Key learnings from our Brave Conference New York

The inaugural NYC Brave conference set an incredible standard for the future taking place in the inspiring surroundings of the Samsung HQ in Chelsea NYC.

The place was abuzz with anticipation as the venue filled with a diverse range of New York’s finest marketeers.

Francesco Rulli , NYC’s Vice- Chair introduced proceedings and Margaret Molloy took centre stage as the MC of the morning’s event.

Margaret shared her own personal story of bravery as an Irish immigrant to New York and invited the audience to consider the thought ‘if a decision doesn’t feel uncomfortable it’s probably not brave’.

Michelle Froah, VP Brand Excellence Samsung, welcomed everyone to Samsung 837 in itself a physical tribute to the concept of Bravery.

She guided the audience through her experiences of bravery within Samsung:

1. Rebuilding Brand Love through open, honest conversations
2. Personalised Engagement with Loyal Customers
3. Going Head to Head with the Competition through brave communication

Margaret then introduced Will Dean, the engaging and genial founder of Tough Mudder.

Will brought us through his personal story of building a brand experience which has gathered an amazing group of followers including 20,000 loyal fans who have tattoed Tough Mudder logos on their body!

He told us how his HBS professors tried to dissuade him from his vision “this isn’t the type of thing that HBS graduates do ”. Indeed Will’s musings on the relative value of a traditional MBA provoked a few ripples of laughter amongst the audience!

Elissa Montanti, founder of The Global Medical Relief Fund, took the stage to share her story of bravery in overcoming severe anxiety to found this wonderful organization.

She took us through her first meeting with Kenan, a young child from Bosnia who had lost his arms and a leg, how she brought him to the US against all the odds and helped him achieve his dream of walking again. As Kenan stood beside her she invited the audience to consider ‘when you get the second chance at life you take it’

By the wonders of Samsung technology the audience then got to enjoy listening to Andrew Clark, CMO of Mars

He shared how he approaches the idea of Bravery at the London conference including the mantras of:

1. Less control more liberation
2. Less retreating , more exploring

He shared the wonderful example of Snickers online communication at the time of the highly divisive US general election #feedthegood illustrated how the innocence of dogs can bring us together.

The morning’s event culminated with the captivating story of Madonna Badger, Founder of the Badger & Winters agency.

Madonna opened by sharing her incredibly personal story of loss and how when you have experienced the worst that life can throw at you being brave can sometimes be just about getting up in the morning.

Madonna has taken bravery to a new level by creating #womenarenotobjects and taking this campaign all the way to the centre stage at Cannes . She has successfully mobilized the advertising industry behind this promise: “ I presented to the most powerful creatives in the world and asked them to change how they portray women”

She outlined the consequences of her bravery, how they lost clients, had lawsuits thrown at them and had to turn down business opportunities and yet she never wavered..

For her there is nothing to be afraid of …

"We can all change tomorrow if that’s what we choose to do”

As I spoke with some of my colleagues and fellow attendees at the end of the event I can honestly say that there was a wonderful sense of renewed energy and a desire to bring these incredible stories with us well beyond the morning’s event. It was a very strong, confident and brave first step for the Marketing Society in NYC!

By Ciara Dilley, senior director, transformation innovation at PepsiCo