Speaking on the topic of “Look who’s engaged!”, Don will be sharing global trends & best practices from IMI International’s extensive experience in the field.  Specifically, Don will share tips and consumer-based insights on how to engage various consumers across different types of the media mix as well as share case studies and best practices on how to engage consumers at events both large and small.  The core of the presentation will focus on how to effectively engage consumers to drive positive ROI on all types of brand activations.

Don Mayo started with IMI International in 1985 and developed and implemented a ROI optimization system around the world. Don has been involved with the evaluation and optimization of marketing activations in 80 categories in 15 countries and has experience from the largest worldwide marketing campaigns and events to grassroots marketing in towns with fewer than 1,000 people. Don has personally assisted in IMI International compiling a proprietary database of close to 10,000 marketing activations relating to “optimizing the impact and ROI” of marketing programs.

As noted on the Engagement Marketing Conference website:

Build Your Brand Story Through Engagement

Creating an authentic relationship between brands & consumers

These days, simple consumer satisfaction is considered table stakes. Consumers not only want to be satisfied with the products they purchase, they expect more. They want to be heard and have input into the brands they consume. They want to feel good about sharing those products and experiences with their network.

What tools do you need to turn your consumers into advocates and write your brand’s story? Join us for a special day and find out!

Toronto, July 8, 2010 – With the Canadian economy making strides in recovery, it would stand to reason that there would be renewed optimism and activity in the business world. But results from the first-ever Marketing Confidence Index, measured in conjunction with the Gauge Report, an annual survey of marketing professionals, have revealed otherwise.

Overall, Canadian marketers measured 45 per cent, a level of confidence that is consistent with the general mood of Canadian marketers, as reflected in the Index. Only a modest percentage (40 per cent) increased their marketing budgets this year, even though 62 per cent said they felt that 2010 was a good year for companies to invest in marketing activity. Most marketers agree that the time is right to catch the upswing in the marketplace, but many are not following up those instincts with action.

“Knowledge drives confidence, and confidence, in turn, drives success,” says Brett Marchand, president and COO of Cossette. “Confident marketers capitalize on emerging trends, leverage metrics and aren’t afraid to adopt a decisive mindset that propels bold action.”

In this era of unprecedented technological advancement, instability in the marketplace and erratic consumer spending habits, the Gauge Report provides a forum for marketing decision makers to share ideas and benchmark industry activity to help foster innovation and steer informed decision making.

The profile of a highly confident marketer emerging from the Gauge Report confirms that confidence is a critical factor is results-oriented business decisions. Those marketers who were characterized as either very confident (9 per cent) or confident (23 per cent) are also decisive and prepared to take actionable steps that lead to success. One of those steps is increasing their marketing budgets, which 64 per cent of marketers indicated they were planning on doing this year, and 84 per cent indicated they had plans to do so in 2011.

“Confidence matters; and that’s why an index that measures it on an on-going basis is so important,” says Jules Diamond, president of IMI International. “The Gauge Marketing Confidence Index allows marketers to benchmark the confidence of their own organizations to help foster effective decision making.”

Lack of confidence, on the other hand, results in missed opportunities to engage with target consumers. For example, most companies understand that social and mobile media are effective ways to tap into a robust client base, but many aren’t clicking in. More than 59 per cent of confident marketers are more apt to incorporate digital media in their overall marketing plans, compared to 30 per cent of non-confident marketers.

Many marketers might instinctively know that now is a good time to invest but concerns over the economy, fragmentation in the media landscape, rapidly evolving technological trends and changing consumer spending behaviour can leave them confused and indecisive.

“If knowledge is power, Canadian marketers now have the resource they need to help them make definitive decisions in spite of uncertainties in the marketplace,” adds Marchand. “And we all know that confidence matters. Not just to the marketing industry, but the entire marketplace.

An initiative of Cossette and IMI International, the Gauge Report is an annual summary of research into areas of current interest to Canadian marketing and business executives. It provides insight to promote dialogue in the  marketing industry with the end goal of delivering programs with market appeal.

About Cossette
Cossette Inc. offers a full range of leading-edge communication services to clients of all sizes, including some of the most prestigious brands in the world. A customer-driven organization built around highly specialized business units, Cossette also offers Convergent Communications(TM), a unique working method that brings added value to the client by integrating various services offered by the Group, including strategic planning and research, advertising, media buying and channel planning, sales promotion, direct response, database and direct marketing, customer relationship management, interactive marketing and technology solutions, public relations, organizational communication and change management, sponsorship and alliance marketing, branding and design, ethnic marketing, business-to-business communications (B2B practices) and print and video production. Cossette has approximately 1,485 employees and offices in Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, New York, Irvine, Los Angeles, London and Shanghai.

