Event Details
To build awareness and understanding of—and interest in—your b-to-b product or brand, it’s important to pick the right communications strategy to use across all elements of an integrated marketing communications program. Under what conditions would you choose to go the “peer to peer” or “testimonial” route? When might you want to go with a “plausible emergency” strategy? What are the other principal b-to-b communications strategies and when and where do they work best? See real-life examples of how audience understanding drove communications strategies that led to award-winning, highly effective campaigns.
Program
6:00 PM-6:30 PM: Registration & Networking
6:30 PM-8:00 PM: Program
8:00 PM-9:00 PM: Networking & Cash Bar
Speaker Profiles
Gary Slack (Speaker)
Chief Experience Officer, Slack Barshinger
Gary Slack is chairman and chief experience officer of Slack Barshinger, Chicago’s largest and one of the nation’s leading business-to-business marketing consulting and communications agencies. Founded in 1988 and with offices in Chicago and San Jose, CA, the agency works exclusively with b-to-b marketers (it turns down consumer work) to build strong brands and cost-effectively find, create, retain and grow profitable customers. Slack Barshinger works with a who’s who of well-known brands, including Aon, Business.com, Diebold, Dow Chemical, eBay, FedEx, Fellowes, Google, Harris Bank, PayPal, Rewards Network Tellabs and Underwriters Laboratories.
In 2002, 2004 and 2006, the Business Marketing Association named Slack Barshinger its national “Agency of the Year” for its “ability to create a sustainable competitive advantage for its clients.” In 2001 and 2004, Crain’s BtoB magazine, the monthly bible for b-to-b marketers, named Slack Barshinger its “Small Agency of the Year.” In 2006, BtoB magazine named Gary’s firm its “Midsize Agency of the Year.” And, for four years in a row, BtoB magazine also has named Gary to its annual list of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in Business-to-Business Marketing."
Gary is executive vice president of the Chicago chapter of the Business Marketing Association, the largest in BMA’s national network, and will serve as president in 2008-09. He also is a vice chairman and member of the executive committee of the board of directors of the Economic Club of Chicago. He is a member of the board of directors of the Joffrey Ballet and serves on its marketing committee. He also is a member of the annual fund committee of the Ravinia Festival, a judge in the Chicago Innovation Awards program and a board member of the newly formed Chicago Council for Science and Technology.