Building Brands Local Somerset - Marketing Conference

Are you ready to dive into an afternoon brimming with marketing insights, networking, and groundbreaking ideas? Building Brands Local is coming to Somerset, and it's your chance to be part of the South West's most celebrated marketing event series! With 5 sell out events In Plymouth, Exeter and Cornwall, Building Brands is expanding our reach in 2024, running new events in Cornwall, Taunton and Bristol and returning to Plymouth and Exeter again too.

We're delighted that Evo Agency in Taunton have agreed to come on board as headline sponsors, but we'll also be joined by ADPR, Teapot Creative and Cognique as Event Partners, showcasing some of the very best talent across the county.

Exclusive Workshops: Featuring Somerset-based marketing experts, our workshops are tailored to give you hands-on, practical knowledge that you can apply to your business immediately

Inspirational Keynotes: Hear from renowned marketing gurus who have made waves beyond Somerset. Their stories, strategies, and insights are not just hugely motivational and interesting, but transformational too.

Networking Opportunities: Connect with fellow marketing professionals over a buffet lunch. Exchange ideas, build relationships, and find potential collaborators right here in the Somerset business community.

Local Focus, Global Impact: Discover how Somerset's marketing talent is making a global impact. Be part of a community that's shaping the future of marketing, both locally and internationally.

Eyes to the future: We'll also be bringing up to 30 young people to the event, all of whom are interested in marketing as a future career. This is a great opportunity to inspire and drive interest in a fantastic future in marketing.

The Schedule

The event kicks off with a networking lunch from 12 noon to 1pm, offering a perfect opportunity to mingle with fellow marketers, exchange ideas, and build lasting professional relationships. From 1pm, you'll be fully immersed in an afternoon filled with enriching workshops and inspiring keynote sessions. Our workshops, led by local marketing experts, are meticulously designed to provide practical, hands-on knowledge and advice for Somerset businesses. These sessions are not just about learning; they're about experiencing the real-world applications of marketing strategies that work.

The keynotes that follow the workshops are not just tales of success but are packed with interesting, actionable insights and strategies that can help propel your marketing efforts to new heights. It's your opportunity to learn from the best.

This blend of local expertise and both national international success ensures that the insights you gain here are both deeply relevant to Somerset's market and expansive enough to apply on a larger scale.

12 noon - 1pm: Registration, lunch and networking

1pm - 1.15pm: Welcome

1.15pm - 2pm: Keynote 1

2.10pm - 2.55pm: Workshops 1 and 2

3.00pm - 3.45pm: Workshops 3 and 4

3.45pm - 4.15pm: Afternoon break

4.15pm - 5pm: Keynote 2

5pm: Thank you and close

5pm - 7pm: BBQ (for BBQ Ticket holders only)

Venue: Somerset County Cricket Ground

Date: 6th June 2024

Tickets: Limited availability! Secure your spot now and be part of Somerset's marketing revolution.

Name Badge/Electronic Business Card

Thanks to our fantastic partners at Redrok, your name badge for the event will also double up as an electronic business card that you can use after the event. This would normally cost you £30 by itself! Please, therefore, when you fill in your order form, include as much information below as possible - including your LinkedIn profile address, company name, business phone number etc. We will automatically include your name and email address.

What's happening on the day

We'll kick off with an incredible keynote talk, followed by 4 workshops for you to choose from and another keynote. You don't have to pre-book the workshops, you can decide on the day which ones you want to go to.

Workshop - Ellie Burn and Dan Neal - Evo Agency
Title of talk: Search is f**ked! Navigating the AI maze with a human compass
Summary of talk: Together we’ll explore the limitations of AI and the need for a human touch in the quickly evolving world of paid search.

Workshop - Alex Mercer and Luke Matthews - Teapot Creative
Title of talk: Brand Blandification vs Brand Complexification
Summary of talk: Let’s explore the brand battle that is raging between blandifiction and controlled chaos. Clean designs bring a simple elegance, emphasising intuitive UI and efficient backends but busier visuals offer layers of interactivity and a dynamic user experience.

Luke and Alex dive into how the fight between minimalism and complexity extends to the core principles of engagement and identity and on into digital marketing with innovative coding and UX. How can considering target audiences, industry norms and campaign goals help find the balance that resonates with your audience?

