al berrios & co. Archives Legal Contact us

Engage Our Sector Practices

Engage Our Strategic Services

Trade Events

April 6 2004 Home

Trade Event Report
***********************************
The International Advertising Association Luncheon Series Featuring Peter Weedfald, SVP, Strategic Marketing, Samsung "The Perfect Information Economy", + + +
By Al Berrios (contact Al Berrios)

This marks the third time I've heard Peter speak. (Remember our last event?) He's good. And gives away a lot about what a person in his league regularly thinks about in his speeches. For example, he's a pretty blunt guy and doesn't particularly care because he's also smarter than the average executive in his position. He's generous, donating his time and smarts to helping important causes, particularly quality of life for children. And he's focused on the long-term, because he's aware that everything he's doing now has ramifications 5 years from now.

From his perch, what did he have to say about "The Perfect Information Economy"? Same thing he always says, that consumers call the shots now because they have all the information and choices they want at their fingertips and companies must recognize that to survive. Today, consumers believe all information to be perfect and demand more of it because they know they can get it: "Consumers [select] their retail choice way before [choosing] the brand."

This philosophy is the foundation for all of Peter's strategic efforts. He firmly believes he has no real competition because in the 3-part world of media, he's strictly focused on manufacturing the channels through which media is consumed, unlike his top instigator, which is also focused on producing the content.

Peter also invests in media for his marketing communications with this same fundamental viewpoint. His media buys are assets to be used to continue to inform and empower, rather than just deliver a message. As a result, he wants and gets persistent, omnipresent exposure on every single important channel online through which consumers seek information. He doesn't push or pull, he allows consumers to come to him.

The Time Life Building in New York City, where it was held on March 18, is pretty nice, but the food catering wasn't all that great. It was hotel quality, but I'd recommend to B.Y.O.Catering.

The one strange thing about this is that prior to this event, no one I spoke with seemed to have heard of the IAA, and yet, everyone seemed to also know each other (mostly sales folks who did business with Peter or vendors who were trying to get work from him), which meant that since the IAA appeared out of no where, it must have used someone else's membership list. Poo-poo to the group that sold our names like that.

Overall, this event merits three (+ + +) pluses.

Top