Our Conferences
The Center presents conferences a range of global conferences that showcase new analytical tools, best practices, and case studies for managing brands in the competitive global environment.
Presenters include leading researchers such as Columbia Business School professors Olivier Toubia, Bernd Schmitt, Natalie Mizik, Paul Ingram, Gita Johar, Don Lehmann, Don Sexton, and Hitendra Wadhwa, as well as other academics and brand thinkers such as Seth Godin, Umair Haque, Jeff Jarvis, and Prof. Sanjay Sood.
In addition, also taking part are leading executive practitioners from global brands such as American Express, Burger King, Dell, Dove, Google, Lego, Lilly, Nickelodeon, Procter & Gamble, and SAP; as well as innovative entrepreneurs and founders of companies such as boxee, craigslist, Pando, Vonage, and Xanga.
Center conferences offer an interdisciplinary approach to branding, looking at issues of marketing, finance, strategy, technology, design, and media to address questions for effective brand management. Conference topics have included:
- Branding & Design
- Brand Relationships
- Brand Valuation
- Branding, Innovation, and Technology
- Brands as Efficient Management Tools
- Creativity and Branding
- Customer Experience and the Brand
- Image in the Asian Marketplace
- Strategic Brand Management
The Center has also run conferences in partnership with Columbia's Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business, Jeff Jarvis, Corante.com, the Corporate Design Foundation, the Design Management Institute, the Institute for International Research, and World Trade Week.
Selected Past Conferences
BRITE '10: March 31-April 1, 2010, Columbia University, New York
BRITE '10 brought together big thinkers from business, technology, media, and marketing to discuss how technology and innovation are transforming the ways that companies build and sustain strong brands.
Key themes at BRITE '10 included:
- Digital marketing: myths and realities of building brands in the online world
- Innovation now: open collaboration and designing your business in beta
- Customer networks: strategies to listen, engage, inspire, and mobilize them online
- Entertainment 2.0: the future of music, film and gaming and how they shape brands
- Age of disruption: brand bubbles, dead business models, and the post-crisis consumer
- The future of media: engaging audiences and creating new opportunities for brands
Presenters included: Vivian Schiller (President and CEO of NPR), Jeff Jarvis (Associate Professor, City University of New York), Robin Chase (Founder and former CEO of ZipCar), Thomas Gensemer (Managing Partner, Blue State Digital), John Gerzema (author of�?� The Brand Bubble), Dwayne Spradlin (President and CEO, Innocentive), and others.
Click here for more information about the event and to watch speaker videos.
BRITE '09: March 4-5, 2009, Columbia University, New York
The Center on Global Brand Leadership at Columbia Business School was pleased to host BRITE '09, part of a global series of conferences on branding, innovation, and technology.
Topics of discussion included:
- Digital Marketing that Works -- Cases from the Front Lines
- Crowdsourcing, Tribes, and Online Communities
- The Future of Media and the Prospects for Brands
- Innovation and the Next Generation of Business
- Marketing to Customer Networks: Behaviors to Build Your Brand
- Innovating During the Downturn: Surviving Worst Case Scenarios
Presenters included: Seth Godin (Author and foundner of Squidoo.com), Jeff Jarvis (Associate Professor, City University of New York), Alyson Meranze (VP, Digital Content & Strategy at American Express), Feddy Mini (CEO, Netvibes.com), Umair Haque (Director, the Havas Media Lab) and others.
This event was made possible, in part, with the help of a generous grant from the Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business.
Click here for more information.
BRITE Workshop on Online Communities: October 16, 2008, Columbia University, New York
This hands-on workshop at Columbia Business School provided managers with the practical tools and knowledge to use online communities and social networks to drive growth and achieve key business objectives. Instructors introduced key concepts and trends in the area of online communities, and identify case studies and best practices in leveraging communities for business. Real-world cases demonstrated how companies are using online communities for: stoking buzz, engaging influencers, and nurturing brand advocates; network listening, market research, and product development; and customer service, employee communications, and recruiting.
