I'd always heard that great executives should always alocate 1-2 hours per day to read an get informed. The reality, is that like many, I was always TOO busy... But now there's NO excuse! You can now download NewsGator that runs in your Outlook 2003 - so if you aren't too busy for e-mails you can't be too busy for blogs. It's actually like tapping into the brains of all the people that could answer all your queries, all your fears and in the meantime you'll stumble across great ideas and sometimes quite inspiring stuff.

Blogging really kicks off when you start to interact with your consumers. We moved our web pages for Paradise Garage to the blog format and we jumped from 250 unique visits to over 1000 but the greatest move only started to take effect today as we replied to our first comments and not very favorable at that - but they were actually very tuned in. They should be - they are straight from our customers!

It's the beginning but it's all about gaining their trust and we've sat for hours looking at a comment wondering whether to remove it - once we had some basic rules - applied to life - opinios are fine, personal attacks not - it was easy. I was VERY surprised however to see these stats on the post in eMarketer.com titled "Executives Not Quite Hot to Blog".

Not wishing to become a reporting thespian Jornalist type, coming to you live (with a month or so delay) from the Experiential Summit in Chicago 2006, I have to confess that I took a particular interest not only to the topic but also to the presenter - Kevin Sellers, Intel’s Director for Corporate Brand & Strategic Marketing, who gave one of the most relevant and revealing key note speeches I have heard.

Sellers took us through Intel’s evolving marketing strategy and gave his personal insights into experiential marketing. Like most marketers present, he too focused not on the “one shot” event but on an experiential strategy that takes events into the realm of emotional connectivity.

A large hurdle, and one that I was fascinated to hear, was how do you communicate or market a product as boring as transistors? It’s not a product you can go and buy and worse of all it’s in someone else’s product. So how can you market a product that your consumer cannot interact with? This was the start of Intel’s strategy to market their innovation.

Teen purchasing power and influence continues to grow and as a result marketeers need to find more effective ways of marketing to teens. They may be overwhelmed by all the advertisements but they are also bored. Brands really need to bring themselves to life – event based marketing (experiential marketing) has veen proved over and over that it's one of the most effective ways of reaching this highly sceptical segment.

But how effective is event marketing? First of all it’s essential to evaluate the need to take the brand outdoors. A recent study by Jack Morton Worldwide shows that while all consumers respond strongly to experiential marketing, it’s the teen market that responds strongest. In fact 71% of 13-17 year olds say that experiential marketing is extremely or very influential in their opinions of a brand, product or service.

The Experiential Marketing Summit introduced for the first year an all new Women in Marketing group - a sisterhood designed to provide information and networking opportunities in the event industry. Still need convincing? - it's a slow change but an exponential one and those onboard now can reap the rewards.

I asked, kind of pleaded actually, to be allowed in the summit because of my interest in marketing to women - my quest. When I received a No! - I have to admit I was shocked - then angry - then slightly paranoid. What was going to happen in there that I could not get access to? It had arrived - the new reality - women in control and not much we can do about it.

The 4th Annual Experiential Marketing Summit kicked off in Chicago on the 8th of May with the respective workshops before the main event. Last year, I ventured to Chicago for the first time to sit amongst some of the best and most successful experiential marketers and brands that believe in feeding the industry powerful insights in the true belief that they will be helping agencies to better serve them - a loop which I have to agree is refreshing coming from a market that is highly competitive, secretive and very much us and them (brand and agency or vice versa).

The key ingredient is the experience - how you brainstorm it, design it, implement it and measure it which ultimately [should] results in going back to the drawing board and starting all over again. Interesting to think that we actually learn from the consumers and it’s when we get that, that we can really improve and build on past experiences. However, most of the time we don't think of what the consumer is telling us (sometimes shouting) but focus more on the measurements and the event's success [or lack of].

This year I noticed a big difference which reflects the changing market place - a more emotional, non physical asset and non tangible side of marketing - in short, the experience. I felt closer to experiential marketing and that alone made the trip worth it. But there was more - a whole lot more…

…savvy marketers that have reached out to their customers through consumer programs, mobile tours, sponsorships and my favorite - truly innovative and very unusual approaches.