“What you seek is seeking you.” Rumi
Several years ago, my friend Derrick Daye was sitting on an airplane coming back from Toronto after attending another boring marketing conference. In his past, Derrick worked for global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. He has co-led the brand strategy effort for many respected brands, including Abbott Vascular, FootJoy, and Wyndham Hotels Worldwide.
Derrick was reading Walter Isaacson’s magnificent biography of Steve Jobs on his flight home to LA. Derrick wondered,
“How would Jobs have created a better experience for participants? What would he have done differently to change how this format works.”
Derrick asked, “What is the opposite of the experience I just had at this marketing conference?”
A Better Experience
He hypothesized that a better experience would be:
- Smaller, fewer participants – maybe 50 marketing folks
- Participation, not observation. Hands on – not a lecture but something where everyone participated
- Gamified – fun, educational and entertaining at the same time.
He thought he’d call it the Unconference like the Uncola campaign that 7-Up ran years ago to communicate that it wasn’t like your standard cola. This was a memorable marketing campaign that distinguished 7-Up brand from the Coke, Pepsi, and RC Cola.
As the conference idea kept bubbling up, Derrick spoke to marketing conference organizers for their opinion on the idea. They all told him that this approach wouldn’t work. “You need more attendees to make it worthwhile.” They all thought it was a bad business idea. No one will want to attend.
Since the Steve Jobs bio was fresh on his mind, and the uncola name was top of mind, Derrick picked up the phone and called John Sculley.
Sculley was the former CMO and CEO at Pepsi who came to work for Jobs at Apple.
Derrick didn’t know Sculley but always believed that there is no reason he can’t speak to anyone.
Derrick’s belief reminds me of my call to Ben Cohen from Ben & Jerry’s back in the 80’s when I too didn’t know you couldn’t just pick up the phone and talk to well-known foodpreneur. Being naïve (and brave) helps.
When Derrick finally connect with Sculley, and he explained the concept of the Unconference, they talked for almost 90 minutes. Sculley was legendary for having led the inspired Pepsi Challenge and helped change how PepsiCo thought about sales (volume in liters, not bottles consumed). Sculley agreed to be the featured speaker/participant at the first Unconference event held six years ago in California.
The UnConference – No attendees, only participants
Each conference includes two full days of workshops where Derrick places everyone on teams based on understanding each person’s marketing challenges and personality-type. Each group gets the same challenge and through various exercises, gets judged and evaluated by the featured speaker and several other branding experts.
Participants get to see how different teams approach a marketing challenge and you learn tools and techniques that you can practice at the unconference but bring back to your day job. The format for the conference gets refined each year, so they are always finding ways to improve the experience.
They introduced a card game called BRANDINGO, a brand management safari adventure. It requires interaction among the teams because some teams have cards needed for you to complete a task. By making branding into a game, the experience becomes a hands-on learning experience, unlike any other marketing conference.
Held in May each year, the Unconference typically is held in California, but it has been in other cities. The cost is roughly $2,500 to attend. Here is a link to Derrick’s landing page about this past May’s Unconference. If you are curious, I’d urge you to get on Derrick’s mailing list to learn more.
The conference attracts the right people who want an unconventional experience. If you are looking for a counterintuitive marketing educational opportunity for yourself or some marketing team members, I’d highly recommend you investigate the unconference.
The unconference is unconventional. It is the antidote for the boring marketing conference.
Want some unmarketing advice? You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Try my new chat feature on my site if you have a quick question.
Photo courtesy of Derrick Daye and UnConference
