Boris says:

Marketers make a significant contribution to the city’s economy and it’s great that London is hosting the first Festival of Marketing. This is the perfect opportunity for our world leading creative and digital sectors to come together at what looks set to be a prestigious gathering of industry experts.

We’ve also sought the endorsement of MC Hammer. We await his response…

But first, some reasons why you should attend the Festival of Marketing. Or if you’ve heard enough already, get your festival pass here…

Loads of events

Our five main events are:

  • Funnel – where marketing meets sales. The perfect event for B2B folk in sales and marketing.
  • Jump – where marketing meets customer experience. Come along to find out how to enamour your customers and find out tips and tricks from those at the coalface.
  • Punch – where marketing meets the new creative. For creative marketers of every type. Beards, paisley shirts and thick-rimmed spectacles are optional.
  • Crunch – where marketing meets data and analytics. For geeks and those looking to make numbers add to the bottom line.
  • Digital Cream FX – where marketing’s digital elite meet. An exclusive, invite-only roundtable event for the cream of the crop.

In addition to these, we will be having some great fun with our partners at the Fringe. Just a few of the events are below:

  • University Challenge Charity Night – play for marketing glory, have a great night AND do some good. £400 buys a table with proceeds supporting Macmillan and MediaTrust.
  • Digital PR Research Roundtable – find out from the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) on how the future of the PR profession is likely to be shaped by the emergence of digital.
  • Breakfast Briefing: Creating Content for Search, Social and Customers – discover the key content trends of 2013 and beyond over a croissant and coffee.
  • Direct Margarita Night – GMA will be staging the London branch of their world-famous Direct Margarita International networking meet-ups.
  • Bladdered Again! – one sole purpose – to bring like-minded people from all walks of the creative community, from digital to design, agency or client side, together to drink, socialise, make new contacts and have some fun.
  • Marketing Leaders – join the Marketing Society, Marketing Leaders Programme and Brand Learning for an evening of socialising and networking.
  • ISBA Networking Evening – keep up to date, meet your peers, and learn about music and disruptive advertising.
  • The Marketing Frenzy – round off the week in style for an evening of fun and frolics at Fabric. All creative approaches to dance welcome.

Stellar speakers

Julie Dixon, Head of Marketing Services at Transport for London is lined up to speak, as is Russell Davies, the Creative Director of Government Digital Services.

Other brands taking part include Virgin, the BBC, Channel 4, O2, Facebook, Twitter, Jamie Oliver and LEGO. Full speaker line-ups are now on the Festival of Marketing site.

We tried to get Tom Cruise to cameo as Frank Mackey and deliver a talk titled “Respect the data, tame the customer”, but he had already promised to be elsewhere doing great things…

The cream of the crop

Brands attending include Arcadia, Argos, Barclays, BSkyB, Facebook, Google, John Lewis, Lego, L’Oreal, Marks & Spencer, Nokia, O2, EE, Orange, Samsung, Sony, Tesco, Unilever, and many, many more.

An opportunity to party

As you’ll see from the Fringe events, there will be plenty of opportunities to spend your evenings in a most bacchanalian fashion and brush elbows with the movers and shakers of the marketing, digital and creative industries.

Best of all, festival passes come with free entry to Fabric on Thursday night for the Marketing Frenzy – a curated evening of music, comedy, art and dancing.

Backed by the best

Econsultancy, Marketing Week, Creative Review, Design Week, Data Strategy, The Marketing Society, the Institute of Direct Marketing, ISBA, the Direct Marketing Association, the Public Relations Consultants Association, The Marketing Academy, and the Content Marketing Association. Who else?

Will you join us?

Don’t be shy, pick up a festival pass here. Time is running out!

And if you’re struggling to pull the funds together for a ticket, enter our Vine competition for a shot. The best one gets a free ticket!