The final day of The Media Insights &Engagement Conference started off with co-chair Tom Ziangas giving us a recap of Day two.

Once again, we had a top-notched entertaining and informative keynote speaker, B. Bonin Bough, VP of Global Media and Consumer Engagement at Mondelez International, who discussed Turning Talent into New Rockstars. Bonin talked about the challenges of media and commerce in our ever changing world (radio to TV to digital to what's next). His comical approach to our business covered topics like multi-tasking vs smoking pot, toothbrush usage, and the addiction of social media. He also gave us an understanding of Hackonomy - the concept of breaking things to create value.

Our featured session of the morning, Post-Disruption, The New, New Media Landscape, saw Jake Katz, VP of Audience Insights & Strategy at Revolt TV explain how brand positioning should take advantage of all of the cross-platform opportunities available. He focused on the cultural shift of audiences and consumers, as well as brand behavior, and how social media amplifies traditional media. Due to all our media options, Jason tells us that the medium influences how the message is received, so don't be everywhere, be somewhere strategically.

The last day had three groups of strategy labs. The first breakout at 11 am consisted of:

The next lab sessions at 11:45 am were:

Comedy Central's Shari Cleary presented an entertaining (and R rated) session about viral videos on social media and how their growth is taking the world by storm. Content experiences resemble hanging out among friends for the viewers. Self-created content also creates a platform for those lacking presence in traditional media. Fans like these videos and find them fun and easy to use.  They also like the fact that they can form conversations around them.

The conference's final lab sessions at 12:30 pm were:

Theresa Pepe from Viacom covered all of the areas about kids' viewing and behaviors (that Nielsen is not measuring). Kids are using more social media and digital media like Facebook, Netflix, Instagram, Pintrest, Skype, Pandora, and a wide array of apps. We also learned about how moms are using smart and mobile devices. Top activities for moms include listening to music, communicating/sharing pictures, browsing the internet, and playing games. And kids continue to follow mom's lead, but kids are more likely to view TV on mobile.

The conference concluded with the Case Study Awards. This year's nominees were:

After our co-chairs gave their closing remarks the MediaScience/A&E presentation was voted this year's Case Study winner.

Overall, this was a great conference. The lab sessions were extremely helpful, as there were some very interesting studies and discussions about how we can better use data to monetize ROI. Yet, there is still a lot to learn in our ever-changing industry, especially among millennials, social media and cross-platform opportunities. Technology is constantly changing and we as researchers need to stay ahead of the curve to be successful in reaching our audience and consumers.

Our morning keynote speakers were all entertaining, engaging, and a great way to start off each day.  Dr. Jeffery Cole, Nir Eyal, Casper Berry and B. Bonin Bough each captivated the room, and in their own humorous way had us laugh, as well as think, as they each shared great insights about media, brands and viewers.

Our co-chairs, Tom Ziangas and Jess Aguirre, along with our event producer Rachel McDonald put together a fantastic program, and I am looking forward to next year's conference in Ft. Lauderdale.

About the Author: Jim Bono is a TV industry veteran of nearly 25 years, working in Cable TV research for over 20 years.  He’s coming up on his 15th year with Hallmark Channel and Crown Media, where he is VP of Research and heads the department on the East Coast.  A Long Island native all his life, Jim is married to his best friend and wife of 23 years and has 2 wonderful teenaged sons.