Sessions & Speakers

Keynote Presentations

Mastering a Global Brand Expression

Starbucks is an international company with 25,000+ stores in 75 countries. Marketing materials and store sets are updated every 6-8 weeks worldwide. At such a large scale, with so much change, how is Starbucks able to maintain a consistent, relevant global brand while keeping pace with shifting trends and target markets? In this keynote presentation, Dena Blevins, Creative Director of Global Promotions and Brand will walk through the Starbucks brand journey, including how the coffeehouse connoisseur establishes global guidelines and principles that not only ensure a consistent creative expression but deliver an elevated, evocative brand experience.

Dena Blevins, Creative Director, Global Promotions & Brand, Starbucks

Dena leads global promotions and brand at Starbucks Coffee Company, where she manages the shift and flow of promotions worldwide while balancing the corporate brand. Dena started her career as an art director at FCB/Chicago. Craving the Pacific Northwest brought her to Portland, OR where she created award-winning work at several external agencies, before spending the last 11 years in house at Starbucks. Dena’s work has been featured in Communication Arts Design Annual & Advertising Annual, Print Regional Design Annual, New York Festivals, The Effies, Addys, Rosey Awards, HOW Design Annual and The One Show.

Bringing Intention to Brand

For decades, State Farm has been one of the most widely-recognized insurance brands in the country. Although the company’s advertising, logo and tagline—Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there—are familiar to millions, State Farm’s branding efforts have not always been as comprehensive or calculated as some might assume. In this session, Clinton Inselmann and Greg Sutter will discuss the challenges associated with taking a casual approach to brand. They’ll talk about how to create a compelling case for better brand management, the role the corporate creative group plays as State Farm refocuses on its identity, and why every in-house agency should aspire to make branding an internally led effort. 

Clinton Inselmann, Group Creative Director, State Farm Insurance

Clinton leads the creative concept and brand strategy teams within Creative Services, responsible for planning and development of all high-priority assignments at State Farm. Previously, Clinton was a senior creative at Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago where he directed creative strategies and solutions for leading brands like Corona, Edward Jones, Heinz, Hilton Hotels, Porsche, Southwest Airlines, and Under Armour. Clinton is a graduate of Illinois State University. He lives in Normal, IL with his wife, Nicole, and their two children, Jones and Georgia.

Greg Sutter, Creative Services Director, State Farm Insurance

Greg leads the in-house creative development teams within State Farm’s Creative Services Department. Previously, Greg managed State Farm’s national advertising team within Marketing, working with internal and external agencies to develop customer-facing creative strategies and executions. Prior to joining State Farm, Greg was creative director for Bloomington Broadcasting Corporation. He is a graduate of Illinois State University and has served as a member of ISU’s Forensics Alumni Board. Greg has a wife, Amy…a son, Clayton…and one high-maintenance dog named Sweet Dee.

Building Brand at a Breakneck Pace

The world of branding used to be a sane place. Brand managers worked with agencies to craft images that were pushed out to the marketplace in a steady, easy-to-consume flow of communication. Today, that easy flow has turned into Niagara Falls with the majority of consumers overwhelmed by the volume and velocity of messaging to which they are exposed. As a technology company that advertises to everyone from teenagers to CIOs across 160+ markets, Lenovo has sharpened its ability to successfully navigate today’s complex, fast-paced environment—which is one of the primary reasons for the success of its internal creative team. In this session, Quinn O’Brien, global head of branding for Lenovo, will talk about the genesis of the company’s in-house capability, why it is a critical strategic asset in their brand arsenal, and where the organization is headed over the next five years.

Quinn O’Brien, Vice President, Global Brand Marketing, Lenovo

With nearly 25 years' experience building worldwide brands, Quinn is Vice President of Global Brand at Lenovo. In his role, Quinn reports directly to the Global CMO and sits on both the Lenovo Global Leadership Team and the Lenovo Marketing Leadership Team. Quinn runs a large global team responsible for three key marketing functions: global brand strategy, global branded content, and global design. Under Quinn's leadership, Lenovo has twice been named one of Interbrand’s 100 Best Global Brands, valued at over $4 billion. Prior to Lenovo, Quinn held senior management positions at some of the world's top advertising agencies including Ogilvy & Mather, McCann Erickson, and Arnold Worldwide.

General Sessions

Earned Brand 2017

Ideology dominates the cultural conversation. Around the globe, consumers are putting their personal convictions front and center. From the grocery aisle to the car dealership, they’re buying on belief. Willing or not, brands of all types and sizes are navigating this new reality. And in a lightning-quick digital world, the rewards and risks are equally high. In this session, Mark Renshaw, Global Chair of the Brand Practice at Edelman will present the results of his firm’s recent global brand study, revealing that 30% of consumers worldwide say they make belief-driven purchase decisions more than they did three years ago and why Edelman is calling this “the new normal” among today’s conscientious consumers.

