by Paul Confrey, Managing Director, Automotive EMEA & Head of Client Services, UK.
Our annual EMEA Automotive Conference, 30 June to 2 July in Barcelona, is a rare and valuable opportunity for the key people who work on our automotive brands to get together, build relationships and share learning and insights.
The Ford, Land Rover, Jaguar, Volvo and Mazda accounts were represented by our key office leaders throughout Europe, plus Detroit, and even Thailand and China. A special mention here to our Asia rep, Allan Crockart, whose mammoth journey from Bangkok took 24 hours and was 100% economy class.
The conference themes were Going Global & Winning Local to reflect changes that both Wunderman and our clients are going through. Going Global focuses around Ford, who, along with us and our partner agencies, are putting together a global launch for the first time. This is for an exciting new vehicle, arriving in 2010-11.
The Winning Local theme is more internally-focused. It highlights the opportunities, even in these tough times, to win local business from their automotive clients and dealers directly. This will take energy, commitment and, importantly, great business ideas. So one session was entirely devoted to three workshops where our leaders in the UK, Denmark and Germany presented the ideas that are already winning them local business, from clients and dealers. Each workshop was small, focused and informal to allow a full and proper understanding. The result? Everyone felt enthused and confident in their ability to put these ideas forward to clients.
Aside from the ideas, insights and knowledge-sharing that are core to any Conference, there's always the simple and pleasurable fun of sharing good food and wine with friends. That's one of the reasons why the Wunderman global network is so strong, flexible and co-operative. On both evenings, there was an impressive bunch still chewing the fat into the early hours. And as usual, there were rumours of skinny-dipping at 4am, and people falling asleep in corridors and, indeed, on the lawn. Of course, I can't confirm such rumours, but they always seem to crop up ever since the first conference in 2005.
Here’s to another successful, impactful and enjoyable conference.
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