All of us on the Brand Driven team are gearing up for another great Social Brand Forum! We’re especially excited this year, as we have some big changes in store that ensure that this will be our best event yet. With thought leaders like Mark Schaefer and Mitch Joel anchoring Social Brand 2015, we’ll continue our tradition of providing industry-leading insights. We’re just adding more creativity, heart, and soul.
Here’s an overview of what to expect from this year’s bigger, better Social Brand Forum.
New Venue: The Englert Theatre, Downtown Iowa City
The Social Brand Forum has a new home at the historic Englert Theatre in beautiful downtown Iowa City, Iowa. The Englert is over 100 years old and was built to rival the finest stages and movie houses of the time. It started as a vaudeville theatre before being converted into an ornate and palatial cinema. A decade ago, this landmark was saved by the community and fully restored as a first-class performing arts venue, which now serves as home to such diverse acts as Phillip Glass, the Head and the Heart, and Lena Dunham.
The Iowa City Downtown District is a story in of itself, a place steeped in local flavor and history, alive with participatory art and music, a living room to the University of Iowa, a home to literary giants, and an extraordinary community experience. The Englert and Downtown Iowa City will not only accommodate our growing event but they provide exciting opportunities for additional creative programming. Speaking of which …
New Entertainment: Marketing and Music
In the spirit of our new space, attendees will be treated to live music both days of the Social Brand Forum. The Feralings will open up Day 1 with their “Ectoplasmic Americana” stylings infusing madolin, banjo, and vocal harmonics. Here’s a preview.
Day 2 opens with jazz from the Blake Shaw Trio while The Fritters will welcome us back from lunch with an eclectic mix of fun songs with tight harmonies and a lot of soul. Marketing and music. We know it’s a combo you’re going to love.
New Networking Opportunities
Social Brand Forum 2015 is a great opportunity to connect with other marketers. Instead of trying to force this networking into our breaks as we have in years past, we are moving our traditional “Birds of a Feather” networking groups to lunch on Day 2. While you can chose where you eat and with whom, we’ll also have the option of attending one of several Birds of a Feather lunches moderated by speakers and/or sponsors around topics including Start-Ups, B2B, and Education/Non-Profit.
Branching outside of the traditional conference hotel environment, attendees at Social Brand 2015 will receive a Downtown Association gift card good at many of the eclectic downtown Iowa City dining options. View a list of participating restaurants and (stores!) here.
New Speakers
We’re thrilled to welcome back some familiar faces to Social Brand Forum 2015 including Tim Washer and Laura Fitton. We’re also very excited to continue our tradition of bringing some of the best and brightest industry thought leaders to the heart of the heartland including Mitch Joel, Mark W. Schaefer, Amber Naslund, Tamsen Webster, Tom Webster, Scott Monty, and more. View the complete agenda of speakers and topics now.
New Sponsors = New Event Features
We couldn’t continue to host the Social Brand Forum without the support of our sponsors. Some, like Hubspot and Zephyr Printing, have been with us from the beginning. This year, we have several new sponsors working with us to enhance our event even further. Sprout Social is our Official Social Business Sponsor and will have their expert staff on site to help you out and answer your burning questions at their Social Business Genius Bar during our breaks. Zignal Labs will also be providing real-time social media insights both on-stage between talks and from their mobile command center. All of this excitement will take place in the Englert Gallery.
More in Store …?
There’s more to tell you about Social Brand Forum but we want to save a few surprises for the event itself. Again, we know that Social Brand 2015 raise the bar for this premier digital marketing experience. Register now.
THIS WEEK ONLY! #SocialBrand15 BOGO
Buy one registration to Social Brand Forum 2015 and get another registration of equal value free. Big thanks to our friends at Hubspot for sponsoring these savings. Register now and we’ll email you a code for your additional free registration. Hurry! This special offer ends Friday, September 18, 2015. Register now.
