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Cross Media Production: breaking down the marketing barriers
Mar 24 2014 09:57:03 , 1137

Cross Media Production is aiming to replicate the success of previous Cross Media content programmes

It might only take up a fraction of the Excel when it is co-located with Ipex 2014 from 25th – 27th March 2014, but Cross Media Production will aim to provide an entirely new perspective on print for attendees. Focusing primarily on the application of cross-media technologies for marketing applications, the inaugural show will look to focus on a strong programme of talks, the element that proved to be the highlight of sister show Cross Media's 2013 edition.

Some 60 talks will take place over the three days across three distinct theatres: publishing, brand management and data and digital marketing. Opposite the auditoriums, twelve companies representing fields as diverse as web-to-print, digital asset management, direct marketing and audio and video print will flaunt their wares.

Much like Cross Media, there is a heavy emphasis on multi-channel marketing and the nuts and bolts that can be used to create an effective campaign, with an inevitable slant towards print's place within that mix.

The Brand Management theatre aims to examine the art of storytelling through visual media, with several high-profile speakers discussing strategies, methods and tools that can be used to drive customer engagement.

The issues covered are as diverse as the guests: on day one, Russell Smith, senior account manager at Adobe, will chair a panel on using the custom audience tool to enhance Facebook campaigns, while Chili Publish co-founder Bram Verniest will look at the importance of integration in brand management software. The second day contains a panel featuring Mark Cruise, head of print management at BskyB and Will Stone, marketing director at Stone and Company, which will discuss the creative ways in which print can be used interactively. The highlight of the final day is likely to be a talk from Duncan Stokes, global chief executive at Ogilvy Redworks, which focuses on the complexities of managing cross-media campaigns.

Looking to break the barriers between publications and marketing agencies, the Publishing theatre will look at how multiple platforms can be used within a single campaign to create a more effective, consistent brand message.

Three talks stand out as key in this area. On the second day, a panel featuring Joe O'Keefe, pre-press manager at Independent News and Media group, and Steve Irving, head of advertising production at Trinity Mirror, will look at the practicalities for the evolution of advertising production. Later that day another panel, including Mark Welland, head of commercial production and asset management at News UK, and Marie Petts, global head of change at MacMillan, will look at organisational and structural change within companies looking to switch priorities to include digital as well as print.

"For many years, there has been a clear divide between print and digital mediums," suggests Welland. "Today there is increasingly less of a distinction and, as a publisher, we have a responsibility to our advertising customers to make it easy to do business with us. Our industry is at the tipping point of wholesale change which will define the landscape that we operate in for years to come."

Finally, the wonderfully named 'Gutenberg versus Zuckerberg?' talk from Bobby Grauf, global marketing manager for newspapers at Agfa, will suggest that publishing should look to adopt a mobile first, print second strategy. Out of all of the content on the Cross Media Production floor, this could well be the most provoking.

Finally, the One-to-One, Data and Digital Marketing Theatre will look to discuss how direct marketing can be used in an increasingly multi-channel world. Topics to be discussed include how to make print digital via mobile devices, featuring Documobi chief executive Peter Lancaster, a presentation on the need to integrate data within direct marketing, and the use of digital print and VDP to create 30,000 personalised books.

The flagship talk at the One-to-One theatre is the 'Mark Shelkin interview at 2pm'. These run across all three days, though if you can only make one then the Wednesday session with Jo Coombs, managing director at Ogilvy One London and Steve Parish, chairman of Crystal Palace FC, is probably worth catching.

It might be more of a three-day conference than a co-located exhibition, but that doesn't mean that there won't be plenty of content worth booking in some time to take in. Cross Media Production promises insight, market intelligence and the opportunity to catch representatives from some of the biggest businesses in the UK and find out how they use cross-media in their marketing.

Whether you are a print house looking to diversify, a brand looking to make a splash, or simply curious about the technologies involved, then it is worthwhile to head along to Cross Media Production and find out first-hand how it's done.