Pure360 excelled themselves on Thursday as organisers of Brighton’s first ever Brighton Digital Marketing Festival (BDMF), part of this month’s Digital Festival.
Showing off an impressive list of speakers, BDMF got our marketing brains sparking from the get go. Launching with Mark Kelleher, Head of Technology for the BBC, we were entertained and advised to forget what we were taught in marketing school and to test the waters and put stuff out there, as you can’t predict how your customers are going to behave.
Fantastic goody bags kept us fed, watered (and amused) as we listened. Lewis Lenssen of DC Storm opened our eyes up to an understanding of how the customer’s purchasing journey involves a range of activities that contribute to a sale, and it’s not simply the case that the last clicks wins. Whereas Chris Dadd of Zenith Mist and Marc Munier of Pure360 both reminded us to design our marketing with browsers in mind as they’ll be more mobile than desktop users by 2013!
Expertly organised, afternoon attendees were seamlessly then guided to a series of different and very ‘Brightonesque’ venues. This included Fabrica where we sat happily in deckchairs listening to White Hat Media’s Jeremy Spiller who engaged us with his expert knowledge in 360 degree Search and gave the audience the rare chance to discuss any SEO problems they had.
Mark Kelleher is right in saying that you need a marketing conference every year as times are changing so quickly. Apart from anything, I felt like the day re-charged my creative brain, inspired new ideas and was a great opportunity to network and appreciate how much Brighton’s digital marketing sector is thriving. The after party free(!!) bar and live music entertainment gave that certain social ‘lubrication’ which finished the event on a high.
Next year Pure360 are already planning to run it as a 2 day conference as it was so popular the free tickets ‘sold out’ in just 3 hours. Until then, we’re left with the legacy of this year’s event with helpful keynotes and a great Digital Marketing Advice section available at a click of a button. I can’t wait to do it all again, and it seems that I’m not alone:
Jason Buck, of The Long Dog: As a speaker it was great to meet so many different people with so many different backgrounds, but with a common passion for engaging and learning more about the latest from the world of digital.
Tom Jackson, of RamJam: It was a great day and having good speakers made all the difference. Mark Kelleher, Jeremy Spiller and Craig Menzies in particular gave great talks and useful insights into their respective fields. I’ll make sure I sign up for the next one!
Jeremy Spiller, of White Hat Media: It was an honour to be invited to speak at the Brighton Digital Marketing Festival, the audience were superb and it was a brilliant day. The event had a superb format in that people moved from venue to venue giving them a good chance to chat and relax between sessions. Also I was fortunate to be speaking in Fabrica a converted church and the seating was deck chairs. Supremely well organised by the team from Pure360, the whole event was a huge success and I'm very much looking forward to the next one.