Day One

Keynote - Presentations and Panel

A Changed Audience - Your customer's travel purchasing behaviour is changing. What are you doing to adapt your marketing strategy?

There's no doubt that the rapidly changing macro-economic environment has had a profound effect on travel consumer behaviour across Europe. This complied with the arrival of a 'new marketing age' where consumers are more informed than ever and increasingly seek relationships with companies, mean that your customers are now looking at your product and services through new lenses.

• With the biggest challenges come the biggest opportunities. Understand how the most savvy travel companies are adapting their marketing strategy to retain existing customers, acquire new customers and gain market share
• Analyse the current European competitive landscape. Which travel companies are 'successfully' engaging their customers and riding through the downturn? What insights does this give into current European consumer behaviour?
• Ensure you are fully up to speed with the latest trends in consumer behaviour, when it comes to purchasing travel online and offline.
• Understand which factors - price, destination, online booking capability etc are having the most impact on travel spend and analyse where you should concentrate your marketing efforts
• What role does engagement marketing play in the new marketing age?

• Jesper Palmqvist, Director eCommerce - EMEA | APAC, Wyndham Hotel Group
• Ghislain d'Auvigny, Commercial Director, Pierre et Vacances Group
• Krista Pappas, Global Head of Business Development - Bing Travel - a Microsoft Company
• Andrew Pozniak, Head of Travel - Emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa, Google Inc

Networking Coffee Break

Presentations and Panel

The New Social Media Landscape - What role does Social Media Play in the Travel Marketing Mix?

According to a recent survey by Adobe "Over 90 percent of respondents are planning to invest in new rich media and social networking technologies to ensure their brands and products stand out on the Web".

• Examine the rise in the importance of social media and user-generated content as a cost effective way to increase brand awareness and customer dialogue
• Where does social media and user-generated content fit into the marketing mix?
• With so many different social sites how can you identify where your target audience is?
• Will we see mass consolidation in the social media arena? Will the large OTAs continue to buy social media companies? What are they actually buying? Traffic? Brand? User-Generated Content?
• Why does TripAdvisor dominate the landscape? And why is there so little traction in travel-specific social media companies? Is this likely to change?
• Why and how has Twitter caused such a buzz? Is it a worthwhile tool for travel companies?
• How do you decide what social media can do for you commercially, culturally and from a brand perspective?

• Sandra Leonhard, Director of Web Strategy & Business Development, TUI
• Thorvald Stigsen, CEO, Momondo
• Martin Verdon-Roe, Director of Sales, Europe, TripAdvisor

Networking Lunch Break

Presentations and Panel

Social Media Strategy - Set the Right Goals, Budget and Resources and Avoid the Pitfalls

• What resources should you allocate to social media? How costly will it be to manage effectively and who should manage it?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing your social media campaign?
• What legal aspects do you need to consider when planning your social media/UGC strategy?
• Is it better to set separate goals for each portion of your social media campaign? Or should you also take a holistic approach when it comes to setting targets?
• Which demographic actually uses social media and how should you plan your SM strategy accordingly?
• Should you concentrate only on the major players? Or do emerging and start-up social networks offer value, too? How do various sites compare in terms of ROI? Who has critical mass so far as travel is concerned?

• Allison Wightman, Head of Marketing Systems, Virgin Atlantic Airways
• Paul Harrison, CEO, Carve Consulting

Networking Coffee Break

Presentations and Panel

User-Generated Content - Increase Customer Dialogue and Understand its Impact on the Purchasing Cycle

• Where do consumers consult user-generated content in the purchasing decision-making process? What impact does it have?
• How can you leverage user reviews to increase conversions?
• Should you integrate user reviews into your website? If so at what point should they be integrated into the booking path?
• Video user-generated content is currently low quality and relatively unstructured. What opportunities exist to develop this area?
• Are user photos going to replace written reviews in popularity in the travel space?
• What is the right combination of photo uploading tools, user-generated written reviews and blogs? Do you need to provide all of them to achieve maximum results?
• What are the opportunities to engage your customers and encourage dialogue on social networks such as Twitter via mobile platforms?

• Wesley Put van den Beemt, Lecturer, International Tourism Management, NHTV University of Applied Sciences
• Sebastian Heinzel, CEO, tripwolf
• Anthony Rawlins, MD, Digital Visitor

17.30 - 19.30 Networking Drinks Reception

Relax and network over a drink after an information-packed first day

Day Two

Keynote - Presentations and Panel

Make your Marketing Budget Work Harder - Get the Greatest ROI on your Marketing Spend

Your marketing budget is being scrutinized like never before and yet the pressure to deliver results is even higher. It is essential that every cent of your marketing spend proves its worth - relying on gut instinct is not enough. The panel of leading travel marketers will show you what really works and what doesn't - saving you valuable time, money and resources. This session alone will justify your attendance at the conference!

• In this year of value - understand how to evaluate and assess the true worth of every marketing Euro you spend
• How can you maximize the impact of a limited budget?
• Measuring true ROI- take a hard look to define what goals you want to reach and avoid getting distracted along the way
• Balance offline vs. online marketing strategies - are both still needed? How can they effectively fuel each other?
• Email marketing, online advertising, search etc which media vehicles can you use to add the most value?
• Which new trends are worth integrating into your marketing mix and which should you approach with caution?
• How can you make your presence on the web more meaningful? What new technology is available to cut out the noise and ensure you're communicating effectively with your customers?

• Danny Barrasso, Director eCommerce Services, EMEA, Hilton Hotels
• Niki van Wijk, VP e-Commerce, transavia

Networking Coffee Break

Presentations and Panel

Social Media Metrics - Can the ROI of Social Media and UGC be Measured Effectively?

• First things first, what is it we are measuring?
• Evaluate the performance of social web conversations and the revenue they drive
• Are traditional metrics for online activity inadequate for measuring social media? What new metrics such as 'volume of mentions' will become important in judging the success of your social media strategy?
• What free tools exist to monitor 'buzz' in-house? Is it better to outsource?
• What data do you need to understand how well your social media strategy is working?
• How can you use surveys, embedded tracking tags and social media monitoring tools to monitor your social media initiatives?
• Intercontinental Hotels use the number of room nights attributed to social media as their metric. What should you measure? Are you misaligning your goals with your metrics?
• How can you measure the influence of social media on search engine results? Can social media be leveraged to drive quality traffic to your site?
• Monitor feedback - Use Web 2.0 to listen to what your customer base is saying across multiple channels

• Stephanie Leavitt, Manager, OnlinePublishing, Carnival Cruises

Networking Lunch Break

Case Study and Discussion

Driving Results - Key Steps to Monetising Social Media

Profit from the experiences of companies that have used trial - and error - to discover what really drives results

• Can (and should) social media actually drive revenue? What is its likely ROI?
• Hear case studies from leading travel brands who have made it pay
• Understand how to use social media to drive quality lead generation
• Reach specific customer segments that are unavailable to you via traditional channels
• Measure the effect of incorporating UGC and social media into your website design to increase conversions
• Carnival's blog has attracted nearly 4 million visits. Are you doing everything possible to drive relevant traffic from blogs to your website - and increase your search engine rankings?
• In tough economic times, how do you argue the value of social media over traditional, proven channels?

• Malte Siewert, MD, Trivago
• Ania Smith, Head of Business Development, Eastern Europe, Expedia

17.00 End of Conference