Ignite Conversations That Connect.
Date: Nov. 14, 2018
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
During this social media conference you’ll develop the strategies and skill sets you need to better understand and communicate with your customers online.
Neal Schaffer
What is Spark?
Use #spark to join the conversation.
Have you ever thought about how social media has changed the way we communicate? And what that means for marketers?
At Spark, we’ll discuss how technology is transforming the way that consumers connect with brands - and the way they communicate online. And during this must-attend social media conference, we’ll also hear from industry experts about how the major social networks are redesigning their services to encourage more ‘meaningful interactions’ between brands and consumers.
Through a series of inspirational keynotes and panel discussions, you’ll learn how to craft conversations that reach - and resonate with - customers in the digital age.
A Who’s Who of Digital Marketing.
Your hosts
Full-day Program
All Roads Lead to Spark.
About Lokomotivværkstedet
This old train factory is the ideal setting for discussing how advancements in technology continue to alter how we connect, communicate and access information. The factory’s 9,000- square-foot main hall has become a cultural hub in Copenhagen that has hosted some of the city’s biggest digital marketing conferences - a list that will soon include Spark.
Address: Otto Busses Vej 5A, 2450 Copenhagen, Denmark
How to Get There & Where to Stay
Lokomotivværkstedet is 6 minutes away from the center of Copenhagen by car. There is a parking lot just outside the venue’s entrance with loads of parking.
It only takes 11 minutes to walk to the venue from either Enghavevej Station or Dybbølsbro Station.
Biking is an excellent way to get to Lokomotivværkstedet – and takes around 15 minutes from Copenhagen Central Station.
Bus 1A departs from Copenhagen Central Station and stops at Enghavevej, which is only an 11 minute walk from the venue. Bus 1A leaves Copenhagen Central Station every 6 minutes.
Bus 14 departs from Copenhagen Central Station and stops at Bavnehøj Hallen (Enghavevej), which is only a 7 minute walk from the venue. Bus 14 leaves Copenhagen Central Station every 8 minutes.
We recommend staying at any of the three First Hotel Copenhagen locations in the city center or the Tivoli Hotel, which is close to the venue.
You can easily hail a taxi right outside of Copenhagen Station or call +45 27 27 27 27 to order one directly to your location.
Spark partners.
Session:: Companies have been engaging in organic social media marketing for almost a decade. Over time the social networks of choice, popular content mediums, and the algorithms that determine who sees what have radically changed. It's time for an equally radically different approach to social media marketing in order to be successful. Fortunately, influencer marketing has emerged as an effective tactic that all companies regardless of industry should include as part of their marketing mix.
Bio:: Neal Schaffer is a leading authority on helping businesses through their digital transformation of sales and marketing through consulting, training, and helping enterprises large and small develop and execute on social media marketing strategy, influencer marketing, and social selling initiatives. President of the social media agency PDCA Social, Neal also teaches digital media to executives and is going to publish his fourth book later this year.
Session:: The ability to easily live broadcast is the most important media development of the last decade. It's helped change governments, change attitudes, change the world. Services like FB Live, Twitter Live/Periscope, Instagram Live and YouTube Live are tools all creative folks and marketers should master. Social media expert Sree Sreenivasan, who's done more than 300 live social broadcasts (in addition to 100s of traditional TV live shots), shares his best tips in a world-premiere presentation at Spark. To help drive home some of his most important lessons, he will also be going live and sharing his tips with the world and showing how he does them a little differently than most folks.
Bio:: Sree Sreenivasan is a leading consultant, speaker and trainer for nonprofits, corporations, startups and executives. Sree has been Chief Digital Officer for the City of New York, Columbia University and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before joining the Met, he spent 20 years as a professor at Columbia Journalism School. He was named one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2015.
Session:: In this session, you’ll be shown the many ways you can deliver (and prove) real business value through smart use of social data and insights. From research and development to sales and talent, learn how you can evolve your social media strategy to become an insights powerhouse for your brand.
Bio:: Sabrina Rodriguez is a digital intrapreneur and expert in Social Media, Content and Digital Marketing, whose specialism lies in building high performing social & digital teams from scratch and supporting digital transformation programs across the Telco, Financial Services and Media Industries. Sabrina is an IPA Woman of Tomorrow Finalist and member of the 2015 New Entrepreneurs Foundation Cohort.
Session:: At a time when consumers are overloaded with messages, brands struggle increasingly to cut through the noise and be heard. However, by taking audience insights and communities as a starting point, we can still deliver meaningful storytelling that attracts and engages audiences, offers added value and builds brand love.
