Messaging represents the largest amount of human attention on any mobile platform. Given its rapid growth in recent years, this platform is now set to represent the next frontier in personalized and permission-based marketing.

Social Media Week in partnership with OpenMessage and Bonin Ventures are curating this special event to ensure marketers like you have the insights, tools, and practices you need to capitalize this next wave of innovation.

THE AGENDA:

2:05PM-2:20PM
Welcome: Why Messaging Matters
Everything that exists for ad-tech today, will exist for marketing tomorrow. This is the thesis of marketing guru Bonin Bough who quit his c-suite job, put his phone number on the cover of a best-selling book, and started to invest messaging start-ups. Find out why he is so excited about this new communication innovation. And, don’t forget to text him on +1 (646) 759-1837.
Speaker:

Bonin Bough, Founder & Chief Growth Officer, Bonin Ventures
2:20PM-2:30PM
Messaging: Exploring The Outsize Opportunity For Brands
In a mobile-first world, messaging is now a native behavior. In 2018, the four largest mobile messaging apps (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Viber) held 4.1 billion combined users, surpassing 3.4 billion users on the four largest social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn). Messaging is how we keep in touch with our friends and loved ones, and increasingly, our preferred method for communicating with brands. As an antidote to social media, messaging feels personal and private but equally expansive. As a platform, it enables us to socialize, share, watch, discover and even transact. In short, messaging is how and where people are spending their time but it’s still a largely untapped opportunity for brands. Join Scott Lachut from PSFK to understand why the messaging space is so important and learn some of the ways that brands can effectively tap into it to engage their audiences and deliver superior CX.
Speaker:

Scott Lachut, Partner/President of Research & Strategy, PSFK
2:30PM-2:40PM
Doing for Messaging what HTML did for the Web
The history of the web-browser, when compared to the history of messaging and SMS, tells two different stories. Whilst HTML and similar technologies ushered in massive innovations and opportunities for how the Web would be utilised; SMS stayed much the same for over 25 years. But that is all about to change: OpenMessage introduce you to what the messaging space is about to morph into, and how this might offers platforms just as transformative as the web itself!
Speaker:

Jake Lazarus, Founder & CEO, OpenMessage
3:20PM-3:35PM
Say Hello to the Age of Conversation
There has been a huge consumer shift to messaging. Hear insights about the way people are connecting with businesses across Facebook’s messaging platforms, and see examples of how brands use conversation to reduce friction in the customer journey.
Speaker:

Lauren Marie Kehe, Global Business Marketing, Messaging (NA Lead), Facebook, Messenger
3:35PM-3:45PM
Protecting Privacy in the Most Intimate Channel
For messaging to be effective it is going to be increasingly important for marketers to understand how we maintain the privacy of this most intimate communication channel and to protect consumers rights. Find out what we’ve learned from social and from email that we can apply to messaging before it is too late.
Speakers:

Dr. Augustine Fou, Ad Fraud Researcher
Bonin Bough, Founder & Chief Growth Officer, Bonin Ventures (Moderator)
3:45PM-3:55PM
History of SMS
The very first text message was sent in 1992 by an unwitting pioneer! Find out the fascinating story behind a defining moment that changed everything about how we chose to interact through our mobile devices.
Speakers:

Neil Papworth, Sender of the First Text Message
Bonin Bough, Founder & Chief Growth Officer, Bonin Ventures (Moderator)
3:55PM-4:20PM
Creative Conversations: Designing for Communication & Connection
With new opportunities to build on top of the major messaging platforms, brands and individuals now have the chance to truly express themselves through visual messages. What does this look like, how will it be supported, and what does creativity mean in the conversational space?
Speakers:

Chris Duffey, Head of AI Innovation and Strategy, Adobe
Shane Mac, Chief Automation Officer, Conversocial
Adam Kostman, COO & Co-Founder, OpenMessage (Moderator)
4:20PM-4:30PM
Using Messaging Tech to Transform Fan Engagement
Music artists have already started to utilize messaging to create a new one-to-one relationship with their fans. This new way of engaging shifts us from CRM to PRM (Personal Relationship Management) and transforms what it means for both fans and artists to communicate with each other.
Speakers:

Zeena Koda, Senior Director, Digital Marketing, Atlantic Records
Ryan Leslie, Founder & CEO, SuperPhone.io (Moderator)
4:30PM-4:40PM
Next Billion Dollar Beverage Brand: Build Exclusively on Text
Dirty Lemon is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) beverage company that sells exclusively via text message! This ability to create a conversational commerce experience that users love means that the brand has seen massive growth. Find out the story behind their success and what’s next for the brand.
Speakers:

Zak Normandin, Iris Nova (DIRTY LEMON, The Drug Store)
Bonin Bough, Founder & Chief Growth Officer, Bonin Ventures (Moderator)
4:40PM-5:05PM
Brave New World of Conversational Commerce
What are the messaging standards that will allow seamless communication across multiple platforms. In addition to the messaging apps on OS, there are a number of new players creating a great deal of disruption to messaging. What can we learn from the way they think about this platform?
Speakers:

Michael Goldman, Farmers Dog
Cody Levine, SmileTwice
Julie Fabricant, ForceBrands
Ben Witte, CEO, Recess
Sofia Laurell, Co-Founder, Tiny Organics
Nat Ives, Wall Street Journal (Moderator)
5:05PM-5:10PM
Click-To-Text
Click-to-Text is a technology that drives consumers from a website into a text message platform. But there is more to this simple innovation and it could transform the way we think about the relationship between messaging and commerce.
Speakers:

Sean Clayton, Chief Strategy Officer, SiTO Mobile
Jake Lazarus, Founder & CEO, OpenMessage
5:10PM-5:40PM
Future Of Advertising & Audience Growth for Messaging
There are 2.8 Trillion business to consumer messages sent each year that go unmonetized – message technology is about to change that. In addition, it will provide greater insight into consumers and customers and help to transform the ways brands will operate in the conversational space.
Speakers:

Katie Wilson, Founder & CEO, TapOnIt
Alex Magnin, Head of Revenue, Giphy
Joshua Rochlin, CEO, Teckst
Travis Montaque, Founder & CEO, Emogi
Jason Oates, Chief Business Officer, LiveIntent
Josh Steinberg, Adweek (Moderator)
5:40PM-5:50PM
The Messaging Ecosystem
Tencent’s WeChat platform has driven a massive transformation in consumer-behaviour in China. Join Kimberly Lee and Bonin Bough as they discuss what North America can learn from about how to make a messaging app can the backbone of people’s lives.
Speakers:

Kimberly Lee, Tencent NA
Bonin Bough, Founder & Chief Growth Officer, Bonin Ventures
5:50PM-5:55PM
Key Takeaways: The Messaging Summit
Bonin Bough distills the key takeaways from The Messaging Summit and provides a call-to-action for brands, agencies and marketers interested in the messaging space.

The event is open to Standard, Premium and U25 passholders, but you must purchase your pass to #SMWNYC and pre-register via the link in your confirmation email. Space is limited and attendance is strictly on a pre-registration basis.