The program for BIA/Kelsey National is building quickly, with many great new speakers, as well as a slew of conference “extras.” Taking place March 25-27 in Dallas, BIA/Kelsey National breaks new ground in the local ecosystem, exploring key trends and opportunities in local for national brands. BIA/Kelsey forecasts that national brands will spend $68 billion on local marketing by 2018.

More than 40 speakers are now slated to join the National program which is being co-chaired by Third Act Marketing CEO Gregg Stewart, our longtime go-to expert for national-local advertising. The event also features The GoLocal Awards, honoring the best in national brand marketing targeting local users; a Before the Bell Innovation Tour at the Dallas Entrepreneur Center’s Treehouse, which is sponsored by Speakeasy; a special edition of Demos and Drinks, showcasing some of the industry coolest technology; a Women Leading in Local session, featuring Happening’s Angela Giovine and Tina Paprone; and special evening events to be announced.

Key speakers just announced include Google‘s Brendon Kraham, Director, Mobile Global Sales and Strategy; Pricewaterhouse Coopers‘ Daniel Eckert, Managing Director, Emerging Tech; YP‘s Melissa Burkhardt, VP, Search and Yield; Valpak President Michael Vivio; The Weather Co‘s Ryan Davis, VP, Local Platform; TvB‘s Steve Lanzano, President and CEO; Mediavest‘s Jason Dailey, SVP; Operative‘s Lorne Brown, CEO; and longtime industry leaders Robyn Rose and Warren Kay.

These industry leaders join previously announced industry leaders including keynotes from Facebook‘s Jon Czaja, Director, Small Business (North America); Geary LSF’s Karen Kovaleski, President and CEO; BizHive’s Dave Walker, Chairman; and Kenshoo’s Aaron Goldman, CMO. Other speakers include Grant Moise, SVP, Niche Markets, The Dallas Morning News; Ethan Selzer, VP, Retail and Regional Advertising, The Washington Post; Rick Hanna, CEO, Mspark; Travis Arthur, VP, ReachLocal; Corey O’Donnell, VP, Brand Management, Yodle; and C. Lee Smith, CEO, Sales Development Strategies (AdMall.)

Brand leaders joining us include El Pollo Loco’s Mark Belanger; Chick Fil-A agency rep Rod Ulrich (Richards Group); U-Haul’s Elnora Cunningham; Brooks Brothers’ Mike Walker; United Van Lines’ Keith Dailey (UniGroup); ServiceMaster’s Philipp von Holtzendorff-Fehling, VP and CMO; Rooms to Go’s Rob Crigler, VP, Digital Marketing; and All My Sons Moving & Storage’s Ormondo Gomez, CFO.

Tech and Agency leaders on the podium will include Advice Interactive Group’s Bernadette Coleman, CEO; Speakeasy’s Mike Orren, CEO; Where2GetIt’s Manish Patel, CEO; LocalBizNow’s Todd Webber, CEO; Simpli.fi’s Frost Prioleau, CEO; Location3 Media’s Andrew Beckman, CEO; MomentFeed’s Robert Blatt, CEO; Placeable’s Ari Kaufman, CEO; and SOCi’s Afif Khoury, CEO.

Will we see you in Dallas? You may register here.

The post BIA/Kelsey National, March 25-27, Dallas: All Star Lineup, Program appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

There is nothing more local than the weather. Curt Hecht puts this simple idea to work every day at the Weather Company, where he serves as global chief revenue officer. The Weather Company, which was acquired in 2008 by NBC Universal for $3.5 billion, operates two powerful brands — weather.com online and The Weather Channel on cable.

One of the innovations Hecht has led since joining the Weather Company in 2012 is using Big Data to develop insights that map consumer behavior (and thus product demand) to local weather conditions.

Take beer, for example. During the polar vortex, Weather studied beer sales before winter storms to explore a new marketing approach for beer other than the stereotypical sunshine and swimsuits genre. It’s a classic national to local approach. How do local weather conditions drive behavior and how should marketers exploit these local nuances?

“When we activate, we activate on a local level,” Hecht said. Weather has looked a other scenarios beyond calibrating beer sales during snow storms.

“We have looked at air conditioner sales in terms of how long does it take in Chicago vs. Atlanta for people to go out and actually buy the air conditioner,” Hecht said. Understanding which combination of temperature and humidity in a given market sends consumers stampeding to the appliance store could be an incredibly powerful insight for marketers.

Hecht joined The Weather Company after 24 years at Publicis Group. He followed Publicis colleague David Kenny, who become Weather’s new CEO. Hecht held a number of key positions during his long career at Publicis, including chief digital officer of Starcom Mediavest Group, and CEO of Vivaki Nerve Center, a unit of Publicis that served as the agency’s technology hub.

Hecht is the Day 2 Keynote speaker at BIA/Kelsey’s upcoming “Leading in Local: The National Impact” conference May 7-9 in Atlanta.

Launch this video for more of Hecht’s views on national to local plus a preview of his address at the Atlanta event.

The post Looking Ahead to Atlanta: Curt Hecht on Weather’s Local Roots appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

There is nothing more local than the weather. Curt Hecht puts this simple idea to work every day at the Weather Company, where he serves as global chief revenue officer. The Weather Company, which was acquired in 2008 by NBC Universal for $3.5 billion, operates two powerful brands — weather.com online and The Weather Channel on cable.

One of the innovations Hecht has led since joining the Weather Company in 2012 is using Big Data to develop insights that map consumer behavior (and thus product demand) to local weather conditions.

Take beer, for example. During the polar vortex, Weather studied beer sales before winter storms to explore a new marketing approach for beer other than the stereotypical sunshine and swimsuits genre. It’s a classic national to local approach. How do local weather conditions drive behavior and how should marketers exploit these local nuances?

“When we activate, we activate on a local level,” Hecht said. Weather has looked a other scenarios beyond calibrating beer sales during snow storms.

“We have looked at air conditioner sales in terms of how long does it take in Chicago vs. Atlanta for people to go out and actually buy the air conditioner,” Hecht said. Understanding which combination of temperature and humidity in a given market sends consumers stampeding to the appliance store could be an incredibly powerful insight for marketers.

Hecht joined The Weather Company after 24 years at Publicis Group. He followed Publicis colleague David Kenny, who become Weather’s new CEO. Hecht held a number of key positions during his long career at Publicis, including chief digital officer of Starcom Mediavest Group, and CEO of Vivaki Nerve Center, a unit of Publicis that served as the agency’s technology hub.

Hecht is the Day 2 Keynote speaker at BIA/Kelsey’s upcoming “Leading in Local: The National Impact” conference May 7-9 in Atlanta.

Launch this video for more of Hecht’s views on national to local plus a preview of his address at the Atlanta event.

The post Looking Ahead to Atlanta: Curt Hecht on Weather's Local Roots appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.