The ANA B2B Brand Conference Report, Part 1

I just got back from yesterday's ANA conference. Some great panels and presentations with a solid mix of corporate marketers, agencies, consulting firms, and an academic.  Some of the highlights:

• A particularly good case study on how to build an integrated marketing campaign with just a whiteboard and a brown marketer. I might blog on this in more detail next week. 
• I randomly sat next to Robert DellaCamera, KLA-Tencor's Senior Corporate Communications Manager, at breakfast.  He's coincidentally a satisfied user of MarketingCentral, an on-demand Marketing Resource Management vendor that Unica purchased last month.
• Paraphrasing some practical account-based marketing advice courtesy of Rick Segal of HSR Business to Business: Obviously 'account-based marketing works better than spray and pray...but it's the politics, not technology, that gets in the way' of success.
• Some interesting stats as it relates to new media courtesy of Guideline Research:  while the average estimated 2007 increase in new media spending is 11.5%, inability to prove ROI (ever hear that one before?) and lack of experience are the main barriers to adoption.
• While we're talking about ROI, there were a few challenges for marketers to measure results more holistically -- "you don't pull up a plant to measure each root to see if your plant is growing".
• Lastly, Ellis Booker helped remind us all we're getting older.  To combat lack of experience with new media he strongly suggests today's B2B CMO hire a really, really young person to understand what's possible with new media platforms like Second Life.

I touched on a just a few of the highlights, so if you were there, please take a few moments and share your thoughts.