The marketing world is changing faster than most agencies’ ability to adapt. Conventional agencies trapped in conventional marketing models are no longer producing the same results for their clients. Forward-thinking agencies are breaking the rules of the past and virtually reinventing the way brands are marketed.

Agency professionals have an opportunity to lead the way for their clients by developing non-traditional solutions to traditional problems. It starts with the realization that the brand is no longer about perception, but experience. It’s no longer about exposure, but engagement. And it’s not just what the message says, but how and where it’s delivered.

Engagement: New Ways To Connect Brands With Consumers explores tools and approaches to help you develop complete new solutions to client problems. We’ll look at the problem from 360 degrees to understand:

• How to identify and prioritize the most important points of contact with the brand.
• How to chart the “customer journey” as a starting point for non-traditional solutions.
• How to change your process to develop online solutions ahead of offline.
• How to bring more value to client relationships through the discipline of analytics.
• How to start applying the discipline of mass customization.
• How to apply relevance not only to creative messaging but to media selection as well.
• How to replace the traditional creative brief with a better way to plan brand strategy.

The way to answer these challenges is to reinvent the way your agency approaches brand assignments. Agencies that are leading the way consider mass media solutions last instead of first. The develop channel plans instead of media plans. And they maximize existing brand touch points before creating new ones. 

We’ll also look at how to:

• Help clients build brand relationships, not just brand transactions.
• Work with consumer-generated content instead of working against it.
• Help your clients through the entire sales cycle, not just the pre-sale.
• Invite the consumer into the brand conversation.
• Start designing for the third screen.
• Realize the below the line is the new above the line.
• Become as expert at narrowcasting as you are at broadcasting.
• Make analytics a core competency.
• Learn how to build brands without advertising.

The way brands are built now is to focus on how consumers come in contact with the brand, not just how they come in contact with the advertising. It’s to focus on brand response, not ad response. And it’s to devote creativity to where and when messages are delivered, not just what they say. Ultimately, this seminar will help you not only craft an innovative brand promise, but deliver it. 

Marketing communications professionals at all levels and from all disciplines can benefit from the content in this seminar. We’ll intentionally blur the lines between agency disciplines and discuss multi-dimensional, cross-functional solutions and ideas.

For information on how Ignition can present a custom seminar, please contact Emily Hicks at ehicks@ignitiongroup.com or 801.582.7297.

Ignition uses Webex to host online workshops. For information on how to schedule an online workshop, please contact Emily Hicks at ehicks@ignitiongroup.com or 801.582.7297.

The instructor is Tim Williams, founder of Ignition, a leading consultancy devoted to helping marketing communications firms create and capture more value.

In his role as author, teacher, and consultant, Tim works with marketing organizations throughout the U.S. and abroad. He is a speaker and workshop leader for organizations such as the American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation, Association of National Advertisers, American Marketing Association, CBS Television, National Public Radio, The One Club, numerous agency networks, and individual agencies ranging from large multinationals to small independents.

Tim is the former president of R&R Partners (creators of the “What happens here stays here” campaign for Las Vegas), and has was founder of his own firm, now known as Richter 7. During his experience at agencies like Ogilvy & Mather in New York and elsewhere, Tim was responsible for such brands as COMPAQ, CBS Television, Jeep, IBM, and American Express.

As a recognized thought leader in the advertising and marketing business, Tim contributes to leading trade and business magazines including Advertising Age, Adweek, Communication Arts, Admap, Marketing News, and The Advertiser. 

He is author of the book “Take a Stand for Your Brand: Building a Great Agency Brand from the Inside Out”, recognized as the standard for agency brand development.