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How to profit from uncertainty?

The economic crisis is still soaring and many companies still have to be extremely frugal. The economic outlook is the most challenging any marketer has seen for many generations. There is less money, more choices, more information and more competition than ever before. On top of that we face an enormous information surplus, particularly on the internet, and a consumer who acts less loyal and more discerning by the day.

There’s a growing consensus that in times like these not every ‘old rule’ still applies. More than ever, we have to be smart in marketing. Rationalising our structures or adapting old models just won’t do it anymore. We have to bypass weary slogans such as ‘a new focus on the consumer’ or ‘back to basics’. If we want to continue to have a profound impact, to create value and to restore the confidence of the senior management, more thorough solutions are needed. We have to understand that marketing solutions are not there for eternity just because we’ve successfully used them in the past. Some insights still apply, others are clearly past their shelf life. What we need, in other words, is a true marketing renaissance.

But what is this, and, more importantly, how do you do it? More than ever, now is the time to question the way we look at business and society, to explore new grounds, to seek new insights and to innovate our profession. To re-invent ourselves, not by way of a sexy baseline but out of sheer necessity.

Essential questions. The answers you’ll get at ‘Marketing Renaissance’, the 28th International Marketing Congress in Ghent, on the 4th and 5th of December 2009. National and international keynote speakers will come up with fresh insights, burning issues and clear messages. The Congress of the year, and one not to be missed.