The Business Marketing Association’s annual conference in Chicago is a great gauge of the health of the B2B market. Joel Harrison reports
In America at least, big is still beautiful. This was no better illustrated to me by the size of the skyscrapers in downtown Chicago, which was the location for the Business Marketing Association’s (BMA) annual conference (1–3 June); or indeed the size of the conference itself. With more than 650 attendees, it easily dwarfed any B2B-focused conferences in Europe, with an embarrassment of riches in terms of speakers, including numerous on-stage testimonials from CMOs, and a keynote from prolific author and business guru Seth Godin.
In truth, the comparative scale of the BMA conference should come as little surprise, given the size of the US, the sophistication of the BMA (it has more than 2500 members) and the fact it has been running regular meetings since World War Two.
Having said that, the achievement in convincing 650 busy marketers to spend three days in the cavernous ballrooms of Chicago’s Sheraton Hotel listening to pretty intense presentations cannot be understated. The content had to be top-notch to drive delegates from across the US to attend, and it duly delivered.
Time to break free
The theme and title of the BMA’s 2011 conference was ‘Unleash’, focusing on the restrictions marketers and brands are enduring in the current post-recession climate, and aimed at helping them break free in order to drive success.
Al Maag, national chairman at the BMA, comments, “This year’s theme was developed based on a recent BMA survey of members that revealed marketers are feeling stifled by the lack of money, confidence and time, as well as bureaucracy and complacency. The conference was successful in educating marketers on the tools they can use to foster creativity.”
The titles of all conference sessions were designed to align with the ‘unleash’ theme, which worked well in some instances but came across as rather forced in session titles. However, by providing a centralised message or theme, it did provide consistency and coherence across a very large and long event, which was certainly helpful.
Seth Godin’s presentation ‘Unleash your power’, was certainly the most eagerly anticipated and best attended of the whole event. Godin lived up to his reputation as an utterly compelling presenter, stalking the stage with real intensity, using real life examples mixed with his own blend of wit and insight to enrapture and inspire the audience.
Godin’s key message was marketers mustn’t be afraid to think different in order to succeed, and that it’s this kind of thinking that will drag the US economy out of the doldrums. In this respect, he echoed the opening conference keynote from Roy Spence, founder of GSD&M, but without the jingoistic overtones (for UK ears at least). The sense of marketing as a tool for the greater good of society generally seems to be absent on this side of the pond, and is a reflection of Americans’ generally more overt sense of national pride. While it may not be irrelevant in Europe, it’s hard to imagine it being discussed on a marketing conference platform.
Marketers show and tell
Given his stature and prestige, Godin was the obvious focal point for BMA Unleash, but his was just one of many excellent keynotes and breakouts through the three days. The breadth and diversity of presentations was impressive. These included not just leading-edge presentations from IT companies, but also inspiring and extremely candid testimonials, including those from engineering firm Siemens and power company Schneider Electric. This was proof that innovation and progressive thinking are alive and well across the numerous diverse sectors in B2B.
As well as the many CMOs speaking, there were also some more commercially focused sessions (perhaps presented by companies with a specific axe to grind). Presentations from Google and the Mobile Marketing Association both focused on the commercial potential of their respective platforms. While these sessions stood out because they were less objective than the testimonials from client-side marketers, the power and rapid evolution of Google’s various platforms and mobile means they made for compelling viewing for those wanting to keep up with the latest developments.
The topic of mobile marketing was also central to the panel discussion chaired by Rick Segal, worldwide president and chief practice officer at Gyro, who hosted a panel discussion entitled ‘Unleash the power of your workplace: breaking through the work and home life blur’. Unlike other presentations, Segal’s objective was to propose what is effectively new philosophy or understanding of B2B marketing. “It’s not just about mobile,” he says, “and it’s not just about business people being ‘always-on’. Telecoms have profoundly changed the influence of the individual. In the old days of B2B, it was always about ‘The Firm’. But over the last 18 years, there has been a sea change – now it is the individual [decision maker] who is the principal unit.”
Segal says emotion will play a much more important role in marketing in the future. “B2B is dead, but the best days of communicating with business decision makers are still ahead of us.”
The social scene
For a three-day event to be successful, the social dimension has to be effective, and this was a definite success of BMA Unleash, with a ‘networking cruise’ on Lake Michigan on the first night, and a charity fundraising party followed by CMO networking dinners on day two.
Additionally the American obsession with fitness was incorporated with a daily, hosted ‘fun run/walk’ along the Lake Michigan shoreline, between 6am-7am. This was another aspect of the event that I could not imagine being adopted by UK or European conference organisers; at least not for the foreseeable future.
My impressions of BMA Unleash were overwhelmingly positive – it was an excellently organised event packed with top quality content, coherently organised around a single compelling theme, and with a real social buzz around it. More importantly, I felt it demonstrated a genuine sense of leadership for the B2B marketing industry in the US, with the agenda being designed for client-side marketers, by client side marketers, aimed at helping brands and practitioners understand the important issues, and consequently to succeed. And it was this element that impressed me more than simply the scale of the event. Big may be beautiful, but when it comes to conferences it is quality that is critical.
