Students attend IAB MIXX Conference 2012

The IAB MIXX Conference took place at the Carlu in downtown Toronto last week and Humber students were once again invited to attend. The theme of the 2012 conference was Fighting for Attention: How Brands Win which focused on how brands are using new and interesting ways to make sure that they remain current and "front and centre" (http://www.mixxcanada.com/)

The conference featured some great speakers who are truly embracing the new ways that they can reach customers. These are companies that are not afraid to put the gloves on and fight to gain customer trust and loyalty.  This year's fearless speakers included:

• Bryan Johnston, CMO, The Ultimate Fighting Championship, ZUFFA (LLC) USA 
• Justin Kingsley, VP Strategy + Partner, Sid Lee (CAN)
• Sherrill Mane, SVP Industry, IAB US (USA) 
• Joan Fitzgerald, Vice President, TV and Cross-Media Solutions, comScore (USA)
• Mark Greenspan, Community Director, Next Media (CAN) 
• Tom Fotheringham, Director, Digital Solutions, OMD (CAN)
• Tara Walpert Levy, Global Director of YouTube Ads Marketing, Google (USA

While each speaker talked about the importance of the use of new technologies to reach potential and current customers one of the speakers that I found to be the most engaging  was Tara Walpert Levy of Google. Walpert Levy discussed the importance of video for reaching customers of today. In fact, according to Levy "90% of internet traffic next year will be video." (Levy, IAB MIXX 2012) 

During her presentation Levy told attendees that they have to make video work for them. They need to: 

• move hard to reach audiences
• act on new consumer insights 
• drive loyalty in an active community in an ongoing way

She gave the audience the perfect example, Justin Bieber. Bieber is the perfect example of making video and the internet work for you and ensuring that the web is what you make it. According to Levy, and I'm sure that Bieber's millions of fans would agree; Justin Bieber is "a master brand builder in today's digital age and he has built his brand almost entirely in digital." (Levy, IAB MIXX 2012)

Along with Walpert Levy, another highlight of the conference for many students was the presentations from Justin Kingsley and Bryan Johnston of Sid Lee and The Ultimate Fighting Championship.
It was interesting for students to learn that both UFC and Georges St. Pierre do not attract the audience that most precieve them to. In fact, "UFC attracts the second most affluent audience after the PGA and airs in more than 500 million households."(Johnston, IAB MIXX 2012).

Not only has UFC created a extensive world wide following but so has Georges St-Pierre by teaching his fans seven important lessons:

• Surround yourself with people better than you so you can become better
• What gets measured gets done
• Love the haters, fans will take care of them for you
• Give your fans something to do 
• Show your weaknesses 
• Be honest and generate more love and appreciation from your fans
• Turn struggle into an opportunity

Take a look at this video to see how Georges St- Pierre and Sid Lee have helped fans connect with Georges brand. 

-Rachel