Schedule

Workshop A: Smashing Silos - How to Change the Marketing vs. Creative Mentality
Jamie Henretta, Creative Manager for Lowe’s Company Inc., and Nathan Pieratt, Creative Director for Impel
Media Innovation Center Forum

The 'Us vs Them' mentality between marketing and creatives has become a serious business problem. Strategy is being developed without synergy between the teams, and creative concepts are being compromised. Campaigns are at serious risk of not meeting business goals. The best work is being sabotaged by preferences, poor processes, and a lack of trust.

Today's marketing mix will not tolerate this mentality. Now more than ever marketers are expected to create dynamic content in support of integrated marketing campaigns. Success requires strong leadership and healthy relationships between teams. It is a non-negotiable. Of course, this is easier said than done.

Creative Directors, Jamie Henretta (Lowe's, Dickey’s Barbecue - WVU IMC Class of 2016) and Nathan Pieratt (The Marketing Arm, Epsilon,Impel.io - WVU IMC class of 2013), breakdown this battle royale and provide best practices on how to smash silos and disrupt the disconnect between marketing and creative teams.

Takeaways:

• How to identify the stress points between teams
• How to influence creative synergy between teams
• Tips for breaking down silos
• Team building techniques vs forced fun
• How to leverage performance data for ideation/inspiration

Workshop B: CliftonStrengths® at Integrate
Whitney Godwin
Evansdale Crossing Room 414

In this session, you'll learn your top five strengths and how to apply them in communication and leadership. Strengths are what you're naturally good at. Based in positive psychology research, they give language to how we show up for ourselves and others. Graduates who align their work with their interests, values and strengths are 3x more likely to experience high purpose in their work. Graduates with high purpose in their work are 10x more likely to have high overall wellbeing. Join us to learn more about how to invest in your strengths and apply them in leadership.

Registration will be required and will open April 7.

People hate marketing – so much so that millions of them even pay to block and avoid the very messages that marketers are targeting to them. The solution is to quit creating ads and give people what they crave: experiences. Learn the inside secrets of leaders in the experience economy and discover how you can create brand experiences that grab attention, create memories and inspire action.

Takeaways:

• People are rejecting traditional marketing and forced communications in growing numbers, creating an existential dilemma for marketers.
• Today’s consumers prioritize experiences over things, and this desire for experiences presents an opportunity for brands to connect with people in meaningful new ways.
• Experience-based attractions have learned the ways to create powerful connections with their guests and marketers can apply these same techniques to shift from unwanted advertising to creating memorable brand experiences.

Hear inspiring, emotional and comical tales firsthand as Stephen takes you from his days touring the world with rockstars, to building websites from a laptop on tour buses, to becoming a developer running a software team in India, and on to becoming the Chief Digital Officer for a DC-based integrated marketing agency. You will learn what it really means to live according to the mantra, “don’t think, just do.” You will experience the intersection of family, entrepreneurship, technology, public service, and volunteerism while coming to understand how creative problem solving, multi-tasking, and unwavering tenacity are the keys to forging your own path and creating your own destiny.

Takeaways:

• Gain a new understanding of how seemingly disparate life experiences can come full circle to accentuate and enhance later endeavors, both personal and professional.
• Learn how to identify risk, navigate failure and set goals in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
• Learn how to quickly assimilate and leverage (or jettison) new technologies to keep creating efficiencies and successes.
• Learn Stephen’s #1 secret for enhancing both your creativity and your productivity.

Breakout Session 1A: Branding for Beginners: How to Sell the Value of Branding Internally
Neal Stewart, Marketing Director at Holland Construction Services
Mineral Resources Building

Accountants, Salespeople, Engineers, HR - they all have one thing in common: they all think they are Marketers, and very few really know anything about it. Watching Super Bowl ads or knowing what brands your kids follow on TikTok doesn't qualify you as a "marketing expert."

In this presentation, I will help IMC professionals overcome the perception that the marketing department is "the people who draw pretty pictures" and instead re-define your team as strategic leaders and a resource whose communication and critical thinking abilities can be leveraged across many functions.

I will help IMC pros change the perception of Marketing and IMC with a "train the trainer" approach that will allow them to increase their influence within their organization by educating non-Marketing people on the fundamentals and benefits of sound Branding and Marketing strategies.

Takeaways:

• Learn how to be an internal "Professor of Marketing" to influence internal stakeholders so Branding and Marketing is a bigger priority in your company.
• Learn how to collaborate with a cross-functional team to create a Marketing Roadmap which will result in more alignment with Marketing objectives.
• Learn how to earn a seat at the Strategic Planning table.