Mark Renshaw, Global Chair – Brand Practice, Edelman

Mark has over 25 years’ experience transforming corporate brands through data, insights, creativity, and innovation. He has worked with five of the top 10 most valuable global brands to revamp their market strategies: helping McDonald’s shift from TV advertising to digital engagement, moving Samsung from a mass advertiser to a global social media leader, evolving Amazon from a trusted brand to a brand that’s being talked about, and helping P&G master integrated marketing. Prior to Edelman, Mark worked at Leo Burnett for 18 years—launching their digital capability in Sydney and concluding as Chief Innovation Officer in Chicago, where he developed global strategies and marketing models for leading worldwide brands.

Power Brands: Accelerating Alignment, Growth and Impact

In-house agencies have never been more important to the fate of brands. Alignment is the key to engagement. Advocacy is critical to growth. Together, they ensure a brand becomes a movement that compounds sales and impact. So, how do we get there? What steps must we take? What mistakes must we avoid? In this keynote presentation, Simon Mainwaring, CEO of We First, will unfold a roadmap based on insights from today’s top purposeful brands including how to build your brand’s culture, community and cultural leadership.

Simon Mainwaring, CEO, We First Inc.

Simon is founder of We First, a leading brand consultancy providing purpose-driven strategy, content, and training that empowers companies to lead business, shape culture, and better our world. Simon is also a member of the Executive Committee of Sustainable Brands, the Steering Committee of the Business Alliance for the Future, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London and the World Business Academy in the U.S. He was interim CMO at TOMS, helping lead the popular apparel company’s innovative marketing strategies. And he contributes to The Guardian, Forbes, and Huffington Post on branding and social technology. Simon’s book, We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World (Palgrave Macmillan) is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon bestseller.

Laurie Schiada, Executive Creative Director, The Boeing Company

Laurie is Executive Creative Director and General Manager of Creative Services at The Boeing Company, the world’s leading aerospace provider. At Boeing, Laurie drives creative excellence across the 150-person in-house agency while focusing on internal brand engagement and external brand expression. She has spent her entire career shaping brands—first, as a graphic designer with the legendary Saul Bass, then as a Creative Director at The Walt Disney Company, and ultimately establishing her own firm, BrandStrata. Laurie serves on the board of the Orange County chapter of the AIGA, as a consultant for their in-house initiatives.

Stop Branding—Create a Mental Mark

Fuzzy input, revision cycles, crushing deadlines...when do we ever get around to building a strong brand? Boeing’s ECD, Laurie Schiada, believes the solution is to stop branding and start making a mark. In this special session, Laurie will explain how to avoid chasing the latest trends and instead, apply a few secret-but-universal truths to building brand in a way that leaves an indelible impression in the minds of your consumers. One counter-intuitive strategy Laurie teaches at Boeing: invite your clients into the creative process early and often, and watch the magic happen.

Brand Bootcamp Sessions

Restyling the Brand

Since its inception in 2009, Trunk Club’s sales-driven approach has fueled its growth—despite limited investment in brand strategy. Originally a personalized styling service for men that expanded to include women, Trunk Club found it was not only facing multiple new competitors, but a downturned retail environment. The need to scale, and do so efficiently, while maintaining a customer-first focus was key to attracting a broader audience. In this session, CMO Linda Bartman will share her experiences over the past year evolving Trunk Club’s value proposition to reposition the business for increased success. Her balanced view on what it takes to embed marketing team DNA into the culture while building a scalable infrastructure and strategy is the story of how to fashion a more-competitive corporate brand.

Linda Bartman, Chief Marketing Officer, Trunk Club

Linda serves as Chief Marketing Officer of Trunk Club, a Nordstrom Company. Trunk Club is a personal styling service for men and women, offering online and in-person shopping experiences. Linda joined Trunk Club to focus on building brand equity and awareness, as well as to drive top-line revenue growth. Over the past 10 years, Linda’s career has centered on joining businesses that are looking to transform their business model, scaling and building teams ready for growth in extremely competitive and crowded industries. 

Don’t Brand the Channel, Channel the Brand

To some marketers, gaining exposure for their company’s logo is analogous to good branding. To Forbes contributing writer and Ideasicle CEO, Will Burns, they’re just scratching the surface. Good branding is about having an inspiring idea and channeling your branded concept into everything you do as a marketing organization. Join us as Will explains why having a brand idea is so liberating and what it means to truly “channel the brand,” bringing his session to life with real-world cases, inspiring methods to arrive at a powerful brand idea, and a unique activity that helps drive the point home.

