The 2009 Canadian Marketing Association National Convention and Showcase Forum April 27-29 brought marketing professionals from across North America to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to learn and discover cost-saving solutions and leading-edge ideas from some of the best marketing experts in the industry. There was a lot of praise from both visitors and exhibitors.
“The CMA show and seminars were an invaluable development resource for the marketing professional,” says Tony Karg, senior director of business development and marketing (Graphic Systems), Fujifilm Canada Inc. (www.fujigraphics.com). “This year’s emphasis on social media provided an excellent foundation of understanding on how it could be applied to B2B business segments.”
Peter Reinhardt of snapNwin (www.snapnwin.com) was part of the impressive line-up of guest speakers. Where most major marketing proposals today incorporate some form of “street marketing” tactic outside of the conventional print and media buys, his presentation, “Connecting the Dots,” spoke to bottom-line returns from successful street marketing, tradeshows, direct-mail initiatives and event-sponsorship venues.
“The snapNwin product has been an answer to many of the frustrations and shortcomings of past, traditional street-marketing tools,” Reinhardt says. “Having collectible value, or ‘stickiness’ combined with people’s desire for a chance to win, are the key reasons why snapNwin programs work. In a tough economy, marketers are looking for better ways to connect and bring their message to the consumer. SnapNwin has the ability to bring people from the real world to the cyber world where cost effective viral campaigns can begin.”
John McTrusty of Questback (www.questback.com) felt the conference was the ideal place for his company to be. “We attended and exhibited in order to increase our knowledge and to introduce people to our unique way of improving their brand, customer and other key business relationships.”
Laura Cook, account manager for Coverbind Canada (www.coverbind.ca), was featuring an in-house, short-run perfect binding solution – the Coverbind 5000 that can bind 10 books in one minute, or up to 300 books an hour. It also allows the user to edit 10 books in one minute.
The show was also successful for YesText Mobile Marketing (www.yestext.com). “We connected with a number of marketers trying to develop and integrate marketing to cellphones into their existing business models,” says Ross Gordon, marketing director. “We found the show’s format, built around education seminars, attracted marketers seeking new ways of thinking and put them in a positive mindset to slow down and absorb technology-related ideas. Given the detailed advertising performance metrics that we provide, we found a strong interest by marketers in improving measurement of their advertising’s effectiveness,” he adds.
“I found this year’s CMA show agenda brought Web marketing to the forefront of critical tools a marketer should have in his or her arsenal,” says Al Pickard, president/solutions consultant, Intuitive Solutions Group Inc. (www.intuitivesg.com). “As a digital asset management vendor, we believe in simultaneous print and Web marketing with similar, yet unique, messages and methods. They got it!”
Though there were dozens of great booths at the show featuring some cutting-edge marketing solutions, the one that caught our eye – literally – was the 3M exhibit (www.3mgraphics.com) that featured Vikuiti rear projection film that has the ability to transform any transparent surface, such as a window, into a projection screen. Their model at the show, about the size of an 8.5” x 11” page, had a visual impact that was both dominant and spectacular, to say the least.
In print, the Getty Images (www.gettyimages.com) booth featured a wonderfully nostalgic catalogue with dramatic colour photos spanning world news and personalities from decades gone by. A sales and marketing tool to be sure, this edition could also double as a treasured collector’s item.
