Attending one of the most important marketing conferences in Latin America

The Latin CMO Summit is an exclusive Marketing Conference that brings together key industry leaders, from both client and agency side, for networking purposes. This year’s edition was held in Panama from Oct. 28 - 29 and our colleague Patricia Peñalver, Senior Project Manager at WAM, was there in attendance. 

The objective of the event is to introduce suppliers to senior level executives through small groups or one-to-one meetings, where they can exchange ideas, solutions and explore new strategies related to marketing. 

The event itself is attended by not only Digital Marketing companies in Panama, but from around the world - making it a complete and enriching experience. 

We interviewed Patricia to see what were the key highlights she took away from the event:

Interview on the Latin CMO Summit Marketing Conference

Natalia Bergareche: What is the Latin CMO Summit Marketing Conference?

Patricia Peñalever: It is an intimate, exclusive forum that brings together CMOs and leaders of large companies in Latin American to discuss marketing trends, as well as opportunities for change within the industry. 

The invited agencies are tasked with hosting a debate centered around new techniques applied to marketing, while also offering a strategic vision, along with possible solutions, to the challenges they face. 

What is really innovative about the conference, besides the standard presentations, is that there is a one-to-one system in which you can meet individually with the different attendees for 30 minutes. This is interesting, productive and, at the same time, generates the opportunity for future collaborations.

NB: What was the role of WAM during the event?

PP: As a guest consultant at the forum, we attended more than 10 one-to-one meetings in which we were able to listen to the challenges faced by large companies, and provide our strategic vision from the perspective of a global marketing agency. 

NB: What were the central themes of the Latin CMO Summit, and which are particularly important to highlight?

PP: One of the main issues related to the important role that Marketing Directors play in changing the direction of the companies in which they work. Within this context, we talked about how they should manage their marketing and communication actions to organically insert themselves into the conversations of their consumers. We also discussed how to add value to their users through social awareness campaigns, with the application of new technologies, etc. 

Ultimately, the goal of all brands is to find the midpoint between what matters to the brand, and what matters to their audience. Successful branded content, for example, should arouse customer interest. Creating and ensuring quality content is one of the main issues and concerns facing the industry leaders in attendance. 

We also can’t forget the importance of technology. A key issue identified was their concerns about data analysis, what they should do with so much data, how to make quick decisions, etc. 

Many of the company leaders mentioned that they have begun to include marketing automation tools in their day-to-day activities. Given our technological expertise, the companies in attendance were interested in learning more about experience in this field. 

One of the key tips provided by Marcela Vargas, CMO of Central LATAM Region for Microsoft, to tackle this process successfully is to work on the digital transformation from a complete and global perspective, connecting different areas. 

Meaning, that it is not enough to simply apply new marketing actions and then leverage the tools to do so, it is important to also consider other internal aspects within a company, primarily including: 

• Employee empowerment
• Consumer connections
• Operational optimizations
• Product transformation

NB: What are the business opportunities in Latin America?

PP: It is a market that is moving fast in the face of new consumer needs. There are opportunities arising to help companies move forward, specifically in Marketing Automation, with tools such as Salesforce. Helping companies leverage their tools is a growing area with a lot of potential.  

However, across the board, companies are facing a similar challenge - how to connect with audiences in the most subtle, and simple way possible. In the short and long term, this can be achieved by studying the target, obtaining relevant insights, and automating and optimizing processes. 

As a strategic consultant, at WAM, we are already working in this direction, and supporting our clients to execute the type of projects that will really help them achieve their objectives. In addition, as Salesforce partners, we bring the full power of new technologies to help address any challenges with innovative and effective solutions. And at the Latin CMO Summit event, we wanted to ensure we translated this same vision.