AA|RF Client Summit Highlights

This week I’m in New York for our 8th annual Client Summit.  Yesterday’s discussion provided a nice mix of case studies and thought leadership (from both internal and external experts).  A few highlights:

- Guy Kawasaki gave a great talk about the Art of Innovation.  If you haven’t heard Guy speak, he always strikes the right balanace of humor and insight.  I heard a number of clients comment on how valuable they found his talk.
- Levi’s, AT&T and Ford Motor Company each provided smart case studies describing their work in digital marketing over the last year.  I’ve written about Levi’s Design Challenge before.  AT&T’s work with Microsoft’s Surface was highlighted yesterday- if you haven’t seen the Surface in an AT&T store, it’s worth seeking out.  Ford showcased the ways they’ve embraced digital solutions in everything from internal communications (with their smart GO! marketing intranet) to in-car solutions (with Sync).
- AA|RF’s Brandon Geary gave an inspiring and thought provoking talk titled “When the Pixel Gets Physical,” that challenged marketers to take lessons from product designers.  His colleague Joe Crump gave an equally powerful talk that argued for a new way to measure digital brand health.
- NBC Universal’s Jeff Zucker’s honest discussion, about the changes traditional media companies are going through, was great.  Jeff’s a really smart guy that doesn’t get enough credit for his understanding of the digital landscape.  Hulu is one example of the progress they’ve made in changing their content distribution, but I think you’re going to see more smart digital work coming out of NBCU.
- The day ended with a very entertaining discussion between Bob Greenberg (CEO/Global Chief Creative Officer, R/GA), Tom Bedecarre (CEO, AKQA) and Clark Kokich (CEO, Avenue A | Razorfish).  The three companies represented compete on a daily basis.  It was great to have Bob, Tom and Clark take a break from that competition to discuss the state of the agency business.