Digital Marketing World Forum #DMWF head Matt Hunt shares more on digital marketing event DMWF Expo North America
Social Media Portal (SMP): What is your name and what do you do there for DMWF Expo North America?Matt Hunt (MH): I?m Matt Hunt, head of marketing at #DMWF. Alongside our head of strategic partnerships; Maddy Slack I oversee the direction and positioning of the event in the marketplace. I am primarily responsible for expanding reach of the conference and expo series and encouraging the global marketing community to join us at our events in New York, London and Amsterdam.
I work closely with our conference team and global advisory boards to design and shape an attractive agenda of which high-profile digital disruptors are keen to be a part of to share their case studies and experiences.
SMP: Briefly, tell us about DMWF Expo North America
MH: #DMWF (Digital Marketing World Forum) was conceived nine years ago as Social Media World Forum (#SMWF) by Ian Johnson, MD at Six Degrees at a time when social media was a breakthrough tool for marketers who saw the vast potential opportunity and challenges that this new platform could provide.
Fast-forward to 2015 and the industry had shifted, marketers widely embraced a social media strategy as part of an overall digital strategy; rather than a separate arm as before which led to #SMWF transforming into
#DMWF; an event which explores the entire digital marketing industry including; social media, content marketing, mobile advertising, ecommerce, influencer marketing, data, analytics and more recently virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence.
SMP: How long has the event been running and what makes great?Stretching back to 2008 as #SMWF we?re now in our ninth year and steadily approaching our tenth Anniversary London event in 2018.
The #DMWF conference and expo series provides top-level content from some of the world?s leading brands and agencies; in the past nine years we?ve had industry experts join us at our events who are truly revolutionising the digital marketing arena ? take Silvia Pereira Demétrio from PepsiCo who joined us in
Amsterdam this year. In her role at PepsiCo she has been developing a Virtual Reality campaign for the Doritos brand which not only used a developing technology, but aligned with influencers and explored how VR is changing the landscape for advertisers around the world.
We?re thrilled at #DMWF to provide a platform for marketers to share their achievements and challenges but also take it a step further to provide actionable tips, takeaways and advice to all of our attendees.
SMP: When and where is the event to be held (and why did you choose New York)?MH: #DMWF Conference & Expo North America is set to take place in Javits Center, New York on 7-8 November 2017.
New York is internationally respected as a hub of breakthrough digital marketing activities from the world?s leading brands and agencies ? how could we not choose New York as a top location to bring #DMWF?!
SMP: Who are your target audience and why?MH: #DMWF attracts an audience made up of 90% marketing manager level and above. Our agendas are designed to provide an in-depth look at the digital marketing arena with our #DMWF Conference & Expo North America event featuring three conference tracks exploring;
The agendas are designed with our advisory board to ensure the content-level is that of which marketing managers and senior marketers can not only get involved with during Q&As and panel discussions, but also take actionable advice away from case studies and implement within their own organisations.
SMP: What should delegates expect and hope to take away?MH: Delegates should expect to hear how the latest digital marketing technologies and the industry shift towards engaging, ephemeral and video content are changing the marketing activities of leading brands including and expect to take away tips, tricks, ideas and experiences to allow them to take their own marketing activities to the next level.
SMP: What exciting keynotes and guest speakers do you have and what are you most looking forward to?MH: We?ve most recently confirmed Ben Blakesley, Global Social Media Team Lead at Reebok who will be sharing how he is revolutionising social content at Reebok and creating truly memorable experiences to stand out from the crowd!
The speaker line-up is growing daily ?
visit the website to see the latest list of confirmed speakers.
SMP How can stakeholders (advertisers, exhibitors, guest speakers, sponsors et al) get involved?MH: Maddy our head of strategic partnerships will be able to find the perfect solution or build a bespoke package for any potential exhibitors or sponsors that would like to join us at #DMWF Conference & Expo North America and meet over 1,500 global digital marketing professionals.
To find out a little more
visit the site or contact Maddy directly on maddy[at]sixdegs.com
SMP: What are the challenges that you?ve encountered and how are you overcoming them in what you have been doing so far at DMWF Expo North America?
