The world of branding and marketing is being turned on its head. How can you respond?

NMK is pleased to offer a special version of Open Sauce Live, a workshop which has played to great reviews in both London and New York...

“The traditional marketing model we all grew up with is obsolete,” James R. Stengel, CMO, P&G

“Mass marketing no longer works. It's the end of brand positioning as we know it.” Larry Light, CMO, McDonalds

“To me, the challenge is not awareness, the challenge is engagement.” John Hayes, CMO, American Express

“JWT client Ford now spends only 30%-40% of its ad budget on traditional advertising, compared with as much as 80% five years ago.” Bob Jeffrey, CEO, JWT

“The less control a company has over its marketing message, the greater its credibility.” Economist 31.5.05

“What I worry about much more is our ability to make the necessary cultural changes to meet the new demands of the digital native,” Rupert Murdoch, 14.4.05

From the highest-spending brands, to the smallest agencies, everyone is wondering how to succeed in a brave new world of marketing.

It's a world where people are better informed, better connected and have more choice. Where the media are increasingly fragmented.

Our Open Sauce workshop offers a lively, practical way to get to grips with this world.

Key topics include:

• Consumer power – growth of consumer communities
• How to balance the desire for control with giving power to customers
• Creating lively interaction with influential customer communities
• See-through companies – increased transparency in business
• Dealing with the vulnerability that comes with open, honest communications
• Managing the opportunities and pitfalls of transparent markets
• Your customers want to work for you – co-creation at work
• How to create enthusiasm inside organisations for a more open approach
• How to co-create with customers and other stakeholders

The sessions are fun and practical. The hosts, James Cherkoff and Johnnie Moore, use positive examples from organisations like Microsoft, Converse, GM and Mercedes, as well as sharing the lessons of organisations which have been caught out. We also demystify some of the jargon surrounding this area such as blogs, the blogosphere, RSS, wikis and podcasts.

The sessions also include some exercises designed to help you add a little bit of Open Sauce to your next marketing plan or brief.

Format

There are two interwoven strands to the workshop:

• One strand consists of briefings on facts: examples and explanations of some of the jargon used to describe the world of blogs and customer communities. We cover lots of real world examples such as L'Oreal, Boeing, Lego, P&G and Peter Jackson's King Kong. We also look at companies that have caught the downside of customer collaboration including Kryptonite (where a video showing their padlocks could be easily opened with a ballpoint pen was watched by 3million people on the net), TiVo and Dell.

• The second is a more experiential and playful, to show participants more about what the potential is for creativity and satisfaction (instead of rigidity and fear) in the face of these trends. We draw upon improvisational techniques to help understand the collaborative mindset and have some fun!

Open Sauce is very interactive with minimal powerpoint (not very saucy) although we show some live material from the internet.

Hosts:

James Cherkoff and Johnnie Moore consult in the emerging areas of digital marketing (eg blogs, podcasts, RSS) and their implications for brand and corporate modern marketing.

James was a consultant at Burson-Marsteller where he planned and managed campaigns for Unilever, Accenture and Philip Morris. He then joined Accenture's UK marketing team before moving into the online world at consultancy Bluewave and then Circle.com. Since 2000, he has been working independently advising companies including James Bond Enterprises, Universal Studios, IPG, GM and Pfizer. See more about James here.

Johnnie has worked in marketing and branding for more than 20 years, for clients ranging from financial services to education. He’s also an experienced facilitator who works with individuals and teams to support creativity and better relationships. He's one of the contributors to the Corante Brandshift blog. There’s more about Johnnie here.

What others have said about Open Sauce Live...

“Open Sauce Live is both fun and practical. People went away buzzing with ideas they could use with clients. Johnnie and James were able to explain the impact of digital trends - like blogs and much more - in a way that was interesting and motivating.”
Nigel Kennedy, Group Chief Executive, Grayling PR

“This was a memorable day of discovery, creativity, risk- taking and trust-building as James and Johnnie deftly introduced us to a new kind of freedom and inspiration.”
- Richard Wise, Chief Strategic Officer, Agent 16, New York City