Innovation and Golf in Kohler

Brands, agencies and social media in the morning. Golfing in the afternoon.

I recently returned from Kohler, WI, where marketing VPs, agency execs and vendors cruised in to the American Club for Mediapost’s first annual Brand Marketers Summit.

Limited to about 120 invitees, it was a phenomenal opportunity to build relationships, learn from each other and of course have fun! And fun we had – with golf, skeet shooting, fly fishing and horseback touring.

I was privileged to join Walter Apodaca (President, Gizmo Beverages), Adam Broitman (Chief Creative Strategist, Something Massive @adambroitman), Randy Kilgore (CRO, Tremor Video) and Bart Steiner (President & CEO, Bulbstorm @bulbstorm) on a panel moderated by David Berkowitz, (VP of Emerging Media, 360i @dberkowitz).

The panel, Budgeting for Experimentation: How Much Money Does It Take to Not Be Left Behind? discussed the value in an agency and/or brand having resources dedicated to innovation and experimentation. Check out the full show below:

Here are some of the takeaways:

• Investing in innovation drives experimentation: There have to be resources (people, time and budgets) and an innovative game plan dedicated to experimentation.
• Pilot vs. Experiment: In a pilot program the marketer knows how to strategize, deploy and measure. In an experiment he/she creates completely new strategies, deploys them in ways never done before and predicts new measures.
• An experiment can be either leveraging emerging technologies or creating new ways to leverage what’s already in place.

Check out these iPhone shots from the Summit:

The American Club Hotel

IT. (Innovation Team)

My Remote Office – The American Club Gardens

Blackwolf Run, Meadow Valley

The Greens

My Wheels

The Mighty Lake Michigan

Perhaps my final tweet from the summit sums it up:

Just wrapped up #MPBMS. Thank you @Cpealet & the @MediaPost team for putting together a super summit. Impeccable location too!

— Michoel Ogince (@Twabbi) June 29, 2012

Michoel

Twitter: @Twabbi

Blog: MountainClimber.me