Presenters included: Richard Binhammer (Conversations, Communities and Communications, Dell), Thomas Gensemer (Managing Partner, Blue State Digital - creators of myBarackObama.com), Sylvia Marino (Community Operations, Edmunds), Natalie Mizik (Gantcher Associate Professor of Business, Columbia Business School), Olivier Toubia (David W. Zalaznick Associate Professor of Business, Columbia Business School) and others.
This event was made possible, in part, with the help of a generous grant from the Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business.
Click here for full agenda and speakers list.
BRITE CMO Summit: October 15, 2008, Columbia University, New York
The BRITE CMO Summit brought together a small group of senior marketers for a series of roundtable discussions, interactive exercises, and peer-to-peer discussions of the challenges for innovation and brand building in their organizations today. Each roundtable discussion began with an "idea-starter" from leading thinkers and researchers on branding, innovation, and technology. A variety of discussion formats and interactive exercises followed.
Presenters included: Heidi Browning (VP Custom Solutions and Research, Fox Interactive/MySpace), Penry Price (VP of Advertising-North America, Google), Gita Johar (Meyer Feldberg Professor of Business, Columbia Business School) and others.
This event was made possible, in part, with the help of a generous grant from the Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business.
Click here for full agenda and speakers list.
Brand Challenges 2008: Inspiring Futures: May 22, 2008, Barcelona
Hosted by our partner brand center at the ESADE Business School in Barcelona, this annual conference focuses on the future of branding. The all day conference included speeches by leading thinkers in the fields of branding, innovation, and technology, including Columbia Business School's Center on Global Brand Leadership Director, David Rogers.
The event also featured research reports and several roundtable discussions on topics including present and future of brand management in Spain, perception of brand value from steering committees and boards of directors, media planning to managing touch points and brand experience, the social dimension of branding, and the impact of new media and innovation on branding.
Best Brands Conference 2008: February 14, 2008, Munich
Hosted by our partner center at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, the annual Best Brands Conference takes place in conjunction with the Best Brands 2008 Awards ceremony. This conference brought together top academics and practitioners to discuss the topic "User Generated Branding." Conference speakers discussed current developments and trends in marketing and communication.
Speakers included: Prof. Robert V. Kozinets from York University in Canada, Juergen Merz and Dr. Christian Jarchow of the The GfK Group, Dr. Andrea Malgara of SevenOne Media, Inc., and Carsten Schwecke and Harald Fritzsch of GWP Media Marketing.
BRITE Conference on Branding, Innovation, & Technology: February 7-8, 2008, Columbia University, New York
The BRITE '08 conference brought together senior executives from business, marketing, technology, and media to discuss how innovation and technology are transforming the ways that companies build and sustain great brands.
Major topics included:
- Social Networks and Online Communities
- Building Brands in Interactive Media: Engagement and ROI in Gaming, Mobile, and the Web
- The Role of Advertising in an Interactive Age
- Building a Culture of Innovation within the Organization
- Open Source Models of Innovation: Crowd-Sourcing, Open Platforms, and Customer Co-Creation
Speakers included: Marty Homlish (Global Chief Marketing Officer, SAP), Patia McGrath (Global Director of Innovation, GE), Craig Newmark (founder, craigslist), and Prof. Bernd Schmitt (author, Big Think Strategy).
This event was made possible, in part, with the help of a generous grant from the Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business.
Click here for speaker videos and a full agenda of the conference.
"Branding in India" Symposium: May 21, 2007, New York City
The 2007 "Branding in India" Symposium, presented by the Center on Global Brand Leadership and AIGA, centered around all issues of branding in India. Leading thinkers from industry, advertising, academia, and design assessed the current state of branding in India; the enormous challenges and opportunities for global and local brands; and the future of Indian branding, at home, and in the global market. Presenters included Arvind Sharma (Chairman & CEO of Leo Burnett, India), Harjiv Singh (Co-founder & CEO, Gutenberg Communications), and Hitendra Wadhwa (Associate Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia Business School), among others.
