Secrets shared at the DMA Conference

Yesterday’s DMA North Conference (in conjunction with the IDM) at the Lowry in Salford Quays provided me with lots of great food for thought. Over the next few days, I’m going to share my key learnings from the event. Here are today’s five which all fall under a community engagement theme:

1. TV has now become even more entrenched in social media, as evidenced by Aviva, whose ident campaign around Downton Abbey was instantly critiqued by customers and opinion formers via the social networks, and ITV who are driving greater customer engagement by driving customers to engage in discussion about live TV via their websites.
2. Every advertiser must have a mobile strategy. As 1 in 7 searches are on mobiles, if you don’t have a mobile strategy it’s like closing your business on a Thursday (original quote, Jason Spero, Google).
3. Mobile phones provide an opportunity for greater engagement and dwell time. The average app session is 4.3 minutes, compared to 1 minute for an average web session.
4. The key to differentiation according to Gregory Roekens is to stage experiences for your customers.
5. We must engage to be remembered. Long term memories are created when we have an emotional connection to an experience or visual, according to Lisa Tomlinson.

I’m off now to put some of this into practice! Thanks to the team at the DMA North, including our very own David Patrick, for a fascinating and insightful day.