Aiming to share knowledge and trends in marketing, over 3,500 experts from the field met to explore 'New Questions, New Solutions, New People: Standing Out in the New Age of Marketing and Technology'.
Last Thursday Celebration'AI S Marketing' (Hm), the twentieth edition of the marketing event, seeks to share challenges and trends in the sector and was attended by more than 3,500 marketing and technology professionals.
Journalist Elena Salamanca from Antena 3 gave way to Eduardo Gómez Martín after a brief reception after the meeting's master of ceremonies. ESIC University The school- which was responsible for organizing the event, extended its welcome to all the participants of the event and reviewed the evolution of marketing in the last 20 years.
“20 years ago, the marketing world was different than it is now. However, today it is experiencing an unprecedented revolution, which began with the emergence of the Internet,” explained Gómez Martin. “We are facing a historic crossroads, a turning point that challenges us to rethink practices, strategies, but, above all, our mission,” Yar added. Therefore, the president of ESIC University encouraged all professionals in the field to align their strategies with one objective: “Not asking ourselves what we can sell, but what value we can provide to society.”
Enrique Penayas, Chief Innovation Officer of ESIC University, kicked off the first expert panel of the day around the keys to marketing today. In his speech, among other issues, Benayas highlighted the importance of the role of purpose in the field of marketing, exposing the conclusion of the new ESIC Marketing Vision 2024 study on the basic and tangible asset purpose of the company. In addition, it is necessary to communicate with and qualify the client. To do this, we need to create a positive impact,” he opined, stressing the idea that marketing must be actionable, “not just a statement.”
After the intervention of the CIO of ESIC University, Ximena Daud, Chief Revenue Officer of DoGood People, spoke about the revenue functions and stressed that “they act as the driving force of the company because they represent an unbiased perspective”. ” and ” “It is a major partner of business in all areas.” Because a long-term and scale-defined strategy needs to work “and we're turning strategy into tactics. We're the ones who do that,” he concluded.
For his part, Eduardo Devar, general director of KIA Spain, focused his intervention on 'customer obsession'. He defined “customer obsession as prioritizing the customer in strategic decisions.” According to Dewar, being customer obsessed means deciding based on what they think, what they want, and what trends they follow. “To serve them, we design and analyze the customer journey of all our visitors,” he explained in relation to how you manage this issue at KIA Spain.
After Dívar, Lola Fernández, Marketing Director of La Vaguada Shopping Center, and Jesús Hernández, Deputy Director of the same center, explained how La Vaguada works to connect brands and consumers. Both agree that long ago, people believed that shopping centers were no longer meaningful compared to online shopping. “But shopping centers don't stand still,” they promised, showing the audience some of their activities and campaigns. “That's why people today, if they have to choose a physical or an online channel, choose the physical one for the experience,” they explained.
Alfonso Fernandez, CMO & head of ecommerce-direct to consumer (D2C) at Samsung Electronics, closed the panel by focusing on the importance of brands redefining the cause as “shifted beyond communication, into action.” And, for Fernandez, “purpose should be a way of life, not a fashion.”
The second part of the event was moderated by Seema Visconti, Director of Masters in Digital Marketing and Digital Business at ESIC University with a panel of experts on Marketing Trends, Opportunities and Challenges – ESIC Business. The first speaker on the panel was Pablo Monge, Managing Director of GlobalCreate, for whom “the objectives of the CMO of 20 years ago have not changed compared to the CMO of 2024.” For Mong, the goals are the same: increase demand and sales to achieve the most relevant brand while sticking to a budget. “What has changed is the complexity we face to achieve that objective with the advent of technology,” he said.
For his part, Oscar Soriano, founder and CEO of Play the Game, noted the disruption of new mass media and hypermarketing: “Because gamification is not just for kids or pranks. There are more than 3 billion gamers in the world, the average age is 28 years and they earn more than 2 billion dollars in Spain alone. That's why many brands have linked their association with gaming and mainstreaming. In fact, it's more difficult to find brands that aren't connected to gaming than those that are.
Esther Morel, director of marketing and communications at Illunion, spoke about inclusive marketing, stressing the importance of creating accessible digital content. “We need to be aware of the diversity of the audience and keep that in mind when designing content. Otherwise, our message will not reach millions of people.
The panel included the participation of Jose Estrada, global omnichannel manager at Hijos de Rivera, and Pablo Lopez-Barajas, director of special solutions and events at Atresmedia Publicidad. Differentiation”, and to find a niche in a highly competitive market with many resources.
Today Es Marketing had the participation of this year's Revelation Athlete, Ilia Topuria, UFC Featherweight Champion, who together with his PR & Brand Manager, Valentín Hernández, shared the keys to the success of the Ilia Topuria brand. In a pleasant conversation between the two, Topuria explained the lessons he's learned throughout his playing career, which he feels are valid for the company. “To achieve a long-term goal, you need to set short-term goals,” Topuria believes. And, according to Topuria, if an opportunity presents itself, preparation is key. “The product helps overcome all fears,” insisted the revelation athlete, whose image is estimated at more than 40 million euros based only on his appearances in the media in the last three months.
Technology used for marketing also has a place for analytics at Hoy Es Marketing. In a panel moderated by ESIC University's Chief Technology Officer and Digital Innovation Director Carlos Visoso, Regional Vice President and Senior Director, EMEA Digital Transformation Education Department at Salesforce, María Ángeles Santos and Julio Villalobos showed different case studies of their clients. Talk about customer centric strategies based on data and AI. According to the two, “personalization requires a good data strategy.”
For his part, Alberto Granatos, Country General Manager of Microsoft Spain, analyzed the impact of AI in the sector, which is “changing marketing, improving the customer experience with AI, moving towards hypermarketing; improving data-driven decision-making; and through greater team creativity and efficiency.”
The following presentations revolved around leadership and marketing, given by Ross Cartolari, an international expert in strategy and inclusive leadership, and Bernardo Hernandez, an investor and consultant. Cardolari focused his intervention on the importance of personal branding for leadership in the 21st century. Through his personal experience, this expert encouraged the audience to “do what you love,” asking ourselves where we want to evolve, what we need to do to do so, where we need to go, and what we can change. Likewise, he recommends not going into “automatic” mode. For Cartolari, “We need the opposite of automated behavior, especially in the midst of the current technological disruption and all the changes we're experiencing.”
For his part, Hernández, titled 'From CMO to CEO', explained that for the transition from marketing management to general management, “being motivated and having an 'outside the box' approach to work is important.” According to Hernández, in this transition, the partner must be technology, because “There will be CEOs who are not technologists.”
The day was rounded off by Sylvia Leal (PhD), an international expert in trends and technology, who reviewed the day's key findings and, as an opening trend, explained what hypermarketing offers. Because, according to Leal, “the combination of technology developed in the '80s, combined with AI, gives the marketing manager the opportunity to create a highly-personalized customer experience.”
