MINNEAPOLIS — January 12, 2011 — With illustrations ranging from clips of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the tale of his own desperate quest for a hangover cure, Faris Yakob’s presentation “Give Me Something to Sing About” kicked off the 11th season of Brand Matters this past October 20.
“Faris is one of the driving creative forces behind our parent company, MDC Partners,” explains Shelly Regan, President of Yamamoto. “We were excited to share a little bit of Faris with the rest of the Twin Cities.”
“Give Me Something to Sing About” served as a challenge to marketers to continue the trend of engaging consumers in the telling and retelling of brand stories. Mr. Yakob went so far as to invite the more than 150 attendees to tweet questions and comments via their mobile devices to guide the course of his presentation in real time. A short video interview with Mr. Yakob featuring additional insight is available here. Photos from the event are available here.
Mr. Yakob is Chief Innovation Officer at MDC/kbs+p. He writes regularly for Fast Company, Contagious Magazine and Forbes and was a featured speaker at MIT’s Futures of Entertainment conference. He sat on IPA’s Mobile Marketing Committee in the UK and won their President’s Prize for his thesis on the future of brands. Campaign singled out his blog, Talent Imitates, Genius Steals, as one of the top-ten advertising blogs in the UK and chose him as a “Face to Watch” in January 2008. Follow him on Twitter: @faris.
The only regular speaker series of its kind in the Twin Cities, Brand Matters was launched in 2000 to explore brand issues, trends and the people who shape them. The marketing department of the Carlson School of Management, Twin Cities Business and Yamamoto created Brand Matters and provide its financial support and operation.
