The Canadian Media Directors’ Council will be welcoming one of the most prominent members of the advertising industry to deliver the keynote address at next year’s conference. Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP Group, will speak April 5 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
The confab is themed ‘Called to Account – Managing Risk with Accountability’ and almost 800 industry leaders are expected to explore whether accountability and governance can peacefully coexist with risk and creativity in today’s marketplace.
It is being co-chaired by Sunni Boot, president and CEO of Toronto-based ZenithOptimedia, and Amanda Ploughman, president of Initiative Canada, also of Toronto.
Boot says they chose the theme of the conference for two reasons: verification and ROI. ‘As we all know,’ she says, ‘the desire of our clients is to find ways where we can more effectively tell them the return on investment of their marketing expense. We need more substantial evidence of the communications investment; we need to find a mechanism to measure; and we need to have that measured back to brand health metrics.’
She says: ‘Not all impressions are created equal,’ so the media industry needs to find out how effective one is versus another. ‘Did it move sales? Did it help share price? Did it improve employee attitude?’
The keynote speaker has the fiscal credibility to speak to the topic. Sir Martin’s WPP Group had revenues of US$6,756.1 million in 2003. One of the world’s largest communications services groups, the company boasts member firms ranging from advertising and media investment management to PR and relationship marketing. Collectively, the group has 70,000 people working in 1,400 offices in 106 countries.
Tickets for the conference, including lunch, are $375 each until Dec. 31, after which they increase to $400 until March 1 and then to the full conference price of $475. Tickets can be ordered online at http://www.cmdc.ca/, via e-mail at cmdc_conference@ideaguys.com, by phone at 416-480-6656 or by fax at 416-487-6646.
