Welcome to the middle of Fall Conference season! We hosted two back-to-back CMO conferences, and just came up for air. These are a few highlights…
Our first session happened in Bethesda, MD on September 25. We featured my friend Chip Conley. Twenty-six C-level executives joined us at Walker & Dunlop to celebrate Chip’s new book, Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder. Chip shared many stories from his five years advising Airbnb’s co-founders and his decades as a boutique hotel pioneer.
We also provided the group with advice to foster inter-generational collaboration and overcome the rampant ageism in today’s marketing organizations.
Lisa & Chip Conley at CMO breakfast. Photo credit: Chris Zegal
Then we flew to Atlanta for our 4th annual CMOs Leading Innovation Conference (CLIC ’18). We redesigned the entire conference this year, and it morphed into a series of customized field trips to innovative organizations.
Our first innovation pit stop: Nanolumens. Karen Robinson-Cope and Joe’ Lloyd walked us through their innovative sales and marketing strategies. Their one-of-a-kind Visualization Center reflected their brand in brilliant ways (pun intended).
Nanolumens Visualization Center celebration. Photo credit: Chris Zegal
Lisa & Catie Griggs at Atlanta United Training Facility. Photo courtesy of Chris Zegal.
On Day 2, we spent the morning with Catie Griggs, VP of Business Operations at the Atlanta United Training Facility. Luke Mashburn, Facilities Manager par excellence, provided us with a “behind the scenes” tour of their facility. It’s simply gorgeous. Every room is state-of-the-art. The main spaces are filled with natural light. The elegant, sleek architecture embodies athlete AND fan experience.
ATLUTD is a shining example for all marketing innovators. They are an organization that designed a fan engagement strategy using unconventional marketing approaches. They tore down traditional marketing organization silos, helping them propel their fan base from zero to 50,000 within just three years. It’s nearly impossible to buy season tickets these days. In a professional sports city like Atlanta, that’s quite a feat.
Mike Varner, VP of Brand Strategy for Medstar Health, and Frank Patterson, President of Pinewood Atlanta Studios, rounded out the afternoon. More details on their dynamic sessions will follow in a future post.
The community loved these experiences—so we’ll stick to our new conference format at CLIC ’19.
The insights from these conferences will forever impact how our clients lead their marketing teams in 2019, make strategic decisions, test new ideas, and build new success habits. Let me know if you want to join our private “know ahead” list for our next conference: lisa@lisanirell.xyz.
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