Research: What Do Marketers Want From a Marketing Convention?

When DMA decided it was time to overhaul its annual convention, one of the longest running shows in marketing, the first step was to do a thorough assessment of what today’s marketers want in a convention. So they partnered with 360 Live Media to perform an in-depth study of what marketers want.

The 360 Live Media study split responses into three segments: Show “Loyalists” who still regularly attend the show formerly known as DMA Annual, “Lapsed and Lost” respondents who used to attend but have stopped, and “Non-Attendees” who’ve never gone to the show.

A Desire to Learn Something New
Looking at the results in these charts, two words really jump out: “learning” and “new.” The most important factor for marketers attending a show was to “Learn something that helps me perform … ” Then the word “new” appears in six of the next seven factors. In fact, the one that doesn’t specifically say “new” or learn” is “sharing best practices/reviewing case studies,” which essentially means “learn new things that are working for other marketers.”

Beyond the types of content, respondents also showed a distinct preference for topics around marketing strategy and integration, as well as the more digital, online and data-driven aspects of marketing.

“The appetite for an event that unifies the marketing industry rather than segments it by channels and that celebrates the power of data confirmed what we felt in our gut about the reinvention of our annual conference,” says Tom Benton, DMA CEO.  “The research gave us the confidence to literally break the mold of our annual and create what the market wants and needs.  For DMA, just two years shy of our 100^th anniversary, to be bringing this level of innovation to the marketplace and acting more like a startup is incredibly exciting for us, our members and the marketplace!”

“The results are in, the research is clear and the facts are compelling — there is a wide open space in the market for a marketing experience that is focused on real-world, results driven solutions that answer the core question — ‘where do I spend my next marketing dollar?’,” says Don Neal, Founder and CEO of 360 Live Media, whose firm conducted the research and is helping DMA reinvent its Annual Conference and execute its new self: &THEN.  “Specifically, marketers said they can receive bits and pieces of what they need from a range of sources such as media, conferences and events.  But nowhere do they receive the ‘big three’ all in one place — big ideas, analytically supported media planning and messaging that delivers impact across every platform.”