• by Aaron Goldman , Op-Ed Contributor, May 21, 2008

Our breakout session featured a spirited discussion around the topic of integration and convergence. The group quickly outlined 5 challenges/keys to success: 1. Data integration 2. People integration (both on the agency side and internally at corporations) 3. Metric integration 4. Incentive integration (across LOBs, agencies, etc.) 5. Message integration

So how do you prioritize among these? Certainly, they can't all be magically integrated overnight.

James Lamberti from comScore pointed out that there are 2 ways to approach integration and convergence. You can look at it thru the consumer lens and make sure that your target audience has a consistent brand experience. In that case, things like message integration bubble up to the top.

The other angle, of course, is the marketers' point of view. It's really hard for any of those 5 to happen without someone centrally championing and enabling them throughout the organization.