Ashton Media’s Top 10 posts of 2014

I’d like to start this post with a thank you.

Thanks to all of our speakers, sponsors, delegates and contributing writers. Ours is a people business so without you Ashton Media wouldn’t exist.

Our goal is to connect interesting and influential people by offering knowledge and inspiration as well as exceptional peer-to-peer networking. According to you we’ve achieved that goal with each of the five events and the 48 posts we ran in 2014.

We kicked off 2014 with the launch of the Customer 360 Symposium in April in the beautiful Hunter Valley. The focus of the event was on customer experience (CX) and engagement and it was the most senior gathering of CX and marketing executives to be held in Australia.

Here’s what a couple of our delegates thought of the event:

Paul Smitton, Executive Manager Customer Strategy & Online, Qantas Loyalty

A very well run event with good balance between sponsored content and client-side case studies. Good amount of time for genuine networking.

Michael Burgess, General Manager, Marketing, Weight Watchers

A great event, well organised with good speakers, the right mix of delegates and a great environment to enable serious thinking, conversations and networking to occur. Well done Ashton Media.

We launched the Data Strategy Forum at the Museum of Contemporary Art in August. It’s a roundtable focused format allowing delegates to deep dive into key areas of interest in data driven marketing and advertising. It’s quite a unique format and delegates rated it very highly.

In September 2014 we brought you the 2^nd Annual Agency Symposium; the annual event for ANZ’s agency leaders. With no media or clients present, the event provides a unique platform for candid discussion.

We invited CX and marketing leaders back for the Customer 360 Forum in October. The roundtable format really resonated with delegates. According to Tanya McCabe, Head of Customer Experience at Tabcorp “you hosted the best CX event I have seen in Australia as yet.”

We rounded the year out with the 2^nd Annual Data Strategy Symposium in November. The event sold out completely; a great way to close out the year.

We also launched our Marketing & CX Hub in June (we’ve been busy) which has been steadily gaining momentum. Our posts on data driven marketing and CX have proven very popular.

So we thought you might appreciate a rundown of the top 10 posts from the year. (Click the titles to read the posts)

Here are our top 10 posts from 2014

10. How Dell delivers great customer experience with purpose – Mark Abay

This post is based on a presentation given by Billy Butler, Director, Global Customer Quality at Dell, about how Dell made the transformation as a global solutions provider without losing touch with the customer experience. It takes place at the first Customer 360 Symposium run by Ashton Media in April, 2014.

9. Why silos damage customer experiences – Amy Scott

Amy Scott, Director of Sedulous, shares her insights into why silos are the biggest hindrance to corporate growth. Amy recognises that the work it will take to break down your existing silos isn’t going to be easy, but believes it is necessary in the long term if your organisation wants to stay competitive and profitable.

8. Right time, right place: improving the customer experience with an Omni-Channel approach – Karen Platt

What challenges do you face in establishing an omni-channel approach with customer experience at the heart? Optus Business Director Karen Platt looks at the customer-brand relationship and the interaction that takes place between the two in this world of online and offline channels.

7. Are your customer experience metrics cutting it? – Scott McMillan

Scott McMillan, General Manager – Business Consulting, Salmat explains why you can’t manage the improvement of your customer experience if you don’t measure it and why you can’t rely on your customer experience metrics to do all the work.

6. Do I Know You? When Personalisation Goes Wrong – Robert Holliday

Personalisation means learning about your customers’ likes and dislikes and then using them to create more exciting, meaningful experiences. But when we get those details wrong or assume too much too soon, we can do more harm than good. Robert Holliday, VP Enablement Service – Greater Asia, Sitecore, provides three simple ways to avoid getting personalisation wrong.

5. How technology is changing the way brand experiences are delivered – David Pisker

David Pisker, Head of Customer Experience & eCommerce at Officeworks points out that although many retailers will be unable to adapt, brands that focus on differentiating through superior ‘every channel’ or ‘omni-channel’ customer experience will have a greater chance of prospering in this new environment.

4. Understand the customer experience by bringing data to life – Miwah Van

Technology has made it easier for businesses to understand the customer experience. But are businesses collecting data that is meaningful for their businesses and is all this data really helping you understand what matters to your customers? Miwah Van, founder of Unvorsum presents the human toolkit to help you discover what your customers are really experiencing.

3. What Khaleesi can teach you about customer experience – Robert Holliday

Robert Holliday, VP Enablement Service – Greater Asia, Sitecore, gives us four lessons in creating a good customer experience by examining the leadership traits of the main character, Daenerys Targaryen (also known as Khaleesi) from the hit TV show ‘Game of Thrones’.

2. Data, Engagement and Customer Experience Management – Steve Riddle

Unless your business sees Customer Experience as a culture, not a tool, then your customers will feel the pain of what is not being provided by your front-line team members. Steve Riddle, Head of Customer Service & Complaints, Toyota Finance, is convinced that engagement, morale, culture, sub-cultures and the impact of leadership on these can be felt by all customers.

1. Pay it forward – how to become customer centric – Miwah Van

What does the catch-phrase “customer centric” really entail? Being “customer centric” means being focussed on all customers, including employees. Miwah Van, founder of Unvorsum, looks at the misaligned perception many businesses place on the value of their staff and suggests that to move your business from ‘good’ to ‘great’ you need to give your staff a reason to ‘pay it forward.

What to expect in 2015

This year we’ll be running six events starting with the launch of ANZ’s first and only programmatic advertising conference, the Programmatic Summit, which takes place on March 5^th in Sydney.

We’ll also be running the 2^nd Annual Customer 360 Symposium, Data Strategy Forum, 3^rd Annual Agency Symposium, Customer 360 Forum and 3^rd Annual Data Strategy Symposium.

We may also have a couple of tricks up our sleeve; stay tuned for updates!

Thanks for reading.