Spark.me 2018

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Representatives of the Bureau of Metrology, Danijela Radević and Anđelika Durutović, attended one of the biggest marketing conferences in Southeast Europe – Spark.me held on 26 and 27 May in Budva.

For yet another year, Spark.me has welcomed renowned speakers in the field of marketing and digital technology.

This year’s conference opened with a speech by an internationally recognized speaker and consultant in the field of social media marketing, Mark Schaefer, who stressed that “technology changes customers’ behavior”. He also underlined that “mass marketing” in the form of advertising via traditional marketing channels such as TV, does not find its way to the customers anymore, and that it is necessary to establish “personal branding” and have an impact on the personal experience of consumers. Being loyal to a brand is not enough, says Schaefer, adding that consumers must like the people behind the company and be familiar with their habits in doing business. Companies which manage best to present their “humane and personal side” will survive on the market, Schaefer concludes.

Director of Product Strategy at MarketingProfs, Kerry O’She Gorgone, said that if companies wish to attain a memorable marketing, they need to have a heart and induce emotional reactions through empathy, connection and surprise.

Expert on brand leadership, Denise Lee John, equals brand with the manner of doing business, underlining that brand shows how company truly does business. Big brands, as she says, tend to have an internally built brand (among the employees), avoid “selling” their product and make an emotional connection with consumers, dictate trends instead of merely following them. Brand building also requires creation of values equally shared with all stakeholders.

An inspirational speech at this year’s Spark.me conference was given by a former NASA astronaut and a professor at Columbia University, Mike Massimino, who told the story of his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut. He was admitted to NASA when he was 11 years old, after he had submitted his first application which, according to him, is a proof of how much persistence is important.

A remarkable performance was also delivered by cyborg artists Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas, as well as the co-founder of “Shazam”, Dhiraj Mukherjee, a marketing specialist, Jon Burkhart, digital influencer, Xenia Tchoumi, founder of Xbox Live and XNA service – Boyd Multerer, strategist Matt Desmier and founder of the digital marketing consultancy “Additive”, Dave Birss who spoke about “models of creativity”.
Itay Talgam, an orchestral conductor turned into ‘conductor of people’ closed the conference.

Spark.me has been organized since 2013, whereas this year’s conference had as much as 550 participants from 27 countries.