Accountants, Strategists, Copywriters or Art Directors, we are all Communication people. And one of the first things you realise when you enter the industry is that you need to understand the context in which you’re doing communications campaigns for your clients. Sure, some people tend to forget to get the pulse of society anymore, but we at Minio Studio truly believe that the most important thing is understanding: understanding the consumer deeply, understanding the real business needs of clients, understanding the things that move people.

That’s why the Minio Studio team made the most of the 2023 conferences. Yes, we went to almost all of them. And now we invite you to read our impressions and highlights from our colleagues.

1. To which conference did you go and what was it about?

Dorina: On May 11th I attended one of the biggest marketing conferences in Romania – Digital Marketing Forum. I listened with interest to the speakers who talked about online communication, challenges and how to face them and, last but not least, about promotion campaigns, brands and their communities.

Patricia: On the 12th of May I attended the second day of the Digital Marketing Forum. We had good campaigns where we were introduced to the concept and how to amplify online, where good ideas come from and at the end we had a debate with industry bigwigs.

2. What was the most interesting topic discussed there, from your point of view?

Dorina: The topic that captured my attention the most was about storytelling, its importance and how we can have successful collaborations with brands using stories and market insights.

Patricia: On day 2, I found the most interesting topic to be the development of the online pills for the Carrefour cooking show, how they managed to stand out through many other cooking shows on YouTube, the development of it and the ideas behind it. This being a one-off example, practically speaking, if we’re talking about the theme itself it’s about addressing topics that the consumer has been seeing over and over again and how do you get their attention to be there with you.

3. Who was your favourite speaker and what drew your attention to them?

Dorina: My favorite speaker was Cosmina Tapliuc, Digital Marketing Manager, McDonalds. I liked that she talked about how valuable it is to build a community around your brand, to have people listen, not just be present, to interact with them.

„People want to be part of the conversation, part of the decision-making.”

And I think it’s equally important to include them in the campaign story.

Patricia: Definitely Maria Man, Data Intelligence Strategist, Leo Burnett. I love it when I see people talking so passionately about TikTok, and I also love hearing numbers that prove the person’s argument. Loved it! Maria told us about a new tool they released that helps measure KPI’s on TikTok much more accurately than classic TikTok Analytics.

4. Tell us one super-awesome thing you learned at the conference, something that changed the way you do things.

Dorina: The importance of capturing the audience in 3 minutes regardless of the material you use in your communication. Emphasize the shared values between brand and consumer, a consistent channel mix and tailored to the target audience.

Patricia: It doesn’t have to be new and unheard of to work and to be a good project that the consumer will appreciate. It just has to be done well.

5. Tell us one thing that simply amazed you, something you first learned there.

Dorina: I really liked the audience and the fact that all of us who participated had a common focus, namely, to improve the consumer experience in digital marketing.

Patricia: We learned about how things used to be done, about Mail Marketing and how TV was the main source of visibility. I thought that was wow because I’m 25 years old and I don’t really remember what it was like without finding anything on Google. You could back then too, granted, just not everyone had access or knew how to use it.

6. If you were to be invited to a conference, whatever the specifics, what would you want to talk about and why? What would be the title of your panel? Would you have guests? 😀

Dorina: From my experiences so far I think my panel would be about integrating relevant in-store advertising materials and how we can tie that as much as possible to the consumer and their in-store experience.

Patricia: I would like to talk about how Generation Z is consuming Social Media. I’ve heard so many opinions and seen so many people studying behavior through data, but I’ve never seen a GenZ person talk about it for real. I think it would be an interesting topic to touch on. Now the guest part…I think it goes without saying that they’ll be there, right? We have a whole list of influencers in this age group that I’d like to get a hand on. As a title I think it would be simply called “Generation Z and Social Media”.

7. Which conferences are you planning to attend in the coming period and why?

Dorina: In the next period I would like to go to Webstock and PR Awards because most of the clients we work with have 360 campaigns and I think these conferences combine beautifully the components of the campaigns.

Patricia: For me, Webstock is a must. I’m a Social Media human and that’s where the cream of good Social Media campaigns come together. My curiosity is related to: main idea – where did it start? What is the insight? How did they come up with it? Why did it work? – From my point of view Webstock is more than just the awards gala, it’s a very valuable learning for us who work in Social Media.

8. Conclusion: closing thoughts on your experience at the Digital Marketing Forum or at conferences in general.

Dorina: Definitely an event I would attend again with the same interest. It was a beautiful, insightful experience from which I came away with valuable information about communication, brands and the consumer.

Patricia: I go whenever I have the opportunity to attend conferences. I truly believe that developing yourself as an advertiser, a marketer, a social media person, no matter what position you have in the field, is yet another brick in strengthening your career path. Little tip for everyone: even if it’s early in the morning, drink 2 coffees and embrace the level of information you’re being given.