This event wais made possible, in part, with the help of a generous grant from the Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business.
Click here for video excerpts and full details on the symposium.
International Brand Forum: April 20-21, 2007, Shanghai
The inaugural conference of the Center on Global Brand Leadership at Shanghai Jiaotong University (SJTU) was held April 20-21 in Shanghai, China. The theme of the conference was "Brands' Competitiveness in the Context of Globalization." The conference, sponsored by Audi, was attended by over 200 executives as well as SJTU students and academics and enjoyed extensive press coverage in China.
The conference featured speeches and panels with leaders of top Chinese brands; global brands in China such as Honeywell, L'Oreal, Boeing, and Unilever; and Center frp, Columbia Business School, University of Munich, Singapore Management University, and Shanghai Jiaotong University.Topics included: international brands in China, brand growth and globalization, and brand competitiveness of Chinese business. Awards were given, and best practices presented, from leading Chinese brands for: brand potential, brand competitiveness, brand innovation, and brand leadership.
Click here to read the full report.
2006 Innovative Marketing Conference: Building a New Marketing to Meet a Changing Market: June 8-9, 2006, New York
The 2006 Innovative Marketing Conference, presented by the Center on Global Brand Leadership and Corante.com, was held in New York City June 8-9, 2006. The conference tackled head-on the question of the future of marketing--drawing on the best practices from the past, and the real promise of the future. The conference comprised a CMO Summit on June 8, and a larger Marketers Forum on June 9. Both days assessed the painful challenges and exciting new possibilities facing marketing today. Participants gained practical tools, real world case studies, and the chance to network and share best practices with peers in a non-competitive environment.
Click here to hear podcasts and read the blogjam, agenda, and list of speakers.
The Asian Brand Experience: February 16, 2006, Singapore
Co-organized by ex-Columbia-PhD Jin Han and John Davis, the inaugural conference of the Center on Global Brand Leadership at Singapore Management Univeristy took place on Thursday, February 16 on the campus of SMU. The conference brought together leaders in branding, academia and industry to discuss the latest insights about how to create successful brands. With Asia's growing importance in world business, the conference was a platform to discuss how Asian companies can develop their brands in other markets and how outside companies can develop their brands successfully in Asia. The conference included presentations on consumers, entertainment, sports, technology and experiential branding.
Branding Lounge 2006: Strong Brands Rely on Innovative Ideas: February 8, 2006, Munich
This year's Branding Lounge took place on Wednesday, February 8th at the Munich Center on Global Brand Leadership. The event was held in cooperation with Best Brands, the leading German brand ranking authority. The conference featured keynote speeches by Bernd Schmitt, Executive Director of the Center on Global Brand Leadership at Columbia Business School and Erich Joachimsthaler, CEO of Vivaldi Partners, along with a joint presentation by Center Directors on "Challenges and New Perspectives in Brand Research."
"Brands in China" Panel: May 2005, New York
The "Brands in China" panel, co-sponsored by the AIGA and the Center on Global Brand Leadership, was held in May 2005 as part of New York World Trade Week. The panel was moderated by Christopher Liechty of AIGA and featured panelists LiAnne Yu of Cheskin, Bernd Schmitt and Don Sexton of Columbia Business School, and Business Week reporter Tom Lowry.
Brand Convergence at Yonsei University: November 25, 2005, Seoul
Organized by Columbia MBA and Columbia Visiting professor Dae Ryun Chang, the second brand conference at the Center for Global Brand Leadership at Yonsei University was held on Thursday, November 25th at the Grand Hilton Hotel in Seoul. Even though digital convergence is enabling companies to venture beyond its traditional offline boundaries to take advantage of new technologies and media, this has resulted in significant demand for a vast range and high quantity of content that in turn is putting pressure on brand management. Brand convergence therefore is the strategic integration of brand associations that are created in the minds of consumers through various media. This conference will examine the best brand practices from noted companies that have bridged the on-offline divide as well as discuss their future challenges.
