At last year’s conference the topic of personalization was hot, but much of the attention was on how hard it is and how easily it can go terribly wrong. As @jeffcram tweeted during the analyst panel, “I think the analysts at #Gilbane just stuck a fork in Personalization. So, what’s the next shiny object?”. In cooler moments there was much agreement that when personalization is done right it can work well — the resource/risk/reward calculation can be difficult and will differ between applications and audiences. In any case, personalization is not going away even as, or if, tracking and data collection is moderated by the increased use of ad/content/javascript etc. blockers, so marketers need to dig in and keep up. Personalization will certainly be discussed in many conference sessions this year, but especially in those below.
C6. Personalization: The Advanced Crash Course
Digital teams are often frustrated with the difficulty of getting their personalization practice beyond adding a few targeted components in their digital ecosystem. This is partially because it seems that inroads to the more advanced aspects of the personalization practice have been closely held secrets. Many organizations have had to reinvent the wheel, for lack of access to best practices. In this panel presentation, we will address that gap directly, with three personalization experts discussing what they consider to be the most hard-won aspects of their practice. For digital teams trying to enhance their game, this session will give unusual visibility into the challenges — and successes — of running more serious personalization programs within their organizations. Attendees of this session will receive an overview of topics for the “advanced course” in personalization and to get inspiration to move personalization activities forward.
Thursday, December, 3: 11:40 a.m. – 12:40 p.m.
Moderator: John Berndt, CEO, TBG (The Berndt Group)
Speakers:
Amanda Shiga, Vice President, Digital, Nonlinear Creations
Dave Ingram, Product Manager, Acquia
T2. Brain Science for Marketing to Digital Brains
In the battle for attention and engagement marketers need all the help they can get. Personalization is where the biggest hope lies but getting it to work is problematic, mainly because of the difficulty piecing together and making sense of the various customer data sources. This can be especially off-putting with real-time programmatic ads. Understanding a customer’s state of mind and emotions in real-time can help avoid or recover from a negative experience. There is already commercial technology that provides emotional state information using facial recognition software (Affectiva, for example), and marketers are already using it in campaigns.
Our brains are also changing to better adapt to the over-stimulating digital world we live in. Will our brains learn to fight back? Send fake emotional signals to discourage ads? Brain science is progressing rapidly and for better or worse, marketers should understand what’s possible, what might be soon, and what your peers are already doing. This session will get you started, and should be fun.
Wednesday, December, 2: 2:40 p.m. – 3:50 p.m.
Moderator: Barb Mosher Zinck, Content & Product Marketer, MarTech Analyst, Publisher, BMZ Content Strategies / Digital Tech Diary
Speakers:
Kevin Lindsay, Director of Product Marketing, Adobe Target, Adobe
How Decision Science Guides Digital Marketing
Jesse Kalfel, Senior Director, Creative Services and Consulting, SAP Global Marketing, SAP
Are Customers ADD? Blame it on the Digital Brain
Workshop A. Developing a Personalization Strategy: One Size Doesn’t Fit All
In this workshop, we will discuss the thinking necessary to build a strong personalization strategy for any organization. Illuminating a range of different types of strategy and effective scenarios for different organization types, we will pull back the details to understand the commonalities, decision paths, and frameworks for organizing these strategies.
The session will also ground the discussion in some operational complexity associated with personalization strategy, including:
- Assessing existing user behavior as a prerequisite of personalization strategy
- Audience segmentation and CRM
- The interaction between personalization strategy and UX planning
For attendees, the workshop will provide both an overview of this complex subject, and the chance to discuss their own challenges and align them with strategies that can work.
Tuesday, December, 1: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Instructor: John Berndt, CEO, TBG (The Berndt Group)
Subscribers save $200 on conference registration – use priority code 200BB
