Focus on the future of digital marketing at the first edition of IE Business School’s Marketing Day

Participants in the workshop included experts in marketing like Gonzalo Brujó, Chairman of Interbrand for Latin America and Iberia, who examined the impact of digitalization on consumer habits, on the development of new business opportunities, and on the creation of unique brand experiences.  IE Marketing Day was sponsored by Yahoo, Confortel, Territorio Creativo, Renova, Agora News and Cabify, and enjoyed the support of IE Campus Life and the IE Career Management Center.

The panel on “Strategy in the Age of Dynamic Changes” was moderated by Manuel Alonso Coto, Director of IE’s Executive Development Program in Digital Marketing and Advertising. Panelists included Rafael Amieva, General Director of Yahoo España; Alberto Barreiro, Creative Director at Meaning Labs; Mariana Pedemonte, Strategy Director at Havas; Renato Faria, Leader of McKinsey Digital Practice for Iberia; and Luis Villa, Business Design Director at Fjord (Accenture Digital).

The panel on “Digital Revolution in Business,” was moderated by Marc Bacon, Strategic Lead CRM Media at MediaMarkt, with panelists Félix Velarde, CEO of Underwired (UK); Paul Berney, Co-founder and CEO EMEA at mCordis (UK) and ex CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association EMEA; Laurence Fontinoy, Regional Marketing Manager for Iberia at Google; Kevin Sigliano, Managing Partner of Territorio Creativo; and Juan García, General Director of Cabify.  The third  panel was on “Shaping your Marketing Career” and was moderated by Ana Herranz,  Alumni CMC Director of IE Business School, with panelists Margaret Buj, Senior Recruiter EMEA at Expedia UK; Diego Vilariño, HR Director at Richemont Iberia; Marco Laveda, General Director of Robert Walters, and Cecilia Francolí, Marketing Director at Microsoft Advertising.

“Consumers have the power to change the world” said Gonzalo Brujó, Chairman of Interbrand for Latin American and Iberia, underscoring the fact that consumers will dictate the future of business. Rafael Amieva, reminded participants of the importance of connecting with users through applications and presence on social networks in order to be where customers can be found.

The experts stressed that technological advances and the digital revolution have forced business organizations to innovate in terms of marketing strategies "Digitalizacion means new opportunities to get to new markets, new consumers," said Renato Faria, Leader of McKinsey Digital Practice for Iberia, underscoring the importance of managing big data on clients in order to get to know them better and use the resulting information to draft marketing plans.

Mariana Pedemonte, Strategy Director of Havas, pointed out that Spain lags behind countries like the UK or US where investment in digital marketing is concerned. In her opinion, businesses have to come out of their traditional market comfort zone to get closer to their clients and listen to them by keeping contact with them through digital marketing strategies. The importance of mobile technology was also the subject of discussion during the workshop, given mass use and the chance to gain access to large numbers of consumers through apps. Paul Berney, CEO of mCordis said: “Mobile marketing is used to enhance and reinforce what you are doing. It’s not a substitute.”