2017 Transform conference North America

Registration, breakfast and networking

Welcome and opening address

Transform Tales

The Transform conference will be punctuated with a series of short sessions in which delegates will be taken on a brand’s transformation journey.

Founded in 1922, PEN America is one of the country's oldest literary activism organisations. Despite its heritage, PEN America needed greater visibility and a way of defining itself more clearly. It undertook a rebranding project in search of a way to more clearly and consistently reflect its dynamic work of celebrating and defending free expression. Sarah Edkins, deputy director of communications, shares the journey and the challenges of its rebrand process.

Building digital branded communities

Over the past decade, many small businesses and startups have relied on LinkedIn’s groups as places where they could build communities among their customers.

However since Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn, these groups have deteriorated. How can a company build its own online digital community? Balancing data and traffic control with targeted content and an engaging personality is a fine art.

Moderated by Patrick Hanlon, whose latest book The Social Code: Designing Community In The Digital Age defines how to create communities via traditional, digital and social media, this session will offer delegates an invaluable insight into the world of online communities.

This will be a panel session with Q&A from our audience.

Brand development and Generation Z

Realistic, independent, digital natives, role-hopping.

These are some of the characteristic buzz words used to describe Gen Z-ers, the demographic that by 2020 will make up 40% of the workforce. How can companies best target their specific characteristics? Attracting Gen Z-ers, the generation most aware of their worth to brands, requires new strategies.

This session will provide delegates an insight into what innovative approaches top brands are taking to tackle this new market force, and the development their brands are undergoing to fit this new criteria.

This will be a panel session with Q&A from our audience.

Tea, coffee and networking

Brand differentiation 

Concentrating on the arts, education and legal sectors, this session explores the different components of brand differentiation. A cornerstone of brand strategy, brand differentiation combats the growing adversary that the excesses of choice poses. In an age when every sector is saturated with options of organization, it’s only natural to need to find new ways to stand out. 

This will be a panel session with Q&A from our audience.

Heritage vs disrupter brands

Signs, symbols and semiotics in branding

Semiotics defines how meaning is created and communicated through the signs and symbols within our culture. 

Mark Kingsley, a lecturer on semiotics at the School of Visual Arts and David Burstein, who has applied semiotics to Run for America, a citizen-powered movement to reimagine politics and reinvigorate governmen join this session. 

These experts will look at how the signs and symbols of an organization's brand can interact with those of society and develop powerful brand associations.

This will be a panel session with Q&A from our audience.

Networking lunch

Invisible art: brand continuity in a multi-platform world

When each device and platform has its own interactive language, how can we guide users across them in a way that ensures positive brand associations? Casey Tourangeau, Leader, Digital Experience at McMillan looks at the trends Designers need to be aware of to ensure a consistent brand experience in a world where a single experience can span not only multiple devices, but also multiple platforms.

Transform Tales 

In 2015, a private equity firm based in London and New York sought to bring three distinct brands into alignment and delineate a clear path for growth within the crowded and competitive healthcare marketplace. Kristen Saponaro, CMO of nThrive shares the process of creating a vision for the company that could energise individuals from each of the three separate cultures and make them excited to be a part of a new company that aims to transform healthcare. 

The art of connecting creativity and data

This session will focus on how big data can be translated into compelling creative, particularly exploring the power of psychographic targeting over traditional demographics, and the need for transparency in social data and the acquirement of consumer data. SHARE Creative will share their client Dramamine's story to provide a cast study to explore the use of influencers to provide an authentic review of the pharmaceutical drug and used social media to increase engagement with the product.

Closing remarks

Tea, coffee and networking

Event closes