Reliving the Disruption of the 2015 MIMA Summit

The 2015 MIMA Summit has come and gone but the event left a lasting impression on many. We laughed, we tweeted, we selified (with Oliver Luckett) and we disrupted! Whether your interests lie in content, mobile, design, paid and social, data or the digital mix, there was sure to be something for all 1,000+ attendees. The goal was disruption, and disrupt we did.

Here are the top 10 take-aways to help relive the disruption at the 2015 MIMA Summit!

1. Our Future is Promising and Scary. Let’s start where the summit ended. Amy Webb of Webb Media wrapped the day with a futuristic view of technology and digital trends. She carried us through a bit of a digital history and then shocked us with just how much data we are leaving behind and what people are planning to do with it. From predictive retail analytics to better customer service to social listening 2.0, Amy covered it all. She clearly is a great resource for trends of tomorrow and the good news is that her team is willing to keep us all up to speed.

2. Social and Biology Have a Lot in Common. Oliver Luckett from The Audience, opened the day with a science lesson. His comparison of social media and a living organism was spot on. Oliver discussed frictionless sharing and pollution ridding, presenting the idea that great content will take on human form and grow in size while the rest will be rid from existence. Oliver is set to release his new book November 2016, which will deliver more on how social media is growing, evolving and changing who we are.

3. You Can Change the World. Unexpectedly becoming an entrepreneur can help to change the world. Jessica Jackley, co-founder of Kiva, touched the hearts of many in the crowd. Early in life, Jessica changed the narrative about what’s possible for people in this world. And now with Kiva, she’s living the mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Her microlending nonprofit has generated over $700 million in loans. Jessica defines entrepreneurship as the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources and that great work starts with listening to people. Her book, Clay Water Brick details learnings from building businesses in the world’s poorest countries.

4. Be Authentic. Most companies don’t have a meaningful connection with their followers. Jay Ku, vice president of advertising sales and partnerships at TakePart, painted a picture of why followers follow and how brands can build meaningful relationships through socially impactful exchanges. Every great relationship starts with shared experiences, yet many brand’s social conversations are one-sided. As an organization, you need to first be able to execute in an authentic way that is true to your brand and then figure out a way to give more.

5. Quality Over Quantity. Content marketing goes far beyond simple sponsored posts, email blasts and microsites. Paul Sundue, executive director of Gawker’s internal agency, Studio@Gawker, delivered a compelling story about creating compelling stories. Paul says it’s simple: if you don’t want to read or watch it, your consumers are even less likely to want to. At the core of great content is real conversations, and brands can use these conversations to provide humor, learn from negative feedback, understand user experience and deliver as true subject matter experts. Create great and authentic content because quality eats quantity for lunch.

6. Disruption Defense: Establish a Culture of Preparedness. With the disruption of evolving digital tools, channels, and outlets comes the inevitable power that consumers have to disrupt you organization’s momentum and its reputation.   Three reasons reputation disruptions are happening more often to companies: attention/mindset of consumers (more focused on brands as personalities, and less focused on words – visual influence is rising), affordable devices and apps, and the ascendance of influential creators supplanting traditional media outlets. Social moves quickly and it’s often unpredictable. Make sure you have a strategy for reputation management.

7. Hold your Breath. Betty Crocker is not a Real Person! It was humorously revealed at the summit that Betty Rocker is not actually a real person who spends hours in her kitchen thinking up delicious recipes. She is, in fact, first lady of content marketing. Her stories and her brand go beyond what’s in the box. Regardless of whether Betty is a real person or just a brand, she knows her consumer. Seven out of ten consumers are cooking with a device and 1/3 of mobile recipe users access their recipes via an app. So, I guess the Betty Crocker app was a good idea!

8. The Freaky Future of Digital Marketing. The buzz word is no longer “Big Data”, that was soooo 2015 (or 2014, or 2013). At this year’s MIMA Summit, we got into the weeds of neuromarketing – where brain science and marketing meet. @Craigboy told us that “Marketing to the conscience mind only works 10% of the time”. So what does that mean for marketers? We need to get into the minds of our consumer. Media and advertising companies are turning to brain science to help deliver content consumer won’t forget. But does mining the brains of our consumers cross an ethical line? Well, if Mickey is doing it, then it’s probably okay!

9. Use Mad Lib to Steer Content Strategy. It is often hard to align your strategy with content, but what is sometimes even more difficult is deciding where to start. Mobile first? Content first? HOW ABOUT REASON FIRST. Lead with the reason when planning content and see the strategy through. Have fun while you strategize and use a simple Mad Libs to make sure the people working on content also understand the strategy. It looks something like this: The content we produce helps our company accomplish {goal]} and {goal} by providing {adjective} and {adjective} content that makes {audience description} feel {emotion or state of mind} or {emotion or state of mind} so they can {task} or {task}.

10. Get Your Visual On! Did you know that 50 percent of communication is visual and the brain processes images 60K times faster than text? Content is a huge buzz word for marketers right now, but what about the photo behind the content? Articles with images get 94% more views, so I guess we can go back to the old saying of “A picture is worth a thousand words.” (Fun fact: An early use of the exact phrase, “One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words”   appeared in an 1918 newspaper advertisement for theSan Antonio Light). Keep in mind that this year alone there will be more photos taken via phone than ever taken, so you’ll also need to get your digital on as well.

This list is only a few of the great ideas shared at the 2015 MIMA Summit. For more coverage and recaps check out What I Learned at MIMA 2015 and 2015 MIMA Summit – The Greatest Hits, or browse through #MIMASummit. And if you missed out on this years Summit make sure to grab your MIMA membership now so that you are first to know about our upcoming events.

Written by MIMA Committee Members Andrew Tewksbury and Lyndsey Danberry