Digital is the new Pop! Here’s a sneak peek of DigiCon Pop 2021

August 9, 2021August 14, 2021 Tita Jane 0 Comments DigiCon, DigiCon 2021

This will be my 5th year of covering DigiCon, the largest annual gathering of marketing practitioners. While digital was recognized since last year as a key disruptor and accelerator of digitalization across most businesses, this year it is even more so. Digital has become the new “pop”, as it has been assimilated in all aspects of our lives, whether as organizations, brands, or individuals. And it will be held virtually once again from October 11-15, 2021.

“Digital is the new masa,” shares Leigh Reyes, Board President of IMMAP, Chair 3meritus and Product Officer (C3PO) of MullenLowe TREYNA. “From village Viber groups, to live selling, from learning how to navigate by QR code, to Zoom e-numans and Zoomba, digital has made a full shift to the mainstream.”

Five days of DigiCon Pop dives into a DEEP framework which consists of four programming tracks that cover its Pop theme and brings together over fifty speakers from all over the world.

Past DigiCon conferences were always able to bring in noted keynote speakers who were giants in the marketing industry. This year, 5 global keynote speakers will grace DigiCon Pop 21.

Adam Grant, best-selling author of Think Again and an esteemed Organizational Psychologist from the Wharton School of Business

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, author of The Wiki Man and Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense, and one of the industry’s leading experts on consumer behaviors

Scott Galloway, who’s deemed “One of the World’s 50 Best Business Professors”, founder of Prophet and L2 Inc., and host of the award-winning podcast, Pivot

Laurent Ezekiel, Chief Marketing Officer and Growth Officer for WPP, the largest advertising holdings company worldwide

Gill Zhou, APAC and China Chief Marketing Officer for one of the largest technology companies globally, IBM

Want to look back on past DigiCon conferences? Here are the ones for 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

The virtual conference last year spanned 5 days and so will this one. However, there are going to be 4 tracks this year instead of last year’s 5.

The Disruption track will cover innovative trends and digital excellence that has ultimately pivoted how the public has conducted business in every sector – more so in the past year. This track will feature speakers such as Michael Patent, founder of sports and entertainment agency, Culture Group; and Todd Schweizer, co-founder and CEO of independent financial platform, Brankas.

The Expansion vertical invites attendees to unlock key sectors that evolved by putting digital first as its key asset and to uncover new opportunities through data. Key speakers for this track include Nicholas Kontopolous, APAC Regional Head of Growth Marketing for Adobe DX; Bea Atienza, IBE Leader for Colgate-Palmolive; and Isabel Yap, Special Projects Officer and Senior Assistant Vice President for East West Banking Co.

The Emerging leg will discuss rising digital trends and tools that any business should venture in, including media and e-commerce platforms. This category brings together speakers like Ash Mandhyan, CEO of Quanta Digital, and Carlos Alimurung, CEO of ONE Esports.

The final track, Possibilities, will be about understanding new potential markets and exploring underserved needs by consumers that span multi-generations through innovative strategies. This leg will feature speakers including Budjette Tan, writer and co-creator of hit comic series, Trese; and Grace David, CEO of Edukasyon.PH.

There are two returning events that marketing professionals and practitioners have been looking forward to:

DPop Youth – Presented by Unilab, this will be a one-day workshop and competition on October 13 for university students to learn, socialize, and showcase their talents in the digital industry. Students can look forward to hearing from key industry leaders on strategy development, creative strategy, and media orchestration as well as from DigiCon’s “baddest” speaker yet, Bretman Rock, a breakout content creator and digital influencer.

Boomerang Awards – This is the country’s premier awards show for digital marketing excellence. One difference this year with the awards is that they are adding several categories. There will be Tech Innovation categories because, according to Dennis Perez, IMMAP Vice President and Media Director for Unilever Philippines, “…digital is basically touching all businesses”. Special categories have also been added to the award body’s extensive roster including The Purple Boomerang Award, presented by Investing In Women, which focuses on gender equality and gives extra recognition to economic empowerment for women. Another special addition, in collaboration with Facebook, is The Blue Impact Boomerang. This special category recognizes campaigns that were developed as “people first”, and will be measured through effectivity of using Facebook, mobile ingenuity, and innovation in driving business objectives.

IMMAP will continue to receive entries for the Boomerang Awards till August 13, 2021. This will culminate with the awards show on the last day of DigiCon Pop, October 15, 2021.

Check out the official website of DigiCon Pop 2021 at www.digicon.com.ph. You will find there the list of speakers, the breakdown of tracks, as well as how to avail of tickets.