Will Burns, CEO, Ideasicle & Forbes Contributor

Will is the founder of Ideasicle, a marketing ideas company pioneering the “expert sourcing” model of ideation. Before Ideasicle, Will worked at some of the most creative advertising agencies in the country including Goodby, Wieden, Arnold, and Mullen. He is also a Forbes contributor who writes about creativity in modern branding and consults with ad agencies on new business and with companies on branding. Will’s secret passion is artsy martini glasses—a secret no more! He even opened an online store that sells them: Tini Grails.

In-House Media in the Tech Age

We’ve all heard stories about fragmented media and the divided attention span of today’s consumers. That’s why savvy media planners are making smart use of big data and tech platforms to influence strategies and optimize solutions. Dive deep with Seth Goren, SVP of Media Strategy & Analytics at Discovery Communications, as he explains how to leverage data to drive decision making and why the media-buying paradigm has shifted to carry more weight than ever. He’ll also share his team’s journey from working alongside external agency powerhouses to taking ownership for all media buying in house, managing millions from their laptops and the lessons they learned along the way.

Seth Goren, SVP, Media Strategy & Analytics, Discovery Communications

Seth Goren leads the 30-person Media Strategy & Analytics team that is responsible for all paid media planning/buying, on-air/multiplatform planning/scheduling, and media analytics across Discovery Communications’ 13 domestic networks. Prior to Discovery, Goren was Manager of Media Strategy at the National Geographic Channel. Previously, Goren spent over three years working on the media agency side as a national TV buyer. Goren has a Graduate Certification in Applied Statistics from Penn State University and BSM in Business from Tulane University.

Leveraging Purpose to Accelerate Growth

This interactive, working session is designed for participants who want to better understand how to define their purpose and lead cultural change to advance their corporate brand. Simon Mainwaring, CEO of We First, will teach attendees how to find alignment between personal and company purpose, and find fulfillment by positively impacting their communities and the world. Participants will receive a handout so they can apply the insights reviewed during the session with their own teams.

Simon Mainwaring, CEO, We First Inc.

Simon is founder of We First, a leading brand consultancy providing purpose-driven strategy, content, and training that empowers companies to lead business, shape culture, and better our world. Simon is also a member of the Executive Committee of Sustainable Brands, the Steering Committee of the Business Alliance for the Future, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London and the World Business Academy in the U.S. Simon’s book, We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World (Palgrave Macmillan) is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon bestseller.

Brand Integration Nation

When we think about building brand, words like “innovation” and “inspiration” often come to mind. What about “integration” as a brand buzz word? How do we ensure the work we do is as integrated across touchpoints as it is inspiring to those we touch? In this session, Annie Saylor will talk about what integration means at Bank of America and how it has evolved over the past decade. She'll describe the role the in-house agency plays including her own Rules of Engagement to ensure integration (and avoid recrimination) enterprise wide. We’ll also hear how ECS interfaces with the bank’s external agencies of record to deliver a seamless brand experience across its multi-channel campaigns.

Annie Saylor, SVP, Integration & Group Account Director, Bank of America

Annie is a senior leader with one of the nation’s largest in-house ad agencies, Enterprise Creative Solutions (ECS). As Group Account Director, Annie oversees all Enterprise, Sponsorship and Global HR deliverables. She is also a founding member of the ECS Integration Team, working in concert with the other agencies of record. By successfully marrying her PR and advertising skills, internal and external agency experience, and tech and finance backgrounds, Annie bring a well-rounded perspective to her role. Previously, she was an Account Supervisor with Weber Shandwick Worldwide working on accounts like Microsoft, HP and Intel.

Let’s Break Brand Together

For the past 20 years, Ken Volk has been pushing for “good branding” and during that time, he’s learned a thing or two. Through a series of short stories and ideas, Ken will offer us all the opportunity to share what we typically don’t—our secret fears as branders. Being labeled the brand police. Wanting to make the logo green, just once. Watching the latest strategy get blown up in minutes. And wondering how we might take advantage of our greatest asset of all: proximity to the brand—proximity that sometimes requires us to break our own rules to keep the creative fires burning.

Ken Volk, Senior Director of Creative+Branding, Kronos

Kronos is the world’s leading workforce management software company. There, Ken focuses on balancing the needs of the brand with the needs of his internal clients and business stakeholders. One of Ken’s leading objectives is to develop stronger brand stewardship organization-wide while navigating the ever-evolving employee culture. Ken’s team of designers, writers, and production managers are empowered to meet a variety of marketing and communications challenges. Over the past five years, the team has doubled its annual project volume while producing award-winning creative and boosting awareness for Kronos by over 20%.

Check out our full two-day event agenda here.

Reserve Your Seat Today!

Join us for the IHAF Annual Conference & Awards Show on November 8-9 at the Revere Hotel in Boston, MA. If you're traveling from out of town, be sure to book your hotel room by October 19 to receive our special rate.

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