MH: At #DMWF we see challenges as areas of huge opportunity; and our biggest that we experience year-on-year is the pace of which the digital marketing industry changes.
This year we?ve heard much more about the impact of new technologies including virtual reality, artificial intelligence and augmented reality. It?s important as a conference at the forefront to showcase these trials, case studies and experiments within our agendas to allow all of us to imagine and experience how these technologies are going to revolutionise the industry as we know it but also provide great examples of digital marketing staples and why these are still so important.
SMP: What are the high moments of what you have been doing so far?MH: The high moments are without a doubt delivering successful events after months of development and planning, identifying areas of opportunity and growth and expanding the event to include these features and areas. It?s great to see these materialise and in turn receive the positive feedback from our speakers, sponsors and attendees.
SMP: What do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities for the digital marketing sector and why?
MH: I?ve mentioned it many times in the above but new technologies including virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence are going to have a huge impact on the industry ? global organisations including Apple have started to showcase their augmented reality efforts and as we start to see these combine with a range of business types; the true possibilities of these technologies will only just start to be realised.
This opens a huge area of opportunity for marketers ? especially product marketers. How we embrace and adapt our efforts to these new methods of interactivity in the future will shape our businesses going forward.
SMP: What do you think is going to be the most interesting aspect regarding digital marketing for the next 12 to 18-months and why?MH: I?ve highlighted above the PepsiCo/Doritos activity surrounding virtual reality and I think virtual and augmented reality will be the most interesting aspect of digital marketing in the next 12-18 months.
For example,
IKEA has revealed that they are working with new augmented reality features in Apple?s iOS 11 update to create an ?IKEA AR? experience which virtually places IKEA furniture in your own home, allowing you to imagine what it will look like before purchasing ? and this is just the beginning! The potential of these technologies is only just starting to materialise, it will be interesting to see how brands and agencies work with these for new and exciting user experiences.
SMP: What are your top five predictions for digital marketing for the next 12 to 18-months and why?MH replies with:
- Augmented reality (AR) will start to become mainstream with the release of Apple?s iOS 11
- Virtual reality (VR) will continue to be a source of interest and excitement to marketers although the platform still raises questions about interactivity and audience reach
- Content will still be king
- Ephemeral content will continue to rise with Instagram outpacing Snapchat with Generation Z
- Marketers in the US will begin looking more closely at ways of engaging the 35+ age group on Facebook and Twitter as these platforms begin to reach a 50% audience balance to users of that target age.
SMP: What are your top overall five tips for digital marketing and why?MH replies with:
- Join us at #DMWF Conference & Expo North America to discover what you could be doing to enhance your campaigns!
- Provide great content to keep your users engaged
- Ensure your website is responsive ? mobile and tablet users are ever increasing and they need a great online experience too
- Personalise your marketing activities
- Spend a little time enhancing your on-site SEO and reap the organic search benefits
SMP: Is there anything else we should know, or is there anything that you?d like to share?
MH: SMP readers can receive a 20% discount on tickets to #DMWF Conference & Expo North America using discount code: SMP20
SMP: Best way to contact you and DMWF Expo North America?MH replies with:
Email enquiries[at]sixdegs.com.
Phone +44(0) 117 973 2353.
Visit the website for more information.
To get a feeling for what to expect, watch the
#DMWF Amsterdam video highlights.
Now some questions for fun
SMP: What did you have for breakfast / lunch?MH: It?s still morning here and so far I?ve just had an iced coffee!
SMP: What?s the last good thing that you did for someone?MH: I don?t really give these things a second thought, but being forced to think about it ? I held the door open for a person at the coffee shop.
SMP: If you weren?t working on DMWF Expo North America what would you be doing?MH: In a time gone by I was a flight attendant for a major long haul British airline ? I?d probably still be doing that (though with matches keeping my eyes open due to the jet lag!)
SMP: When / where did you go on your last holiday and why?MH: I went to Mallorca for a week in the sun!
SMP: What?s the first thing you do when you get into the office of a morning?MH: Like most of my colleagues; I come in, switch on my laptop and go make a coffee.
SMP: If you had a superpower what would it be and why?MH: I?d love the ability to teleport ? it would be useful to dash from place to place in a short amount of time, especially when working on a New York event, but being based in the UK!
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