30
January
2014
|
02:46 AM
America/Los_Angeles

Holmes Report's Innovation Summit Recognizes Innovators In PR And Media

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David Matahai, Director of Marketing Communications at Hyundai.

Holmes Report conferences are rapidly becoming my favorite conferences and last week’s Innovation Summit in San Francisco was excellent — and not just because I won a top 25 Innovator award for my “Every company is a media company” thought leadership.

The quality of the attendees was excellent with top PR executives from some of the largest agencies and there were many interesting panels. And I had lots of great conversations in the hallways, which is always the mark of a good conference.

I was very pleased with the response to the panel I was on, with lots of people telling me it was one of the best. As an outsider, and as a journalist, it’s easier for me to cut through to the chase because I don’t have a vested interest in protecting any specific type of PR program, or ride along with whatever the current bandwagon is promoting. 

Just over a year ago I was in Miami at a Holmes Report conference speaking on a panel about Brand Journalism and it was great. It quickly turned into a big discussion about corporate media and we made so much noise people from other conference sessions were coming over to join us.

This year, my panel was called Smash the Agrarian Clock and Other Innovation Mandates  and was excellently moderated by PR industry legend Marian Salzman, CEO of Havas. David Matahia, head of marketing communications at Hyundai was interesting (above), he was saying that there’s big pressure on companies to have a newsroom, to produce content 24/7.

I said that every company is a media company but you don’t have to be every kind of media company — you don’t need to be CNN.

This was the first In2 Innovation Summit, the brainchild of Aarti Shah, senior editor at Holmes Report. I’m looking forward to the next one. Here’s a short photo essay:

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Lou Hoffman from the Hoffman Agency (right) presented an excellent case study of the work his agency has done with Kelly Kline (left) and the city of Fremont. This San Francisco Bay Area city no longer has a local newspaper and so has taken on a lot of media publishing roles and has gained significant attention from local residents and beyond. 

The Fremont site: Start, expand, grow, relocate business in Silicon Valley - Fremont, California

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Aarti Shah presents Susan Etlinger from Altimeter Group with an Innovator Award.

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Sam Whitmore from Media Survey wins an Innovator award.

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Marian Salzman, CEO of Havas wins an Innovator Award. 

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Ken Shuman, VP of Communications at Trulia wins an Innovator Award.

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Trulia wins best in-house PR team.

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Mark Stouse, VP of Global Connect at BMC wins an Innovator Award.

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Julie Crabill, Inner Circle Labs, left, with Paul Holmes, wins a Sabre Award.