Breakout Session 1B: Brand Yourself: 4 Steps to Building an Authentic Personal Brand
Amy Teller, Online Adjunct Instructor at WVU
Media Innovation Center Forum

Why should you brand yourself? Because if you do not actively define your brand, others will define it for you. Personal branding gives you the tools to reframe the narrative surrounding your brand image and to manage how that brand is perceived.

Building an authentic personal brand empowers you on a personal and professional level.

• It allows you to unpack your core competencies and how your unique skillsets can offer value to others.
• It helps you to focus your efforts and actions in a way that steers the direction of your career goals.
• It differentiates you and allows you to position yourself strategically in the workplace.

When your brand is well-considered, it attracts the right opportunities and experiences for you.

This presentation will provide the concrete tools and resources you need to cultivate your brand, create a professional online presence, and communicate your personal brand promise on- and off-line.

Takeaways:

• Authenticity is essential. People can see inauthenticity from a mile away. Be transparent and genuine to build trust and credibility
• Consistency is key. Know your brand and communicate a clear and consistent brand message throughout all your interactions.
• Make meaningful connections with others. Your personal network is your greatest asset and your greatest resource.

Breakout Session 1C: The Metrics that Matter Most: An Audience-First Approach to Measuring Brand Awareness
Katlin Swisher, Senior Strategist at Campus Sonar
Evansdale Crossing Room 414

We’re measuring social media wrong. Rather than just relying on traditional social media monitoring, social listening helps you understand what your audiences are really saying online. Vanity metrics like followers, engagements, and impressions only offer a limited view of the online conversation and are driven by what data is provided to you by the content sources you monitor. Social listening offers a deeper understanding of your brand than basic monitoring—it assesses your conversation whether you’re tagged or not. It helps you move away from conforming to platform demands. This session will show you how by examining the most critical metrics for brand health: conversation volume, earned conversation, and authors.

Social listening is focused just as much on earned conversation as owned content—what you publish. It is an audience-first approach, giving you an authentic and unfiltered view into your audience’s questions, opinions, celebrations, anxieties, and fears. Using higher education as a lens with industry-wide data from Campus Sonar, this session will demonstrate how social listening is more than just capturing data. It provides a framework for measuring and analyzing your conversation. Then, you can use those insights to inform your strategy and identify opportunities to take action like assessing how social media helps or hurts your brand, impacts enrollment, or secures alumni donations—elements of your purpose and mission.

Takeaways:

• Understand the differences between social media monitoring vs. social listening
• Identify the most effective metrics for evaluating your online conversation
• Explore best practices for measuring brand awareness long term to support your goals and make data-informed decisions

Lunch Keynote Speaker: Why Bad Content is Hurting the Environment (and How You Can Help Stop It)
Fiona Green, Head of Brand Content at Amazon Ads
Media Innovation Center Forum

A 2022 study found that a typical online ad campaign emits about 5.4 tons of carbon dioxide, about one third of what a U.S. consumer generates every year. Today, the Internet represents almost 4% of global emissions, and is on track to double by 2025. Digital advertising is a big culprit contributing to “digital litter,” but it doesn’t have to be that way. One way content marketers can reduce their content carbon footprint is by following the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. In this session, I’ll share actionable tips to create a more sustainable content marketing strategy to deliver even better content for your customers and drive measurable business results your leadership will care about.

Takeaways:

• How to reframe the cost of content to inspire your leadership to focus on quality over quantity
• Why you should be reusing high performing content and how you can scale it to new channels to reach a wider audience
• How to recycle content into new formats to help increase customer engagement
• Why creating relevant content is even more important to get the right message, to the right customer, at the right time
• When to take smart risks, and a helpful mental model for deciding what risks to take
• Which KPIs you should care about (and which to ditch)

Breakout Session 2A: Give Employees Something to Talk About: Building Your Social Media Numbers Through Staff Engagement
Nicole Hagy, Community Outreach and Grants Coordinator for Akron Municipal Court
Mineral Resources Building

By using social media in the workplace correctly, staff members can become influential brand advocates.

In this fun and engaging session, attendees will learn ways to build trust with both new and tenured employees which will lead to incredible results!

Participants will discover the best ways to create content that humanizes their colleagues, celebrates personal and professional achievements and best of all - gives employees something to talk about!

Takeaways:

• Identify positive ways to engage staff on the organization’s social media pages.
• Develop a trusting relationship with staff to ensure no staff member will be exploited on the organization’s social media pages.
• Determine the best ways to incentivize staff members for engaging on the organization’s social media pages.

