a confusingly fragmented landscape of devices and operating systems, and show you how you he helped CPA Australia take their award-winning magazine “In the Black” from a printed publication into a dynamic branded content environment for desktop and mobile consumption.

A brand is the most valuable economic asset a business can own. Brands drive choice, command premiums and engender loyalty. And while online branding is a way to get more exposure for your brand on all levels of the online marketing spectrum – especially search and social – building authority takes online branding to the next level by making each online presence authoritative, credible and trusted. But how do you build authority across customer touchpoints?

Key takeaways:

• Understand what the aim of your digital branding strategy is. Is it to increase revenue? To improve customer relationships? To enhance brand loyalty? How about all three? Get your expectations right from the outset

iPitch is an exciting session, new for 2012. Six participants have six minutes each to deliver a compelling presentation on a new technology, way of working or innovative idea to the entire delegation, using the most imaginative means possible – video, audio, technology, audience participation, props – after which they’ll be grilled by our panel of experts and take questions from the floor. The audience is then asked to vote for their favourite. 

TBC