Bio:: After working as a copywriter in various agencies, Christophe moved client side to manage international content programs across various industries. Today, Christophe leads the social and editorial programs for Toyota Motor Europe – from strategy and development to implementation and impact measurement – with a clear focus on brand rather than product.
Session:: While it’s true to say that paid media is an indispensable component of any successful social media strategy, organic social media is just as important today as it has been in the past. Despite organic reach having shrunk to single-digit proportions, your organic social presence is still a powerful ally when it’s being harnessed and supported.
Bio:: Matt Navarra is a digital and social media consultant working with brands like ITV, BBC or United Nations. Matt held the position of director of social media for popular global tech news publisher The Next Web. He was responsible for the social media strategy of both news editorial output and TNW Conference. Earlier in his career, Matt held the position of digital communications lead for the UK Government.
Session:: Ah, the reality of content marketing. You spend days, weeks, even months creating one amazing piece of content, then on launch day you swan into the office with a smug grin on your face as you await all the leads to start rolling in... Only it doesn't usually work out that way, does it? You hit refresh over and over but the number remains the same...low. Your sales team looks at you with disappointment in their eyes, and you think, "it's not my fault! If I had more budget I could have ran ads, bought a sponsored email, and so much more!" If this sounds remotely familiar, I have good news for you: It doesn't have to be that way! In this session I'll show you why a big budget or content team is not necessary to be successful with content marketing.
Bio:: Lisa Toner is the Senior Manager of Acquisition for HubSpot and leads a global team of marketers responsible for the growth of HubSpot Academy. She is also the founder of ETTCH, a company focused on building self-esteem and reducing anxiety in young children.
Session:: Today’s consumers live their lives on social media, creating and sharing millions of pieces of content every day. This user-generated content (UGC) is incredibly influential. So how can brands effectively leverage user-generated content? By posting daily, reactive content on social media. The good news is, it's not impossible to navigate, it doesn't need to be costly and it can be used effectively.
Bio:: Maria has worked in digital marketing for the last 6 years and is currently responsible for managing Lonely Planet's social media channels and leads the brand’s global social media strategy. Being at the helm of 22 channels with a combined following of 16 million+, there’s never a dull day in the office! She also leads the travel influencer program, Lonely Planet Pathfinders, in which the brand works with content creators from all over the globe on editorial and social media content.
Session:: The mechanisms behind purpose marketing as a powerful tool for leading brands to connect and engage with their audiences. Insights into how momondo successfully uses their purpose platform “Let’s Open our World” to connect emotionally and psychological with a global audience.
Bio:: Allan is responsible for the strategy behind momondo’s global purpose program. He uses purpose marketing to achieve business and marketing objectives and work with a broad range of influencers for momondo. Allan believes purpose marketing is vital to success in a world where audiences seek meaningful behavior from brands.
Session:: How exactly is the digital marketing industry in Europe faring these days? And what methods and strategies are being prioritized? How do category winning companies adapt to a platform world? Which quick wins remain and which opportunities present themselves thanks to Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon?
Bio:: Philipp is the talking head and face of OMR, a platform for digital marketing. The heart of the company is the OMR Festival, taking place annually in Hamburg. Philipp is an in-demand keynote speaker and sparring partner for various national and international companies and projects. He has been decisive in building up and selling off various online marketing and ad-tech companies together with his partners.
Session:: While it’s true to say that paid media is an indispensable component of any successful social media strategy, organic social media is just as important today as it has been in the past. Despite organic reach having shrunk to single-digit proportions, your organic social presence is still a powerful ally when it’s being harnessed and supported.
Bio:: Unity Technologies is the creator of the world’s most widely-used real-time 3D development platform. Kristyna Hougaard has been managing global social media and the blog for Unity for 5+ years and introduced editorial processes across the company. She’s passionate about content marketing and how communities gather around content of value. Her #madewithunity Friday Twitter campaign from 2013 is still going strong, and has gathered more than 2 million social mentions over the years.
Session:: Today’s consumers live their lives on social media, creating and sharing millions of pieces of content every day. This user-generated content (UGC) is incredibly influential. So how can brands effectively leverage user-generated content? By posting daily, reactive content on social media. The good news is, it's not impossible to navigate, it doesn't need to be costly and it can be used effectively.
Bio:: Working for STABILO International GmbH, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of writing instruments, Sven is primarily responsible for online and social media marketing in Germany. Benefitting from ten years of professional experience, he is an absolute expert in social media and helps the company to develop topics like digital content with additional value, user-generated content and influencer marketing.