Workshop - Kate O'Sullivan & Jenny Walford - ADPR
Title of talk: When the dream becomes a nightmare! How to prevent and manage a crisis in a digital world
Summary of talk: It can take months to create a strong digital footprint for your brand, but in today’s socially connected world, your hard earned reputation can unravel in a matter of minutes.

Social media has the power to make or break your brand, and time will never be on your side when things go wrong. The good news is that there are some quick and easy things that you can do to protect your brand from the impact of a digital crisis.

Join Kate and Jenny to gain valuable insights into the world of digital crisis management. You will learn about what constitutes a crisis, how to create a robust crisis communication plan and our tried and tested golden rules to successfully navigate your way through a social media PR storm.

Workshop - Kirsten Rae (Rae & Co) and Steph Baker (Steph Baker Marketing)
Title of talk: Beyond the Screen: Strengthening Your Brand with Print Media 
Summary of talk: In an era where digital channels dominate, this session looks at print not as a relic of the marketing past but as a vital part of a comprehensive multi-channel Brand strategy. We’ll explore the delicate balance between the allure of trackable digital marketing and the tangible impact of print media, focussing on how it can differentiate your brand and connect with your audience more personally and authentically, driving traffic to your digital channels. 

Keynote - Andy Lambert - Adobe
Title of talk: The step by step guide to building a successful social media strategy
Summary of talk: In this talk, we'll cover what it takes to really build a brand on social media, covering why strategy matters, the 6 Golden Rules of Social and 6 – Step Content framework. You'll come out of this with a new appreciation for the impact that social media can have on your businesses' growth.

Keynote - Bethany Joy - Brand Voice Strategist
Title of talk: The six most important things you can do to make a brand voice stick
Summary of talk: As marketers, we get the importance of a strong and consistent brand voice. So whether we’re embarking on a big language development project or just trying to embed an existing tone, we’re clear on the value of the work to the wider company. But is anyone else?

You might have the best brand voice in the world – but it’s no good unless your people actually use it. And it’s too easy for things like this to just be some wanky pet project that never goes much beyond the marketing team. So in this talk we’ll be looking at the key things you need to do before, during, and after any strategic brand voice work to make sure it’s properly understood and adopted across your organisation.

After Dark BBQ Event

We'd love you to join us at the post event BBQ party! Everyone gets a free drink and we'll make sure you get plenty of fantastic food, while joining our speakers and partners for a networking event that you won't want to miss!

Exhibition Stands

We'll also have a number of Building Brands Local sponsors and partners exhibiting at the event. Judging from previous events, you'll likely want to spend some time meeting them and taking a good look at what they're promoting.

Food and drink

Lunch will be provided, and we'll also have some delicious afternoon snacks as well! Teas, coffees, and other drinks with snacks will also be available during the afternoon.

Why you need to be there

The Building Brands community initially set out to help marketers to build new relationships and connections with each other, and to learn new things to help you do your job better. However, our first five events have all been sellouts and the feedback from attendees there has been phenomenal. The feedback was that our events have helped in so many other ways - career development, referrals, collaborations, and work being sourced. We've also been able to help with finding attendees new marketing jobs!

Partners and sponsors

We really have to say a huge thank you to the Evo Agency, Cognique, Teapot Creative and ADPR, Metric Hub, Redrok, Unscripted, Luscombe Drinks, and Burts for all their help, support, and commitment to getting this event off the ground.

Refunds

Refunds will not be possible if they are requested after Friday 31st May 2024. Sincere apologies for this, but on this date, we have to commit to various costs which we can not then recover.

Feedback from previous Building Brands events

Following is just a tiny selection of the feedback that people have given at previous Building Brands events. You can also watch the highlights videos below for more reactions from attendees!

Watch Highlight Video 1 | Watch Highlight Video 2 | Watch Highlight Video 3

"This is the best marketing event that I've ever been to. I knew it would be good, I just didn't realise it would be THIS good!"

"Everything had been thought of, the attention to detail and the care and love that had been put into the event was evident from the second I turned up."

"I can't wait for the next one. This really was very very good."

"The best goody bag I've ever had from an event. That was worth the ticket price alone!"

"The speakers were top level. Excellent. Some great snippets of information and tons of inspiration for me to act on when I get back to the office tomorrow!"

"We brought the whole team with us. And thank god we did - great learning opportunities today for everyone in the team, thank you so much Building Brands!"