Breakout Session 2B: Tribalism in the 21st Century
Helena Angell, Professor of the Practice at Wake Forest University
Media Innovation Center Forum

In the age of The Internet of Things, humanity has the opportunity to meet in safe space and share solutions to international issues, as evidenced by the Covid-19 vaccine development, where scientists around the world worked together. A bright moment in time!

The larger reality is that digital platforms develop, perhaps encourage, vast tribalism, where people separate into an “us versus them” mentality, increasing divisiveness and a lack of understanding.

Interestingly, Marshall McLuhan, a 1950s media guru, predicted that people would tribalize and divide in this “global village,” despite every opportunity to do otherwise.

Where does this lead us? What solutions present themselves? How can we redirect interactions to establish more understanding, acceptance, and sensible leadership? Especially in the digital realm?

This workshop is designed to provide a fresh, meaningful, and self-examining moment on how to build community and increase acceptance and understanding of diversity within our digital platforms.

Takeaways:

• A more robust understanding of humanity’s penchant towards tribalism and how to identify sensible communication methods to address this behavior
• Leadership best practices in our digitized world, incorporating inclusivity and understanding of diversity
• Recognition of one’s own tribal affiliations and engagements and the meanings these connections convey.

Breakout Session 2C: The eComm Evolution of Nonprofit Marketing: The Journey of Building a Brand with Scarce Resources
Adelyn Nottingham, Chief Executive Officer, Nottingham Marketing
Evansdale Crossing Room 414

This session concentrates on economically challenged communication plans for nonprofits and small organizations in the modern age. This session will provide my personal insight through my journey as marketing and communications professional working with scarce budgets in a rapidly evolving digital world.

Takeaways:

Participants will learn about the different marketing and communication tools/resources that can be utilized for little to cost to help maximize revenue for small organizations and nonprofits. Participants will also learn how to effectively build a network within their local communities that will help take both their organization and profession to the next level.

Breakout Session 2D: Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement
Megan Canavan, Senior Consultant at ERM
Evansdale Crossing Room 412

The presentation will walk through the recommended approach to stakeholder engagement through a comprehensive strategic communications and community engagement plan. I will discuss the various components, including research, strategic planning, stakeholder engagement strategies and tactics, and risk mitigation.

Takeaways:

At the conclusion of the presentation, guests will have a better understanding of what it means to "meaningfully" engage with communities, how to implement risk mitigation into their project efforts, and new and innovative ways to spark and encourage two-way dialogue with residents.

Breakout Session 3A: Clients Gonna Client
Justin Hoot, Partner at Someoddpilot
Mineral Resources Building

This is a presentation on client services within the creative/advertising industry.

While it may not seem as glamorous as creative, copywriting, art direction or production, I argue that a good client services team is not only necessary for the growth and retention of the business, but can contribute to creative work in a myriad of positive ways.

Modern problems take modern solutions. Client services is no different. Gone, should be the days of silo’d teams across account and creative and the destructive energy of line drawing amongst teams. After all, the real battle is the work.

I’ll share strategies for closing the gap between internal teams, blueprint the experience that clients are looking for from modern agencies, and offer advice on building client relationships based on mutual trust, interest, fairness, and profitability.

My presentation will also be peppered with real life experiences (some terrifying), anecdotes (many hilarious), and examples from my 15 year career in music, entertainment, and creative services.

This is an area of the industry that I’m extraordinarily passionate about that I don’t think gets the attention, admiration, or praise that it deserves.

Takeaways:

• A fresh take and definition of what client service means
• A blueprint for creating a top notch client experience
• A roadmap for better client relationships (trust, interest, fairness, and profitability)

Breakout Session 3B: Coming Soon!

Breakout Session 3C: The Fascinating World of OTT and Programmatic Media Buying: Everything IMC Marketers Need to Know
Shane Stender, Senior Vice President and Managing Partner at SilverBack Advertising
Evansdale Crossing Room 414

Do you start your day reading the news online with coffee? Tuning into a podcast on your commute? Coming home and streaming your favorite show or live sports event?

The open internet powers consumers daily rituals and for marketers, the ability to buy media through programmatic trade desks allows marketers to solve for identity challenges, audience challenges, cross device attribution, tactical allocation, and creative performance. In this session, we’ll deep dive into what is this ecosystem of programmatic and how marketers can best utilize it to achieve results.

