A weary but enlightened Studio North contingent arrived back in Manchester late last night after two days at the Technology for Marketing & Advertising exhibition at Earls Court.

At a time when the marketing mix is expanding almost exponentially, primarily due to the growing influence of the internet over the masses, no serious design industry professional could possibly have ignored such an event.

A raft of senior marketing executives from the UK’s largest brands were in attendance and for good reason. There was stuff we knew and stuff we didn’t, but the beauty of what we do here at Waulk Mill is that you simply never stop learning – it’s a buzz that drives myself and plenty of others onwards and upwards.

Our delegation attended seminars as diverse as mobile phone marketing techniques, social media campaigns and viral marketing. Yet there was also time to take in a couple of extremely popular thought-leading keynotes as well as several bars on Earls Court Rd, later on Tuesday evening.

Rory Sutherland, vice-chairman of the legendary advertising agency Ogilvy put a positive spin on the recession and presented valuable insight into how to seize commercial opportunities in mid-recession.

However, the personal highlight for me was a keynote provided by the Managing Director of LinkedIn Europe, Kevin Eyres. Evidently, many marketers are intimidated by the bewildering choices available in terms of business and social networking tools at their disposal. Mr Eyres provided clarity on LinkedIn’s rather obvious niche positioning and provided much food for thought to those looking to use these sites as an effective marketing tool as opposed to yet another drain on valuable time resources.

Tags: learning, LinkedIn, mobile marketing, Ogilvy, social networking, technology, viral marketing

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