BORRELL’S 2022 LOCAL ADVERTISING CONFERENCE
“THE PATH TO 2032″
#BorrellMiami2022
March 6-8, 2022 – Miami Hilton Downtown
Borrell’s annual conference is back, bigger and better than ever. Mark your calendar for March 6-8, when we return to Miami for our 12th annual event.
Our 2022 conference is themed “The Path to 2032.” It features a unique, in-depth look at what’s shaping our post-pandemic marketing and advertising landscape and how to successfully navigate the future. You’ll learn from the best — companies are morphing into digital powerhouse. These include digital agencies, broadcast and print companies, local cable systems, start-up local pureplays, and companies that are building businesses to serve the industry.
Registrants will experience a full-immersion opportunity, including a healthy dose of networking. The program includes a dozen hours of networking time – two breakfasts, two lunches, four breaks and two cocktail parties.
Here is our agenda
SUNDAY, MARCH 6
5:00 PM
Badge Pick-Up & Cocktail Party
MONDAY, MARCH 7
8:30 AM
Keynote Speakers
We’re kicking off Day 1 with four dynamic presentations to get your juices flowing. The first session offers a vision of what 2032 is likely to look like, and the second taps a world-renown transformation expert to discuss the path to get there. How is that transformation playing out today? For the follow-up sessions, we’ll hear from CEO Bill Wilson of Townsquare, who’s driven measurable transformation within his organization, and an on-the-ground vision from DuJuan McCoy, an innovative and energetic owner-operator of a single-market TV station who’s redefining “opportunity.”
2032
Over the past two decades, the Internet has recrafted the media landscape in two distinct waves triggered by two economic cycles. We’ve just entered a third wave, triggered by the pandemic. Gordon Borrell will describe what the landscape is likely to look like in 2032, and how forces such as demographics, altered work habits, buying habits, and technology are pushing us toward the final stages of the democratization of media channels.
Getting There: A Path To The Future
Keying off our first presentation, we’ve asked Scott Anthony to offer his view on how companies can navigate the coming decade. Scott is a founding partner of Innosight, where he’s spent the past 20 years helping leaders design new growth strategies, build innovation capabilities, navigate disruptive innovation, and manage strategic transformation. He’s written eight books, including “Eat, Sleep, Innovate” (2020), and “Dual Transformation (2017), which describe how forward-thinking organizations can navigate disruptive change and own the future. He will address how even the smallest of companies can navigate tricky transformation to become world-class businesses.
Morning Break
Townsquare’s Transformation
Formed from a bankrupt radio group in 2010, Townsquare has emerged as a shining example of transformation. Its Trojan Horse strategy to buy small-market radio stations to drive its digital initiatives has paid big dividends. CEO Bill Wilson describes how the company has navigated dual transformation with its 322 radio stations in 67 cities, and its fast-growing separate division called Townsquare Interactive.
The Underdog’s Play: One Market, One Clear Vision
At the individual market level, it’s hard to beat a great vision and a great strategy, especially when an energetic and charismatic operator is at the helm. That’s the case in Indianapolis, where a longtime TV manager with a lot of verve has taken the underdog position with two virtual TV channels. DuJuan McCoy talks about his exploits in Indianapolis and how the future looks to him.
SPEAKER: DuJuan McCoy, Owner, President & CEO, Circle City Broadcasting
Rapid-Fire Case Studies
Up to 18 five-minute case studies of dynamic, profitable programs will be presented in rapid-fire succession over two sessions – one on Monday and another Tuesday. This is one of the most popular features of Borrell’s event.
SPEAKER: TBA
12:30 PM
LUNCH & DESSERT WITH SPONSORS
2:00PM
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
The afternoon features a dozen drill-down sessions from which to choose. The breakouts are arranged in three themed sessions in adjacent presentation rooms. Each session features three to four panel presentations in a more interactive setting with ample opportunity to ask questions.
Streaming Video, OTT, CTV, Storytelling Videos
Three to four 45-minute panel discussions will address:
- Best Practices in OTT/CTV. Pricing, profitability, targeting, CPMs, working with trade desks, cross-selling with other products.
- Longer-form video marketing. Who’s buying it, what they’re paying, what type of content, production, distribution, cross-selling with other products
- Most-demanded content. Weather, sports, local news, TikTok-type humor, storytelling
- Outsourcing services. What can be outsourced, what can be handled in-house, profitability
Running Successful Digital Agency
Three to four 45-minute panel discussions will address:
- Media-borne agencies. Organizational structure, profitability, products sold, typical client, relationship with “legacy” staff, key issues and how to prevent them.
- Stand-alone agencies. Competition, strategic advantages, profitability, products sold, future growth potential.
- Digital services. What to sell, what to avoid, loss leaders, most profitable products, future of SEO, tackling social media management, website design best practices .
