MEETING: Re:think 2011, the 75th Anniversary Annual Convention of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), held at the New York Marriott Marquis in Manhattan on March 20–23
CHALLENGES: A few months out from Re:think 2011, Heather James and Rachael Feigenbaum — the ARF’s senior vice president/chief market- ing officer and its program director, respectively — both identified the same major challenge: the potentially attendance-killing glamour and distractions of their host city. (Read our Pre Con profile of Re:think 2011, in our December 2010 issue, at www.pcma.org/Convene/Issue -Archives/December-2010.htm.) But in a re- cent follow-up interview, Feigenbaum said that wasn’t an issue — the ARF hit its goal of more than 3,000 attendees, and participation was strong throughout the four-day event. “Because the content and all the associated sessions and the Insights Zone [exhibit hall] were so compel- ling, people really stayed,” Feigenbaum said. “Usually we see pretty hefty drop-off by the third day, … but we didn’t see that.”
INITIATIVES: Indeed, from education sessions to the Insights Zone to networking and social events, the ARF was determined to pull out all the stops for its 75th Anniversary Annual Convention. The opening general session kicked off with a video featuring interviews with ARF board members and other industry veterans, along with a laser show. “We’ve never done that before,” Feigenbaum said. “It got the crowd in the right mindset and mood
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By Hilary Howes, CMG (www.hilaryhowes.com), a client brand strategist for Encore Décor. www.pcma.org pcma convene May 2011 23
that this was something different.” The sense of something different was also
evident in the Insights Zone, which in the past, Feigenbaum said, “was your typical trade-show floor.” This year, it was reimagined as a “conven- tion within a convention,” with the hall subdivided into areas such as an Interview Zone, featuring 15-minute Q&As with “leading experts in social media and neurometrics”; a Learning Zone, offer- ing hour-long “best-practice case studies” from the world of advertising research; and an Innova- tion Zone, where attendees could see a Chevrolet Volt hybrid electric car. “On top of [the programming in the Insights
Zone], just the way it was decorated — we brought in some new techniques,” Feigenbaum said. “We used a lot of spandex in the hall, stretched over tables and chairs, which kind of gave it a more sleek, modern look. Over the two days it was open, there was a lot of buzz and energy, and not just during the breaks.” Other highlights included a Listen First Work-
shop, tied to the just-published second edition of The ARF Listening Playbook, and a glammed- up gala dinner for the ARF David Ogilvy Awards for Excellence in Advertising Research, which featured a live band and a cool production design that red-lit tables from below. “Everyone was interested in making it more than ‘come onstage and receive your awards,’” Feigenbaum said. “It was very elegant.” n
— Christopher Durso
FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.thearf.org /assets/75th-anniversary-annual
LIGHT IT UP: Re:think 2011 featured a laser show at its opening
session (left) and a cool, elegant production design (right).