There was something different in the air at this year’s DMA &Then Conference, and it wasn’t just the Phantom 3 Drone we gave away to the winner of our Beer Pong tournament. The Conference Formerly Known as “DMA” has been injected with a shot of hipster coolness, and it was very clear from Day 1 that going forward the DMA Conference will only be referred to as “&THEN”. Cool? Hard to say. Maybe it will grow on me. The Milk and Cookie Bar was definitely cool, as were the fruit infused water bottles that Oracle was giving away. And I have to say that this is the first conference I ever attended where I couldn’t walk ten feet without thinking of this classic scene from the vastly underrated, albeit entirely stupid “Dude, Where’s My Car?”.
In all seriousness, &THEN 2015 delivered when it came to content. Sessions were focused on today’s new generation of pragmatic marketers. Speakers discussed unique and modern ways to leverage creativity, data, and technology integration to streamline the marketing process while maximizing ROI.
DMA &Then Themes
I attended many of the content-focused sessions at DMA &THEN, and it was clear from the discussions that everyone was after one of three things: Better ROI, Content Efficiency, and Multichannel Consistency. Because when you take the time to create and deliver good content, you’ve got to make sure you deliver it far and wide. But in order to do that without hiring a full team of new marketers, you’ve also got to ensure your entire marketing technology ecosystem is integrated and working in tandem.
Somewhere down there a grown man and woman are battling for Beer Pong Greatness.
It makes perfect sense. When you integrate your marketing automation platform with your social media tools and CRM applications, you’re building a streamlined lead generating and nurturing hub. And when you take it a step further and integrate tools like webinar software, survey tools, and blog platforms, you’re building a multichannel communication platform that can automatically disperse your content in a practical, consistent, and extremely effective manner
Zapier Integration – New Boingnet Feature
Some of the discussions around technology integration came at an opportune time for us, as Boingnet software has just partnered with Zapier to expand the reach and capability of our platform to a whole new level. Zapier is essentially a platform for connecting apps to automate tasks. And now that we’re a global partner, our software can work with our customers’ existing services to make their business run as efficiently as possible. Zapier integrates Boingnet with more than 450 apps you already use. Basically, you can create the perfectly integrated content platform, sharing data, content, and analytics without ever writing a line of code.
All in all, DMA &Then 2015 was an informative show. We met a lot of fellow Zapier partners, chatted with some great potential prospects, and had a hell of a beer pong tournament right in our booth with over 60 players (we lost count…maybe from all the beer). But it was great fun, and the winner went home with a Phantom 3 Drone with HD camera, so the players were all-in. If you’re interested, check out some of the video footage from the finals. While the production value can’t compare to a classic film like “Dude, Where’s My Car”, it’s definitely worth a watch.
