About Kellogg's Marketing Conference

Last Saturday, January 26th, the second day of Kellogg's Annual Marketing Conference was held in Jacobs allowing students to be part of it. There we went!

In terms of organization, the Marketing Club did a great job. Registration was easy and credentials looked nice as the program of the event. Sponsors were remarkable brands and some (Unilever and J&J) gave us very useful samples of their products as presents. The conference's favors -a bag of colorful jelly beans and customized fortune cookies- were a fun touch. The catering service was very good and generous, timing worked well although they seemed worried about a 15 minutes delay during the morning. But it didn't affect the experience at all! By 4.15pm the expected networking cocktail in the atrium was on and going...

As the form was performed as expected, I think the content did to. And that's the most important thing! The agenda was full of important professionals working at big companies. We heard ideas from people who not only know about marketing: they are doing, building, giving meaning to global marketing right now.

There is much to think, to try and to discuss. Either way I'd like to share with you the ideas I took that I'd like to keep in mind.

• "Go into the wilderness. Don't be afraid of feeling uncomfortable" - Davide Grasso, VP of Global Brand Marketing, Nike. (very engaging lecture on branding!)
• "Focus is understood as what we should do... But 1st step in these tech days should be what we should NOT do" (idem)
• "You own your brand also in crises. You need to listen and speak. Even if it is saying 'I don't know'" - Colleen Sellers, Sr. Brand Mgr, J&J.
• "You only launch a brand once; do it right. Create a story that friends want to tell friends." - Erin Collins, Mgr of Customer Insights, Warby Parker.
• "You really need to use analytics as a competitive weapon" - Ken Dickman, Managing director, Accenture.

Finally, the phrase I liked the most because it means a lot more of what we can read. It's an insignia marketers should have. It's a mission and engagement to work for. We need to show by doing that marketing is not what the common jokes say: lying, trying to sell what you don't need. Yes, many work that way. But marketing and branding are -I believe in this- something else. Part of that something else was said by Prof. Zettelmeyer in his brilliant opening of the afternoon panel:

Marketing is no longer a function, 

it is a philosophy of management.