Certain sectors continue to face major threats to their ability to communicate with consumers, such as food, alcohol, energy drinks and toys. the industry at large faces horizontal challenges in relation to digital with privacy concerns being prioritised by policy-makers globally. the broader advertising ecosystem faces an existential threat in the form of ad blocking.

The objective of INSIGHTFORUM is to improve how consumer insight specialists and marketers work together to generate actionable insights to inform unifying marketing ideas.

‘Digital transformation’ has remained a focus in 2016. Much of this process is concerned with people, culture and organisations, and our content has concentrated on helping members to learn from one another.

2016 was an exciting year for our IMCFORUM as the group significantly grew in size (+25%) and geographical footprint. Further to the launch of our first meeting in Dubai and our workshop series in Singapore, the group now connects senior marketers in four regions.

WFA CEO Stephan Loerke reflects on the year 2016

In November this year, more than 1000 people attended the International Association of Privacy Professionals annual conference in Brussels.

It was a full house at Most Contagious 2016 in London in December.

 WFA benchmark on the ways members test big ideas, the frequency of concept testing and the platforms on which this is done.

 Meeting headlines: 1. The agency of the future? 2. “Managing agencies is a role best done by…” 3. Five key trends in running agency evaluations

 Meeting headlines: 1a. ‘Ambition is the ‘North Star’ of Digital Transformation but the other 5 stages are just as critical 1b. ‘Sometimes you win, Sometimes you learn’: How to create a Create a culture of innovation 2. “Don’t be the Cat that follows the laser light”: Leadership lessons & learnings from our CDOs 3. Working with Start-Ups: “Know your business, clearly articulate your problem, and leave it to the process” 4. Are you Analog or Connected? Using the SONAR Digital Diagnostic to understand your Digital Maturity?