The Mrkt Remix conference in Bergen, Norway, brought together creative thinkers and technologists to debate the future of marketing. Canvas8 founder Nick Morris was there to join the debate.
“Now is the time for marketers to understand technology, but also for technologists to understand marketing.” The organisers’ statement of intent boldly communicates the ethos behind Mrkt Remix – the need for marketers and advertisers to challenge convention and embrace innovation.
Driven by the desire to share insights about human-centric marketing, this event was geographically removed from the traditional media hotspots, but still deeply centred around commercial thinking. Brands and agencies like Heineken and Dentsu Aegis spoke of the need to stay relevant and connected, regardless of business size and budget.
Mrkt Remix proves the idea that smart thinking doesn't have to exclusively thrive in big cities and traditional creative hubs. With featured trends including the future of work, marketing, digital innovation and communication, the idea that there are disruptive agencies and brands appearing in every sector and every territory rang true – and is apparent on a global scale. And, with digital connectivity meaning there’s less of a need for talent to be location-dependent, the event explored how creative industries are becoming democratized and presenting new ways of working for brands and agencies.
With this in mind, Canvas8 presented ideas aimed at advertisers and marketers, focusing on the need to understand and embrace changing behaviours to remain relevant and connected in 2019. Considering overall opportunities to rethink communication strategies with a human-lens, the following pointers were aimed at attendees as key event takeaways:
-Be understanding: consider side hustles and personal development
-Be principled: be purposeful, hero the customer, don’t be arrogant
-Be genuine: know what you stand for
-Be open: be transparent and accessible
-Be surprising: surprise can result in a 400% increase in emotion. Spark serendipity and combine it for maximum impact.
-Be collaborative: recognize people’s goal and work with them to help them achieve it
-Be tangible: nothing is more human than touch. From haptic tech to Bump Mark labels, we’re embracing physicality
Overall, be more human.
Abi Buller is an editorial assistant at Canvas8, the leading behavioural insights practice. Abi is a London-based graduate from London College of Fashion (UAL). With a background in creative direction for fashion, her research and creative projects focus on experiential retail, new technologies and trend forecasting.