Day one in the Big Apple

16 Oct 2012 13:23:00

NEW YORK CITY: We ate a delicious dinner at the oldest (former) synagogue in New York, now an art gallery and event space - organised by Ogilvy, who had hosted us earlier that day for a presentation - as part of the 2012 AdForum Worldwide Summit.

Ogilvy focused on their digital expertise worldwide, illustrating their positioning as a network for the digital age. They have 5 000 people within the worldwide network who are digital specialists.

“Analytics is the new DNA” commented Carla Hendra, worldwide chairman of Ogilvy RED – the strategic arm of the agency.

Moving to Publicis later in the morning, we learned more about their ongoing transformational work within its network – which leads to continuous reinvention and innovation - and I particularly noticed how they are building their presence in Africa and the Middle East.

'Branded Content and Entertainment' was the theme for the afternoon. We enjoyed a panel discussion led by David Lang, of Mindshare Entertainment, who informed us that 63% of marketers intend to use branded content and entertainment as part of their strategies in 2012, according to a recent survey by the ANA.

We met three agencies in the content space – Uncle Lefty, Big Fuel and NSG/SWAT – the latter being more of a conventional marketing services agency in fact.

Outtakes from the afternoon were “Without scale, social media is just a hobby,” from Avi Saver of Big Fuel, a social media and content agency.

Some interesting case studies were presented during the day, proving that ROI is becoming more and more important to clients.

Day 2 ahead – and another packed lineup with Wunderman and Proximity this morning and an afternoon of media with the Group M agencies. Dinner with The House this evening.