About IMI International
IMI International is a full-service marketing consultancy, leveraging consumer marketing research, to optimize all types of brand activations.  For 40 years, IMI International has served as a strategic partner to our Fortune 500 clients, developing best practice principles based on over 10,000 marketing evaluations.  IMI International is globally recognized for its work in the pre- and post-evaluation of consumer marketing efforts and has developed proprietary consumer research methodologies and success thresholds that serve to improve our clients’ return on marketing investment.  Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, IMI International also hosts offices in Phoenix, United States; Melbourne, Australia and London, United Kingdom.

Please contact Tim Bishop with any questions or comments and to receive a complimentary copy of the 2010 Gauge Report.   Phone 416-440-0310 ext 341 or 1-800-784-5757 ext 341 or email at tbishop@consultIMI.com.

As noted on the PMA’s website, the Promotion Marketing Association, established in 1911, is the premier not-for-profit organization and resource for research, education and collaboration for marketing professionals.

Representing the over $1 trillion integrated marketing industry, the organization is comprised of Fortune 500 companies, top marketing agencies, law firms, retailers, service providers and academia, representing thousands of brands worldwide.  

Championing the highest standards of excellence and recognition in the promotion and integrated marketing industry globally, PMA’s objective is to foster a better understanding of promotion and integrated marketing and its role in the overall marketing process.

The PMA is headquartered in New York City with its affiliate, the PMA Educational Foundation, Inc.

As a speaker for this conference, Don Mayo, Global Managing Partner of IMI International, will provide delegates with real-time insights into what clients want, need and demand from their agencies in 2010-11.

Don Mayo will be highlighting the very latest proprietary consumer insights in his presentation as it relates to agency and client dynamics.  The key focus will be:

• What keeps them up at night
• 3 biggest challenges and opportunities
• Perception of marketing, cause, environment, social, life attitudes
• Impact and momentum of marketing tactics
• Perception and reality of digital, social, mobile
• Best in class marketers
• Talk value:  what do they talk about and how
• What’s caught their eye
• What and why they change behaviour

As mentioned on the conference website, this event “is for agencies serious about taking immediate steps to improve their business. Spend 3 days with 35+ sessions, 40+ speakers and select peers. Examine the best practices of those agencies currently experiencing growth. From Creating New Revenue Streams to Rewriting Your Capabilities, take away strategies converting business.”

Dan knows from extensive experience that shopper marketing is a compelling, integrated approach to meeting consumer wants and needs and instilling a sense of confidence from the moment a brand first starts interacting with consumers. 

During his presentation, Dan will deliver consumer-validated insights, case studies and best practices in order to make your shopper marketing program succeed in a measureable way.

To review a summary of Dan’s presentation, please click here to go to the Downloads page and find the presentation under the “Conferences” section.

Tim Bishop, Business Development, North America, will be speaking about social media measurement plus providing the latest insights and experience on how to measure ROI (and as a hint, it’s not about friends, fans or retweets…).

In recent years, social media has grown from a provocative set of online community chat rooms to a legitimate marketing communication vehicle that attracts millions of diverse users from around the world.  

What is a marketer to do:  Avoid social media until it becomes more proven since this all seems too “new” and “risky”?  Or jump into it without a good understanding of how it compares to other marketing tools? 

The safe bet is to understand its measurable impact.  IMI International has been studying social media from its inception using ROI measurement models to evaluate it compared to all other marketing tactics.

Tim will highlight how to measure impact and ROI, plus share consumer insights, best practices and global case studies so that social media can be considered as an effective tool within your sponsorship activation toolkit.

For a summary of Tim’s presentation, please click to visit IMI International’s Downloads page and look under “Conferences”.

For more information on social media ROI and measurement, please contact Tim Bishop at 416-440-0310 ext. 341 or email at tbishop@consultIMI.com.

Don Mayo, Managing Partner of IMI International, is again one of the leading conference speakers for the Canadian Sponsorship Forum.  Held annually, this year’s event is hosted in beautiful Whistler, BC, site of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Be the first to see research focused on actual in-market effectiveness, impact of recent brand activations, consumer-validated insights and recent Vancouver 2010 Winter Games observations. Whether you’re an official sponsor or simply delivering best-in-class activations without any sponsorship affiliation, you will learn best practices both on how to win in the current economic climate and during major events.

