Commentary

Raining In Captiva

When it rains, we talk a lot about email. For the diehard email marketers, welcome to Captiva Island, Fla. for the Email Insider Summit. For those not attending, follow the event at #MPEIS. I've programmed this event the last four times and I'm not sure what's in the air, but there was a lot more demand to speak and be involved in this event. There's a new energy it seems: businesses are strong, marketers' outlooks are bright, and the vendors in the space have a hop in their step.

This should be one of the better events we've programmed. This line-up of thought leaders and brands is designed to explore the growth of the space more so than other events.

Day 1 leads off with Bruce Biegel of The Winterberry Group. Having worked on many of the major acquisitions in the industry, Bruce lends a very broad view of technology/trends and what types of emerging companies will shape our industry in the future.

The Microsoft and Yahoo product managers will expound on the future of the inbox. How is it evolving? How will they evolve the social interfaces? Will they create more integrated advertising opportunities? Better utility for the user? And what are the 200-plus million consumers who use these think of the email they receive?

advertisement

advertisement

What we haven't had at EIS in the past is a view of the ESP world from the marketing automation perspective. Now we do. Our panel, featuring some of the leading marketing automation software companies, will explore how marketing automation has grown from a world of point solutions to a suite of products that include email. We'll discuss how these email tools support an entire enterprise's need for triggered, lifecycle and 1:1 communications, and what the future holds for these platforms in social CRM and mobile.

We have some of the top thought leaders in the space headlining great panels on topics such as integrated marketing, progressive tips for the email marketer, lifecycle messaging, and generating engagement. These thinkers include Stephanie Miller (ReturnPath), Loren McDonald (Silverpop), Ted Wham (Orbitz), Lisa Harmon (Smith-Harmon), Morgan Stewart (ExactTarget), Ken Magil (Magilla Marketing); with Gretchen Scheiman (Ogilvy) as our emcee. There will also be some really great brands featured: FedEx, Sprint, Dell, Intercontinental Hotel Group, Under Armour, NBC, Barnes and Noble, National Hockey League, Disney, AT&T and American Express.

Quite a line-up! Really look forward to all the contributions, great thinking, collaboration -- and of course, hope the sun does shine sometime while we're down here.

Next story loading loading..