Update: Also see excerpts from Martin Raymond, Bill Buxton and Anna Kirah’s presentations and discussions with Pepsi, Boondoggle & Europcar.

Last week 400 advertisers and agencies gathered in London for our EMEA digital conference - Imagine 09.

These kind of events are crucial to our business. They enable us to get closer to and open a dialogue with our customers, helping inspire and be inspired as we partner together to answer some of the challenges we all face in such a fast paced and increasingly complex industry.

Any complexity is driven, in large part, by the amount of choice marketers now have among a glittering array of technology designed to create more meaningful relationships with their customers. It’s the marriage of that technology with the spell-binding creativity we’re seeing more and more of that is driving innovation in our market place.

It seems nothing is impossible, and days like last Wednesday give us all a welcome injection of motivation to get out there, dream and deliver!

We were certainly treated to some fantastic presentations and thought-provoking challenges from the speakers assembled from inside Microsoft and some willing customers, keen to pass on their experiences.

My take aways:

· The pace of innovation is increasing. It isn’t going to slow down so get comfortable with it – be flexible, adaptable and believe in the power of dreams.

· We have to take risks – brands who explore new avenues will triumph over their competition. It’s ok to fail. How can we learn if not from our mistakes?

· Involve customers, share, invite make them part of the conversation and allow them to shape your business. They will increasingly expect and demand this participation anyway. Advertising is increasingly part of the conversation not an interruption to it.

· There’s a need to create seamless experiences across multiple screens, but we need to remember what each device is best for and how people use and engage with it. Mobile is used very differently than television. As Bill Buxton says, “we live in a society of appliances.”

· Technology will create the platforms that allow conversations. It’s benevolent and helps people with their lives. But technology is only the enabler not the end point in itself.  Good advertising still needs to focus upon the objectives not get fixated by the technology.

· Every digital campaign needs to consider the social media element. People want to personalize, share, adapt and make their own. Providing customers with the ability to create on top of your creativity will endear them to you.

Below is our 2 minute wrap up video and we’ll post the presentations from Bill Buxton, Martin Raymond, Anna Kirah and other highlights from the day very soon, so check back often!

Thanks to everyone who ventured to London’s South Bank for the day. We’d love your feedback on the videos if you couldn’t make it.

Enjoy!

Mel