Derived from a study completed during February & March 2010 by IMI International and in association with TrojanOne, the key focus of this session will be on the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games as well as other major properties. Don will isolate case studies on ‘who impacted consumers,’ ‘who avoided consumers’ and ‘means to optimize your activation plan going forward.’ Further, this session will detail not only recent sponsorship activations, but will include trending based on consumer research completed throughout prior years.  

The key focus will be on the 2010 Vancouver Olympics plus other major properties, such as the Super Bowl, Grammy Awards, Daytona 500, NBA All Star Game, Mardi Gras and others.

Based on the study’s consumer-validated insights plus recent at-the-Games observation, IMI International will isolate some case studies on ‘who impacted consumers’, ‘who avoided consumers’ and means to optimize your activation plan going forward. Further, this session will detail not only recent sponsorship activations, but will include trending based on consumer research completed throughout prior years.

Highlights will include some of the ‘winner’ activations, featuring not only how marketing impacted behaviour, talk value and brand equity, but how winning campaigns engaged consumers. Additionally, the presentation will detail best practices both on how to win in the current economic climate and during major events, whether you are an official sponsor or simply delivering best-in-class activations without any sponsorship affiliation.

The panel topic, “What Will Appeal to Tomorrow’s Shopper: Learn from Representatives Across All Sectors of the Shopper Marketing Industry” is sure to create an active discussion regarding the future of shopper marketing.  

It will be interesting to hear what the panelists have to say, given their varied experience and backgrounds in the experiential, consulting, snack food and research spaces. 

IMI International has extensive experience with shopper marketing and views shopper marketing as the management of the full path-to-purchase cycle.  When done correctly, shopper marketing is a compelling, integrated approach to meeting consumer wants and needs and instilling a sense of confidence from the moment a brand first starts interacting with consumers. 

To learn more about Shopper Marketing and how IMI International can help your brand or agency meet its goals, please contact Dan Hunter at 416-440-0310 ext. 233 or email at dhunter@consultIMI.com.

The topic, “Optimizing Your Marketing Effectiveness and ROI”, will showcase the latest in IMI International’s consumer insights completed across Canada in Q4 2009.  Specifically, Julius will highlight the influence of promotions and brand activation on retail activity, brand purchasing and brand image. 

This session will provide attendees with the facts on the impact of promotions, events, sponsorships, advertising, pricing, social media and digital now versus two years ago.  Further, this session will provide delegates with fact-based case studies for agencies, retailers, marketers, governments, services and brands on means to optimize their marketing effectiveness and ROI.  

IMI International consults and provides strategic resources across the globe and will share these insights and case studies specific to the Quebec marketplace versus the rest of Canada and rest of North America.

About Julius Diamond: 

For close to 40 years, IMI International has focused on helping its clients maximize their return on investment from marketing and communication programs. Julius has been involved in the founding of two other companies: A retail shoe repair chain that operated throughout North America and a real estate development company with assets and operations in Canada and the United States. Mr. Diamond has been involved with several charity organizations and sits on the board of advisors of several small companies. Julius has direct experience in marketing, sales, finance and operations and graduated from the Ivy School of Business at the University of Western Ontario in 1966 and has an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley.

If there was one overarching lesson from the 2009 WOMMA (Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association) Summit in Las Vegas, it was said that to succeed in WOM, you first have to listen.  Before delving into a WOM campaign, you must first invest in a listening campaign. Once you are in touch with the consumer, the conversation can begin. Social media is an excellent tool to develop the two-way conversation. 

The measurement of any activation program is not complete until the impact of Word-of-Mouth is included.  That was a key focus of IMI International’s presentation on November 18 where IMI International co-presented alongside their beverage client and Escalate on the “Effectiveness & Efficiency of WOM on a Beverage Experiential Trial Program”.  Laura Bernshausen, Senior Brand Activation Manager; Stuart Sheldon, Division President at Escalate and Dan Hunter, Partner at IMI International, lead the conversation with a full house of attendees.

As conference participants learned, using WOM to accelerate an experiential marketing campaign is both effective and efficient at driving brand love, purchase and adoption over time.  Leveraging IMI International’s Word-of-Mouth ROI measurement approach, this beverage client measures the impact and cost effectiveness of WOM in combination with other marketing tactics in order to understand more holistic returns as a result of the campaign.

Also from the WOMMA Word conference blog recap, Steve Knox of Proctor & Gamble mentions correctly that “consumers talk for many reasons. It might be simply because there was a lull in a conversation or that a consumer wants to exude the image of a product. But you will never learn why consumers talk about your product specifically if you don’t listen. Once a solid amount of data is gathered, test your programs, continue listening and work from there. No campaign will be perfect out of the gate, but it will be doomed if you don’t listen.”