Session:: With a new set of methods, Nana and Katrine will take you through the practical aspects of de-escalating conflict with angry customers. Learn to understand why your users spend their time on negative comments and learn how different forms of fairness can inform your tactics for answering them. The workshop is centered around the theory and practice of push/pull-answers and you will leave with three new models for your customer care on social media.
Bio:: Katrine is an independent consultant and associate professor with the University of Copenhagen. She works with a number of customers on social media strategy and content production and has a long history as a blogger and a podcaster.
Session:: Facebook ads work. But only if you know what you’re doing. Learn how to optimize your Facebook ad spend in this open mic discussion.
Bio:: Data-driven online marketer with a passion for Analytics. Jacob has written three books about online marketing and Analytics, and is an experienced international speaker.
He likes coffee and diving, but not at the same time.
Session:: With a new set of methods, Nana and Katrine will take you through the practical aspects of de-escalating conflict with angry customers. Learn to understand why your users spend their time on negative comments and learn how different forms of fairness can inform your tactics for answering them. The workshop is centered around the theory and practice of push/pull-answers and you will leave with three new models for your customer care on social media.
Bio:: Nana is a professional mediator and psychologist specialized in conflict resolution in organizations - between colleagues and between the organization itself and their customers. In her view, disagreements can be a source of possibility. If you know how to go about it, that is. She's the author of two books on conflict resolution, the latest in cooperation with Katrine Emme Thielke, also a Spark speaker.
Session:: Gartner says 25 Percent of Customer Service Operations will use virtual customer assistants by 2020. Learn what chatbots can contribute to improve customer experience already today and how Dräger implemented its first one as part of their Facebook strategy.
Bio:: Sandra Eggers has 10+ years of corporate communications and digital marketing experience. She joined Dräger in 2011 and developed the company’s social media strategy and landscape from scratch. As part of the Digital Business Development team she is leading a small group of experts who consult and enable the global organization in terms of social media and related digital topics.
Session:: In this session I will delve into the strategy behind the Virago Books Instagram and demonstrate how (and why) we increased organic growth and built a loyal and engaged audience (pretty pictures included).
Bio:: Madeleine is a vibrant and creative digital marketer with 8 years’ experience working in the publishing industry. She is currently responsible for the direct-to-consumer marketing strategy, online content strategy and data insight across the full range of Little, Brown Book Group’s publishing. She has an MA in Social and Political Thought and spends her free time travelling the world in search of good coffee.
Session:: Identify and analyze the channels that work best for your brand when it comes to video. Do short videos engage your audience better? Or does longer content drive conversions? With the importance of video growing every year, we’ll share data and tips behind the impact video can have on your social strategy.
Bio:: A journalist by trade, Todd has worked in content marketing at tech companies from Salt Lake City to Detroit to San Francisco to Copenhagen. After working at KUER, the NPR radio station in Salt Lake City, he made the jump into marketing and has helped build out content strategies that consist of thought-leadership and lead generation pieces of video, whitepapers, eBooks, infographics, and blogs. He’s now at TwentyThree, the video marketing platform.
Session:: 85% of execs will invest in AI within 3 years, 20% of searches in the Google app are done with voice and Amazon has sold more than 20 mio. Alexa-driven devices. In other words, conversations and AI are the center of the next generation of customer experiences - Join the brain snack and learn more about Conversational AI.
Bio:: Simon is a designer, entrepreneur and partner in the AI-startup BotSupply where he’s spearheading efforts in Conversational AI. BotSupply and Simon are on a mission to help brands enter the conversational era, and to make us all interact with machines and organisations in a more human way – conversations. Simon has worked with digital innovation in various shapes, including product/UX design, social innovation and AI based on his background in digital design and innovation from the IT University in Copenhagen.
Session:: The most important question from a business perspective is how we can monetize social media. Facebook ads are getting really expensive, the organic reach is close to zero and creating engaging and original content takes time and money. Join this session if you want to learn how to first build, then monetize a community around your brand using the assets you already have, how to use UGC and FGC as a brand, how to utilize influencers and finally the working methods when it comes to selling on social.
Bio:: Janos Ienciu is the Global Head of Social Media at the Motorsport Network. He leads the social strategy of Motorsport.com, Autosport.com, Motor1.com and 25 other brands within the Motorsport Network. Previously he was a Creative Strategist at Young & Rubicam creating international digital campaigns for brands like Opel, Wizzair or Erste Bank. He is also a founder of 314, a digital agency with clients like Samsung or Coca-Cola.