- Outsourcing services. What to outsource, what to keep in-house, pricing, profitability.
New Sources of Revenue
Three to four 45-minute panel discussions will address:
- Reader/Site Visitor Revenue. How much revenue is needed from readers to support your newsroom operation? Moderator: Andrew Ramsammy, Local Media Association
- Simple Tricks in “Purchase Flow” Redesign. News organizations can lose tens of thousands of dollars from poorly designed subscribe or donate pages. Moderator: Penny Riordan, Local Media Association
- Storytelling & Sponsorships. Some media companies are finding six-figure sales success by focusing on combining the power of storytelling and sponsorship while engaging unique audiences. Moderator: Julia Campbell, The Branded Content Project
- The Missing Revenue Pillar: Contributions. Hear how 16 publishers raised $5M in 9 months to fund news operations in LMA’s Lab for Journalism Funding, and how you can incorporate philanthropy into your overall revenue strategy. Moderator: Frank Mungeam, Local Media Association
TUESDAY, MARCH 8
8:30 AM
Keynote Speakers
Day 2 drills down on trends noted during Monday’s sessions. With so many local businesses (and individuals) enabled to become their own “media” companies, are they ready? The first presentation profiles these novice marketers and how they view the world, and the second presentation taps a nationally known marketing-funnel expert to uncover the marketing elements they’re likely to overlook.
An Army of Novice Marketers
Brace yourselves: An army of 20-somethings are storming the advertising world. Local research guru Corey Elliott has studied the phenomenon and describes how novice marketers are likely to view things, and whom they are teaming with as they evolve into masters.
SPEAKER: Corey Elliott, EVP of Local Market Intelligence, Borrell Associates
Marketing Mastery
The availability of searchable databases has driven advertising dollars to wallet-ready consumers at the bottom of the Marketing Funnel. What does that mean for mass media, whose greater value proposition has been branding? A nationally known expert in data analytics and marketing optimization shows new research on what type of marketing drives ROI and how branding magnifies results.
SPEAKER: TBA
The Voice of Our Next-Generation of Marketers
How will those 20-somethings change the face of marketing and advertising? This session features three marketing students who offer their views of the world. Moderated by their college professor, the panel will discuss the importance of influence marketing, the role of social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, how they view print and broadcast media, and where they’d advise a business to spend their marketing dollars.
SPEAKERS: TBA
Morning Break
Recruiting the Right Talent
You’ve got the vision and strategy. Now all you need is the right talent. Finding them has been a major problem since the pandemic. In this session, recruiting expert Robert Hawthorne lays out the results of a new Hawthorne/Borrell study on issues around recruiting managers, sales reps, and other personnel. He also offers tips on how today’s companies can attract top talent without having to offer top dollars.
SPEAKER: Robert Hawthorne, President, Hawthorne Executive Search
How to Tackle Diversity & Inclusion
There’s been a lot of talk about striving for gender and racial diversity on staffs, but how can that be achieved at the local level – particularly in smaller, rural markets where it’s always more difficult to recruit?
SPEAKER: SHRM executive (invited)
High-Growth Category: Online Gambling
Ad spending by online betting apps has skyrocketed, yet more growth is to come. Half of the states in the U.S. have yet to approve sports betting, and online gambling is available in only six. What does the future hold, and is there a “local” advertising play? Ezra Kucharz, Chief Business Officer of Draft Kings and former president of CBS Local Digital Media, offers his perspective.
Rapid-Fire Case Studies
Up to 18 five-minute case studies of dynamic, profitable programs will be presented in rapid-fire succession over two sessions – one on Monday and another Tuesday. This is one of the most popular features of Borrell’s event.
SPEAKER: TBA
12:30 PM
LUNCH & DESSERT WITH SPONSORS
2:00PM
The Future of Video
As we heard in Monday’s opening session, video plays a big role in the Internet’s third decade. Spending on video advertising has exploded, growing faster than the initial years of search advertising and the initial years of social media. In this session, an executive with North America’s largest independent online video platform talks about where video marketing is headed, the role of AI, OTT trends, and how local publishers have found ways to drive significant revenue with video.
SPEAKER: TBA, STN Video
Three Key Strategies
This session features quick-hit summaries from each of the three Monday afternoon track sessions on streaming video, running a digital agency, and online content. If you missed any of the sessions, this presentation offers the highlights and biggest conclusions.
SPEAKERS: TBA
Wrap-up: Observations and Key Takeaways from 2 Days of Full Immersion
With a lot of help from attendees, this session boils it all down. What was most interesting? What was BS? What are the biggest takeaways you’ll bring home?
Panelists: Corey Elliott, Jim Brown, & the audience
CONFERENCE ENDS AT 4 PM
*Subject to change; agenda will be updated throughout the year as we confirm speakers and sessions. The agenda will be formally set by Dec. 1, 2021.