What we'll cover:

• What is programmatic media buying, What makes programmatic media buying special and what are trading desks
• How programmatic media opens the door for online and offline attribution to streaming video content, including connectedTV.
• Techniques advanced marketers are using in their programmatic media campaigns
• How programmatic can break down tactical silos and truly let marketers make real time decisions on data-based strategy.
• Audience first strategies redefining the media mix through programmatic ad delivery.
• Guide for marketers to assess a quality Demand Side Platform for programmatic and streaming media that fits their business needs.

Takeaways:

• General understanding for the programmatic media buying space within the open internet
• Techniques to enhance programmatic media buying practices
• Types and benefits of online and offline attribution that can be leveraged in programmatic advertising
• Understanding of being audience driven and how to reduce offline tactical decisions in favor of data driven open tactic delivery
• A guide for determining what demand side platform would be best for your business/agency needs. How to qualify a DSP.

Breakout Session 3D: Powering sustainability and the importance of purpose-driven marketing
Alexis Schnell, Social Media Specialist at LG&E and KU
Evansdale Crossing Room 412

In 2020, LG&E and KU - regulated utilities that serve more than 1.3 million customers across more than 90 counties across Louisville, Kentucky and Virginia – announced an initiative to introduce two new earth-friendly additions – a flock of 25 Shetland sheep and the incorporation of a pollinator habitat at Kentucky’s largest universal solar facility in Kentucky - the E.W. Brown Generating Station. This addition allows the company to reach sustainability efforts in a fun and engaging way, all while being environmentally friendly.

By using social and digital media to lead the projects strategy, LG&E and KU has successfully been able to introduce the first-of-its kind live Shetland sheep camera (referred to as our ‘Ewetube’) where people can watch sustainability happen in real-time. In addition, we developed a children’s book to teach families about the impact of sustainability measures on our environment.

By aligning company sustainability goals and creating value-based targeting with our social advertising strategy, we were able to create an innovative, successful environmental campaign. By developing our sustainability mission-based tactics, including optimized video, paid digital advertisements, a web/landing page, fun and friendly posts, and a children’s book, the company was able to utilize new and creative ways to connect with our community in a customer-oriented way, both locally and nationally.

Takeaways:

• How to make social media fun and engaging for consumers, despite limitations (I.e: The utility industry is often limited to creativity, but there is always a way to engage and personalize brand tone that meets leadership approval!)
• How to amplify a project using all mediums, but leading with social media and digital.
• Partnering with businesses looking to meet similar goals and the importance of cohesive communication plans to meet each party’s needs. We work with a local farm/farmers in Ky. that help care for the sheep all year, and host the sheep in the winter months. The farm receives all proceeds of sales of the children’s book. Awareness and support of mission and values are huge shared goals among us both.

Workshop A: Deconstructing Google Search Results Pages (SERPs) to Understand Organic Search Performance
Danielle Rohe, Senior Data Program Manager, Content & SEO for Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book for Cox Automotive
Mineral Resources Building

Does a day go bye where you haven’t Googled something? In the moment, you probably don’t really think about how or why the results might be presented in the way that they are. But, when you are responsible for earning website traffic from Google, you start to, well, obsess over the results and rankings. But search ranking has changed a lot in the past decade where “10 blue links” below some ads doesn’t really exist anymore. This workshop will briefly explain how Google search has changed from “strings to things” through the Google Knowledge Graph (KG) and what a knowledge graph is. Then we will review different search results pages (SERPs) that represent various presentations of the KG, including search queries provided by the participants. By clicking into “winning” results and poking around on the ranking page, we will determine what on-page elements are supporting the way it was presented in the SERP. As we explore different SERPs, we will also discuss different search intent and how slight query modifications change the intent and results.

Takeaways:

• Understanding how Google search has changed and its SERP features
• Seeing how different on-page elements lead to SERP features
• Free resources for testing how your page appears to Googlebot
• Understanding structured data, how it relates to knowledge graphs, and free tools for testing structured data and how it may present in search and social media
• Learn how to debug on-page elements that impact search results
• Bonus: see how the recent AI integrations through Google Bard and Bing's ChatGPT are (or aren't) impacting search this year

Workshop B: Wait, I Can Do That, Too? Uncovering IMC Career Pathways with Your Sparketype
Ashley Peterson, Associate Director for Intern Impact at GardHouse
Media Innovation Center Forum

Are you questioning where your IMC background can take you next? Or maybe you know but are seeking a space that is new and fresh? By attending this workshop, be prepared to see how our unique IMC knowledge paired with a personalized purpose-driven opportunity search, can take you places you may have never imagined.

