Last week we blew the proverbial conch shell and called all marketers—from near and far—to gather at Activate Summit North America in San Francisco. Established on our Dreamers, Builders, and Makers foundation, Activate featured three tracks geared towards strategy, execution, and professional development.
In addition to the three tracks, there were keynotes, roundtables, and networking opportunities galore!
If you weren’t able to attend, we’ve got you covered. While we can’t give you a play-by-play of everything that happened, we’re going to recap some of the sessions and events to give you a sample of the takeaways shared at Activate. (But be sure to register for the next Activate so you don’t miss out!)
The Keynotes
We had three keynote sessions at Activate Summit: the Morning Keynote, with appearances from Iterable’s CEO, CMO, and COO, the Product Keynote and Showcase, lead by Iterable’s Senior VP of Product Management, Bela Stepanova, and the Celebrity Keynote delivered by the one-and-only Nicole Byer. Let’s look at the key points.
The Morning Keynote
We started much in the same way Iterable began: by focusing on the people. Iterable co-founder and CEO Andrew Boni kicked us off by highlighting the amazing work of marketers in our community—and in the room at Activate! He announced our slate of 2022 Expie Award Winners and showed examples of how everyone can make a difference in their customers’ lives.
Following Andrew, Iterable’s CMO Adriana Gil Miner spoke about how the way we market has changed, but the goal is still the same: bring joy to our customers. She addressed the “forever problems” that marketers face and how to fix them.
And to close out, Iterable’s COO Jeff Samuels was joined by two Iterable customers—Merryfield, PBC and A+E Networks—to talk through how to make it all happen in practice.
The Product Keynote and Showcase
Featuring Bela and members of Iterable’s Solutions Consulting and Product Management teams, the Product Keynote was an absolute delight. Here, we unveiled a variety of new features and demonstrated live on stage how they impact your business in meaningful ways. From our AI Optimization Suite to features improving efficiency, the showcase highlighted the future of marketing.
The Celebrity Keynote: Bringing Joy Through Laughter
We began the final day of Activate the way any good day should begin: with lots of laughs. Comedian, television host, and podcaster Nicole Byer took the stage with Iterable’s VP of DEI Markita Jack to chat about her career, the importance of joy in our lives, connecting with an audience, and generally to just have a ton of fun!
A Few Sessions
With strategy, execution, and professional development tracks available to all attendees, the sessions provided a wide array of thought leadership, tactical takeaways, and advice on how to build soft skills. We’ve highlighted a few sessions below.
Studio and Segmentation: Building Complex, Reusable Audiences for Dynamic Content
Sr. Manager of Digital Communications at Cinemark, Anna Bayacal, took to the stage to share how complex segmentation needs and multiple focal areas posed challenges for her team. By using Iterable to build lists and create automated journeys, Anna’s team was able to improve efficiency and save over five hours a week.
Connect and Collect: Propelling Customer Journeys With the Power of Automation
StreetEasy’s Sr. Marketing Operations Specialist, Nate Casimiro, walked through five different scenarios in which Iterable helps to increase efficiency: gated content and applications, confirmations and alerts, listing cards and recommendations, announcements and reports, and blog updates and rollups. With features like Data Feeds, Catalog, and Snippets, Nate’s team was able to automate previously challenging processes.
Get in the Game: Level Up Your Player Experiences With Personalized Customer Journeys
Rachel Kamel, Director of Growth at NCSoft, highlighted her team’s quest: creating more fun for users. To get players into the game faster, the NCSoft team developed a welcome journey consisting of five emails, each sent at specific times with specific goals. As a result, the NCSoft team saw a 48% increase in incremental sales.
A Couple Roundtables
Intersectionality Roundtable
Folks gathered at the Intersectionality roundtable to share their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression, and discuss how businesses can acknowledge all sides of marginalization in company culture and marketing. Some discussion questions include “Does the makeup of our team actively represent a diverse set of identities and experiences?” and “How can you evolve your language or messaging to reflect the experiences of people of a singular identity?”
Insurance & FinTech Roundtable
In an industry-centric roundtable, members of the Insurance and FinTech industries got together to chat about the personal aspects of marketing. After all, marketers in the FinTech and Insurance industries have to ensure customer communication is handled with a level of sensitivity to build—and maintain—customer trust. Discussion questions included “What unique approach does your business take to communicating about finances with your customers?” and “How do you project sentiment will shift in the next year?”
Networking Nights
In addition to the breakout sessions and roundtable discussions, attendees had the opportunity to chat at the Iterable-hosted happy hour and then gathered at City View at Metreon for a bumpin’ after party. Drinks, snacks, and marketing tips were shared as the crowd looked out over the glowing San Francisco skyline.
Get Ready to Do It All Again
We may have just finished Activate ‘22, but Activate ‘23 is already around the corner. While we were able to share a few takeaways from this year, there will be even more actionable insights to gain next year. Join us again April 17-19, to get the full scoop.
