Last week, marketers of all stripes flooded The Fairmont, InterContinental Mark Hopkins, and The Masonic in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood to participate in RampUp. This was the 8th year for LiveRamp’s flagship event and, as in previous years, the conference presented itself to be bigger and better than ever before.
A thought-leadership destination for best-in-class content, RampUp brought together 2,200+ attendees—including some of the biggest players in the digital marketing space—to discuss challenges and solutions facing the MarTech industry.
Between discussions before and after sessions, the RampUp app for scheduling meet-ups, and networking breaks and lunches, it was easy to hear the buzz of the engaging and supportive environment that RampUp fosters. cred had the pleasure of helping to bring LiveRamp’s content vision to life by working with nearly 200 speakers. Just a few of the dynamic brands represented on stage included Burger King, Disney, EA, LinkedIn, Lyft, McDonald’s, PwC, Ulta Beauty, Wimbledon, and many more!
Day One:
On the morning of Monday, March 2, content kicked off with five tracks of LiveRamp Innovation Studio sessions. These presentations, panels, and fireside chats focused on how to best capitalize on LiveRamp solutions through the lens of data privacy regulation and performance marketing. There was also a special track devoted to RampUp for Developers. Many speakers touched on the positive effects that will be born from the impactful end of third-party cookies, and shared their estimates of the actual timeline for this change.
Scott Howe, CEO, LiveRamp
After general and sponsored lunch sessions, attendees made the short walk down the street to The Masonic to soak in powerful messages from our keynotes. To kick off the afternoon's content, CEO of LiveRamp Scott Howe delivered engaging opening remarks, discussing the future of the industry. He also made time to demonstrate the “coronavirus fist bump” as a suggested replacement for the oft-used handshake during events.
The audience then listened closely during a fireside chat with McDonald’s SVP Bob Rupczynski, which addressed the question: Why Make the Investment in MarTech? Other panel themes included Preparing for Post-Cookie Advertising and Priorities for Marketing Leaders in 2020.
Fernando Machado, Global CMO, Burger King
Fernando Machado, Global CMO for Burger King, delivered a compelling presentation on Great Creative as a Competitive Advantage. Shortly after, we learned first-hand about the New Age of Retail during a fireside chat with President at Ulta Beauty, David Kimbell. Last but definitely not least—closing out the powerhouse lineup of keynotes was none other than Bonin Bough, who explored the question: How can marketers continually adjust to identify and reach their customers when things out of their control force change?
To celebrate such an engaging and inspiring day, attendees and LiveRampers alike toasted at the opening reception, and then at RampUp After Dark in San Francisco’s famous Tonga Room.
Day Two:
RampUp picked right back up where it left off, with attendees grabbing coffee and a croissant (or two!) to head to one of three tracks for the day: Technology X Policy, Tradition X Innovation, and Creativity X Data. Session topics included:
Building a Data Infrastructure for Global Compliance
Achieving the Diversity Trifecta
Omnichannel Media Planning, Execution and Measurement
Harnessing the Power of Data and Creative
The Intersection of B2B and B2C
Maintaining Addressability in a Changing World
How to Achieve Agency-Market Fit
Themes that bounced from room to room involved consumer trust and ownership, the future of TV, diversity and inclusion, and finding the right level of personalization—with panel moderator Joanna O’Connell, VP & Principal Analyst at Forrester, suggesting that, at times, this might mean no personalization at all.
Content came to a close at The Masonic with a presentation by Kara Swisher, Editor-at-Large at Recode and Code Conference. Fittingly, she echoed the sentiments expressed earlier in the day with her candid statement “Nobody asked for a seatbelt, but it was the right thing to do.” The audience was eager to get involved during her Q&A session, and Kara was equally as interested to engage with the flood of inquisitive conversation starters from the crowd.
We were incredibly proud of our team’s hard work for RampUp 2020 amid the COVID-19 chaos that has impacted events worldwide. We look forward to seeing how RampUp San Francisco sets the tone for RampUp Roadshows throughout the rest of the year. Keep an eye out—we might be coming to a city near you!
Interested in hosting an event like RampUp? Get in touch!