Session:: What’s more important? SEO or content marketing? To us, this is like the question about the chicken and the egg. Because great content, by its very nature, means great SEO. That’s because a website that ranks well, but has no content is useless in the rankings eventually. But having the best content in the world often means nothing if it doesn’t show up in a search. And where does social media fit in to all of this?
Bio:: Dr Ewoudt Cloete is employed as Head of Social Media at Wunderman SA, as part of the biggest Digital Agency Group globally. Managing a team of digital specialists, he has helped plan the social media presence of global brands such as Jaguar, Samsung, PlayStation, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Microsoft and Coca-Cola. Ewoudt completed his PhD in Communications in 2017, with focus on social media and is also a Part-time Marketing Lecturer and Post Grad Research Supervisor at various marketing institutions.
Session:: When Jameson walks into a pub, he’s not the bloke that stands on the bar and shouts the loudest. He listens twice as much as he talks and only speaks, knowing people will care about what he has to say. People engage with people, not with brands so here’s how we pull up a stool next to our mates, not our followers & form two-way, mutually beneficial relationships, not to mention life-long friends.
Bio:: Hanne (Just a plain old “Hannah” – Irish, born in Denmark & raised in Rome), is Global Social & Content Brand Manager for Jameson - the world’s leading Irish whiskey. Jameson were recently voted #2 Spirit Brand & #1 Whiskey Brand on Social Media by The Spirit’s Business 2018. During her 4 years with the company, Hanne has worked in Spain, domestic Ireland & on the re-development of Jameson Distillery Bow St., one of Ireland’s top visitor attractions. She’s delighted to be back in Copenhagen, the city of her birth. Hopefully it’s the good luck charm needed to get Jameson to that #1 spot on Social in 2019!
Session:: The German Armed Forces are behind one of the biggest social media channels managed by a public organization in Europe. They started YouTube series and messenger chatbots. Dirk von Holleben will talk about how the Armed Forces are using social media to attract the eyeballs of millennials with storytelling and entertaining content.
Bio:: Dirk von Holleben is in charge of employer branding and recruitment for the German Armed Forces. Prior to his current position he worked as Director of Communications at the German Ministry of Family Affairs and oversaw major campaigns for socio-politically relevant issues such as parental benefit, expansion of childcare facilities or voluntary service. Dirk von Holleben gained PR experience whilst working at various PR agencies as well as publishing companies.
Bio:: Ulrik has two decades of entrepreneurial experience in the groove between marketing and technology. On the tech side, he had a stint at Oracle as one of the youngest engineers on their consulting team. He later went on to build the global communities platform at NetDoctor.com with a small team. This experience led him to co-found and build a Scandinavian social network from the ground up, which was then acquired by media group JP/Politiken. Ulrik went on to co-found a boutique social tech consultancy, working with marquee brands and agencies. After growing its customer base, tech stack, and staff, he led a spin-out of the internal social media management product that would become Falcon. The new company took off raising its first round of capital in 2012.
Session:: Today’s consumers live their lives on social media, creating and sharing millions of pieces of content every day. This user-generated content (UGC) is incredibly influential. So how can brands effectively leverage user-generated content? By posting daily, reactive content on social media. The good news is, it's not impossible to navigate, it doesn't need to be costly and it can be used effectively.
Bio:: Jessica (or Jess) originally hails from Dallas, Texas but now lives in Copenhagen with her Danish husband. As a Customer Success Manager at Falcon she works with leading global brands in a wide array of industries and markets (focus on UKI). Her passion is understanding the world we live in better—particularly all things tech and BI related. Fav quote: "Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose."
Session:: While it’s true to say that paid media is an indispensable component of any successful social media strategy, organic social media is just as important today as it has been in the past. Despite organic reach having shrunk to single-digit proportions, your organic social presence is still a powerful ally when it’s being harnessed and supported.
Bio:: Danish native Mette Louise comes from a background in the music- and festival business and has spent a lot of time in the trenches of social media advertising. She enjoys stoner rock, re-watching The Matrix and discussing the certain doom technology has destined us to.
Bio:: Jillian brings close to 15 years of experience in sales, digital marketing and demand generation strategies within the financial services and technology sectors. Jillian joined Falcon 3 years ago as the VP of Marketing and as we strengthened our focus on Customer Experience her function gradually transitioned from marketing into Customer Success to ensure that the brand promise is delivered consistently across the sales and customer lifecycle.
Bio:: Dino is the face of Falcon.io’s customer experience programs. He has played ping pong across the Atlantic several times and worked in fashion and now in tech. He is a creative thinker with an unwavering belief in the power of marketing to build unity and shared vision.