Digital marketers from Cincinnati and across the country spent last Thursday and Friday at the Millennium Hotel and surrounding bars and art galleries expanding their knowledge on the rapidly growing digital space, including trends, social media, branding, website development and digital innovation.
The uber tweet up known as the
Digital Non-Conference was organized for the third year in a row by the Digital Hub Initiative after being launched in 2007 as an AdClub Cincinnati luncheon panel discussion among advertising, marketing, branding and design professionals. The goal of the DHI is to focus on the region's potential as an international hub in the digital space.
The non-conference encourages marketers to feel inspired in their creative elements, including a set up of pods of casual and modern plastic white and clear lounge furniture that appeared straight out of the Design Within Reach catalog.
The digital platform of performers included a panel with Ugly Betty's America Ferrera who is producing the first bi-lingual telenovela with MTV that will allow viewers to interact with the outcome of the show called "Perdo and Maria."
iPads and MacBook Pros were propped on numerous laps across the room as attendees from the majority of interactive and advertising agencies in the city absorbed information regarding the importance of managing brands online and keeping content fresh, relevant and compelling.
Jim Price, vice president of
Empower MediaMarketing drove home the point that click-throughs are not connections.
"Getting someone to your site doesn't measure your connections. People do not go online to see ads. You have to create dynamic ads by understanding as much as we can about the user," said Price. He explained that as important as it is to get them there, it's equally important to keep them around with rich content. "It's like getting all your friends to come to a party and then you run out of beer in five minutes."
This point was apparent across the board in presentations at the non-conference including relevancy of websites, the role of influence in sharing viral content and the evolution of basic campaigns exploding when they hit the digital space.
Other dynamic speakers included Tim Westergren, founder of
Pandora online radio. Dealing with building the music website and learning the digital space and legalities, Westergren said he maxed out three credit cards and had amassed a quarter million dollars in personal debt in 2003. But by creating a product that listened to its consumers and continuing to play ball in the digital space, the company now represents sixty percent of online music, showing that the proper mix of passion, gumption and the right technology can take any idea and become a player in the digital world.
The digital experts who presented and were present at the digital non-conference represent a diverse spread of the talent in Cincinnati and the growing demands of brands to engage and move forward with new technology as it evolves. As the non-conference continues to grow more each year, the digital hub of Cincinnati will truly make its mark on the media map.
Writer: Rene Brunelle
Source: Digital Non-Conference, September 23-24
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