Looking back on my decade-long corporate career, I charted a unique path in Sales, Marketing, Employee Experience, DEI, and Early Career, all which needed the eye of an IMC professional. But, like many, the COVID-19 pandemic forced me to ask “Am I in the right space to thrive, and not just survive?”

It was at this time that I turned to The Sparketype Assessment ® - which ultimately helped me advocate for jobs needing my experience and even changed my trajectory, landing me into nonprofit leadership. With this assessment, I moved away from bucketing myself into a department, and prioritized my core values and passions first in order to work alongside my purpose of being a light to others through storytelling. Now, are you ready to lean into your Sparketype?

In this workshop, individual tasks and interactive discussions will help you unlock your Sparketype, attach your result and experience to identify “hot jobs” arising for IMC professionals, and set a goal to refresh (or even hit reset) on the career and life path you had in mind.

Note: I am not yet a certified Sparketype Coach and the materials used will be developed by me for Integrate use only.

Takeaways:

In this workshop, attendees will Stop, Look, and Listen to make their IMC career path more intentional:

• STOP: Take a pause and put yourself back at the center of your career journey with The Sparketype Assessment ® and attendee reflections
• LOOK: Join in an interactive discussion as we look at unique roles and passion projects along my career journey, and other potential roles hidden in plain sight, that require the expertise of IMC professionals
• LISTEN: Engage as Sparketype groups to identify how you can best listen out for opportunities to flex your IMC muscle in your everyday work at any organization

Workshop C: Imposter Phenomenon: Build Your Creative Confidence
Larry Stultz, Online Faculty for WVU Reed College of Media IMC Program
Evansdale Crossing Room 414

Atlanta psychologist Dr. Suzanne Imes said in an NPR interview, “The imposter phenomenon is a feeling by many high-achieving people that they're not as intelligent, as creative, as able as other people think they are, and they live in a constant fear that somebody is going to find that out.” (Opong, 2021) This can affect us professionally, academically and in our personal relationships. (Benesek, 2022) We will look at ways to recognize and break out of the imposter phenomenon, build self-confidence and perform at the high level we expect of ourselves.

This workshop will apply creative thinking activities that are interesting, fun and proven to generate ideas and possible solutions to particular needs of every member of the group.

We will look into Life’s Universal Journey. We have all been storing experiences and ideas since before we were born. Amazingly, we all share most of them. We will work as a group on Random Stimulus Response, an unpredictable way to unlock our creative minds with totally unexpected insights. And we will try our hand at spontaneous Storytelling with “The Gift in the Light.”

We will become aware that nothing simply hits us “out of the blue.” Creativity is hard work, and we are all born to do it. We can all create. Not one of us is an imposter.

Takeaways:

• Become more confident in personal creative thinking abilities
• Explore options and ideas using techniques in conceptualizing
• Articulate an idea or concept

Breakout Session 4A: Social Media Ad Buying in 2023
Allison Keaton, Senior Social Media Manager at Impakt Results
Mineral Resources Building

As a senior social media manager, it is imperative to work continually with clients to develop innovative and creative strategies for advancing their digital marketing efforts. This includes creating winning ad visuals with copy and testing out various optimizations for increasing campaign performance. This presentation will also highlight Facebook and Instagram campaign tips such as: different campaign objectives, budget allocation, campaign setup, and tactics for targeting within the ad set levels. In addition, social media work as a whole and action plan creation for new clients will be discussed. A summary of career lessons learned will also be provided.

Takeaways:

• Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the roles and responsibilities of a Senior Social Media Manager in 2023.
• They will learn innovative ad strategies that are currently working well on Facebook and Instagram.
• They will also hear what it is like to work with various e-commerce industries and brands.

Breakout Session 4B: Coming soon!

Breakout Session 4C: Podcasts for Brands are a Content Machine
Matthew Staudt, Founder/President at Jam Street Media
Evansdale Crossing Room 414

Podcasts for brands have exploded in the last two years with just about every major brand making a move into the space. My company alone has worked with Ford, Pfizer, Estee Lauder, VistaPrint, and Nissan, just to name a few. One thing marketers don't always realize is how much content is generated for their channels from one podcast. Video, written content, and social media clips can all come from one show. In this session, we will talk about what a podcast for a brand is and isn't, why brands are finding them an effective way to communicate to their customers and peers, and how to make the most content from one podcast.

Takeaways:

• What is a podcast for brands?
• Why are brands making podcasts?
• What are some successful brand built podcasts.
• Why a podcast is top-of-funnel content creation.
• How to build a successful podcast for a brand.