Another year (almost) behind us, another Optimove Connect in the relationship marketer’s books. 2018 brought twice as many pink-hued lightbulbs, shining a light on 450 attendees, 12 workshop leaders, and 15 speakers sharing, absorbing, and discussing the current and future state of CRM. While looking out at the Mediterranean Sea, conference guests mingled and conversed with thought leaders and field experts from dozens of top brands.

This year, Boxed’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jackson Jeyanayagam, took center stage and shared his ideas on how brands can adapt to the modern customer, Customer 3.0. We took a history lesson with Pini Yakuel, Optimove’s CEO, as he outlined the journey of the machine and how throughout its inception, has made life easier for humans and supported us in our tasks. During the two days, we strove to give attendees an opportunity to turn these ideas and conversations into meaningful interactions with their customers. And as we begin wrapping up 2018, we reflect on our 4^th Optimove Connect, hoping we accomplished just that.

For those who didn’t attend, check out our brief recap of our annual event:

Have a look at our Facebook album here, and feel free to tag yourself.

Now, let’s go on a tour and relive the conference’s main day, with all the videos (in order of presentation): 

I had the honor of delivering the opening remarks, giving an overview of the modern consumer we’ve gotten to know, and presenting some of the potholes along the road to catering to their needs.

Next up, our CEO, Pini Yakuel, explained what intelligent marketing means, from concept to reality, addressing that the machines are here to help, not cause harm.

Panelists Prof. Barak Libai, Professor of Marketing at the Interdisciplinary Center, Jackson Jeyanayagam, Chief Marketing Officer at Boxed.com, Darren Lovern, Chief Marketing Officer, Fortuna, and Lev Peker, Chief Marketing Officer, Adorama, took the stage next in a panel dedicated to discussing marketing strategies in the age of the customer.

Gil Rotem, Former Board Member of Bet365 Group walked the audience through building a smarter CRM strategy.

And what’s a global CRM conference without a panel comparing subscription-based business models and transactional models and what each requires? This round featured Jessica Granata, Director of Marketing, Paul Stuart, Natalie Malevsky, VP Product Marketing, The Culture Trip, Stephanie McKay, Senior Manager, Email Marketing & Personalization, Lucky Vitamin, and DSC’s Vice President of Member Strategy and Monetization, Gloria Synn.

The Amazon era is in full swing. Adorama’s Chief Marketing Officer, Lev Peker, gave us ideas on how to survive and thrive in the Amazon jungle.

Our next panel featured marketing practitioners who came together to debate whether building loyalty is even possible without cutting profits. The stars this round were Andrew Cochrane, Chief Commercial Officer, SBTech, Hugony Francesco, Online Gaming CRM Strategy, Sisal, Rinat Halifi, Head of CRM, Fiverr, and Daniel Wiesenfeld, Sr. Director, Customer Analytics, J.Jill.

In his second appearance on our stage, Jackson Jeyanayagam, Chief Marketing Officer at Boxed.com, gave the keynote lecture. It’s no secret the consumer has changed significantly over the years. Mr. Jeyanayagam taught us how to adapt to Customer 3.0’s mindset and adapt to their needs as modern consumers.

Finally, our very own VP Revenue, Yoav Susz, gave us a glimpse of the future of marketing.

One last thing: I would love to hear your feedback on this year’s event. Contact me at [email protected] and share your takes on the topics, the insights, the lectures, and the venue. Every comment is welcome.

I’ll take this opportunity to say thanks again to all of you who are taking this journey with us, to everyone who attended and worked to make this one our most memorable and successful Optimove Connect Conference yet!

Published on December 20th, 2018

Posted in

• Customer Retention
• Company News
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Gary Cohen