Insightful and Entertaining Marketing Speaker

A 60-Second Introduction

(See full speeches: Integrated Advertising in 2023 and How Brand Purpose Helps Companies)

Upcoming Speaking Appearances

2023

May — Goa, India — Date held
September 25 — Copenhagen, Denmark — Date Held
November 9 — Prague, Czech Republic — TBA
October — Warsaw, Poland — Date Held

Samuel’s Main Tech Keynote Speech

EVERYTHING ONLINE IS FAKE: The Present Danger and Future Promise of Today’s Digital World

In this keynote address, Samuel Scott begins with an examination of how the foundation of the current iteration of the internet causes nearly everything online to be fake or somehow misrepresented — with negative consequences for everything from politics to business to society. But then he shows how human optimism and ingenuity can remake the internet for good and lead humanity into the future.

Actionable takeaways:

— Learn why much of the online world is fake, inaccurate, and fraudulent.

— Understand how this harms business, politics, and society in general.

— Get inspired by how we can make the Internet better to propel us into a better future.

Other Marketing Keynote Talks 

PROTECT YOUR BUDGET: Defending Marketing Campaigns in Difficult Economic Times

In any recessionary environment, businesses instinctively want to cut advertising budgets — especially at the top of the funnel. In this talk, Samuel will give an introduction to Brand 101, demonstrate how brand advertising works, and show the benefits of building a strong brand. Then, he will show how to translate general marketing and advertising concepts into CFO-speak and financial metrics into CMO-speak so that both sides will understand each other. After all, cutting brand advertising spend in the short term will only hurt companies in the long term after the economy recovers.

Actionable takeaways:

— Understand how brand advertising gets leads and sales today and tomorrow, increases conversion rates, and raises pricing power over the short- and long-term.

— See why cutting brand advertising spend today harms companies tomorrow — even long after recessions are over.

— Learn how to defend your top-of-the-funnel brand advertising spend to CFOs, CEOs, and boards of directors.

BETTER TOGETHER: How Brand and Performance Advertising Both Fuel Growth

The marketing world has become obsessed with online direct response and short-termism, both of which are hurting long-term advertising effectiveness. In this talk, Samuel argues that we need to get out of our bubble and rethink our approach to media planning today by integrating traditional and online channels as well as long-term and short-term strategies in the most effective ways. Here, he will show how both types of advertising can work together for maximum effectiveness.

Actionable takeaways:

— Learn the difference between “brand” and “performance” advertising tactics.

— See how they both “perform” — they just perform in different ways and in different time frames.

— Understand how to build marcom campaigns that both get sales today and build brands for more future sales tomorrow.

ACTIONS, NOT ADS: Brand Purpose and Sustainability in a Schizophrenic Consumer World

Many consumers say they prefer sustainable products and do not want to support sweatshops, but they still often buy the cheapest clothing and running shoes made in such places anyway. Companies today want to do better, but they are getting such mixed signals from customers. In this keynote, Samuel will show how companies can navigate this complex environment and both help the world and sell more products at the same time. The key to understand: Actual brand purpose goes far beyond just saying nice stuff in ads, and the benefits go far beyond just selling more stuff.

Actionable takeaways:

— See four examples of companies in various industries and countries that are using brand purpose to help both the world and their businesses.

DIGITAL ATTRIBUTION IS DEAD: Why You Need Econometrics and Controlled Tests for Accurate Analytics

The marketing industry is seeing the planned death of third-party cookies, more and more using ad blockers that also stop scripts such as Google Analytics from running, and the iOS 14 update that stopped ad tracking on Apple devices. Our analytics are not accurate — and, in fact, they never had been at all. For twenty years, marketers have been obsessed with digital attribution — and that obsession has been wrong. In this keynote, Samuel will show the way forward for when we measure our advertising campaigns and attribute our results.

(For a lengthy discussion on this topic, read this column of mine in The Drum.)

Actionable takeaways:

— See why digital attribution is dying across all online and internet-based channels

— Understand why last-touch attribution, first-touch attribution, and multi-touch attribution are all wrong and provide completely wrong information in the first place

— Learn about econometrics and controlled tests — the other major two methods of attribution — and how to use them to have more accurate information

GET READY NOW: The 15 Things That Marketers Need to Know for 2024

In this wide-ranging keynote taking everyone on a magical mystery tour through the entire marketing industry, Samuel Scott will dispel myths, reveal unconventional best practices, and show the eternal truths that people should know in areas ranging from product to distribution to pricing to advertising to SEO to public relations in both B2C and B2B marketing.

Topics include: Good vs. bad metrics to use, how to use both brand and performance advertising, the importance of mental availability, how to recognize survivorship bias, the difference between PR and publicity, when dashboards are not truthful, the best way to build backlinks, the costs of ad fraud, what is real brand purpose, how B2B markets really operate, and the dangers of growth at all costs.

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