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In-Brief

SME Digital & Innovation Forum returns to Puerto Rico Convention Center

Current marketing, advertising, and digital industry conversations revolve around the Metaverse, NFT, and a new world without cookies, topics that shape the program of the 2022 SME Digital & Innovation Forum.

Organized by the Puerto Rico Sales and Marketing Executives Association (SME), the event will take place May 12, at the Puerto Rico Convention Center.

“We selected as the motto ‘Permanent Beta_’ to allude to that permanent beta state through which brands must adjust strategies and new contact points to reach the customers or clients,” said Edgardo M. Rivera, director of the event’s organizing committee.

“This readjustment of strategies requires understanding market changes, therefore, the educational content of the event will revolve around innovation, trends, and opportunities in the Metaverse, Gaming, NFT technology, web 3.0 and digital commerce, as well as digital maturity of companies and a new world without cookies,” he said.

“In addition, we will present the most recent findings of the 2022 Puerto Rico Digital Trends Study with new data about the use of cryptocurrencies, gaming, and interaction in social communities. Also, the winners of the 2022 SME Digital Awards will be announced,” Rivera said.

Kicking things off at 9 a.m. Anitza M. Cox, director of analysis and Social Policy at Technical Studies, will present a summary of the 2022 Puerto Rico Digital Trends Study that explores trends and changes in digital consumer behavior in Puerto Rico.

That will be followed up by a livestream from Hong Kong with Gavin Cheng, CEO of DDB FTW Worldwide, who in his talk “Multi-World Marketing: Brand Relevance for Gen-Z and Beyond” will focus on how brands must insert themselves into multiple virtual worlds with billions of connected people.

Ervin Flores, senior vice president of Retail and Consumer Goods at Salesforce, will speak about
the future of post-pandemic stores, sharing trends and learnings oriented to the evolution of the physical store, digital commerce, and web 3.0.

The morning ends with the award ceremony of the SME Digital Awards in the categories of eCommerce, Media, and Creative Data.

The lunch will feature an educational session presented by Growth Digital with the theme of Digital Maturity. In this session offered by Google, Brenda García, agency development manager and Luisa Fernanda Vásquez, account manager for Colombia, Central America, and the Caribbean, will offer measurement tools and tips for activation tactics, among other aspects. 

The afternoon program begins with the “Future-Proofing your Digital Marketing Strategy in a Cookieless World” presentation by Lana Warner, director of Partnerships & Client Strategy of Lotame, who will offer insights, best practices and examples of digital marketing and advertising strategies that are already being implemented without the use of cookies.

These presentations will continue with the awarding of the SME Digital Awards in the
“Execution” category: Mobile, Video and Innovative use of Technology.

To better understand this Digital Revolution, uses and usefulness of NFTs, the event will feature the participation of Shirley McPhaul, director of Crypto Curious and Puerto Rico Blockchain Trade Association.

For her presentation, McPaul will help participants understand what an NFT is, its use in Puerto Rico, and why they are important for marketing and creating social communities. That will be followed by a discussion with GMoney, NFT entrepreneur, moderated by Juan Carlos Pedreira, partner/digital strategist of Social Business Hub Inc.

The SME will close the event recognizing the best digital campaigns and initiatives in Puerto Rico in the Social category: Social Media, Branded Content, Influencer and Social Responsibility, as well as the selection of the People’s Choice Award and the announcement of the Top Puerto Rico Influencer People’s Choice. A networking cocktail will take place at the end of the award ceremony.

Among other attractions of the forum is the Networking & EXPO Center aimed at promoting business opportunities among exhibitors and participants that will meet during the day, as well as the free DIGI Talks that will be offered in that area.

The SME expects the participation of some 1,000 professionals from marketing, advertising, digital, public relations, media, technology, startups, academia, research, and business owners.

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This story was written by our staff based on a press release.
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