7. Keynote Address by Barri Rafferty, President & CEO – Ketchum

In her keynote address, Barri Rafferty, President and CEO of Ketchum said, “Trust is very critical in the field of communications and especially more important for us: as authentic and transparent communicators”. In the 21st century, it is important to build trust for long and effective relationships with the stakeholders. Rafferty stressed on the importance of science behind trust. Communicators are not scientists, but are creators. So it is crucial to understand what evidence based creative truly means. 

According to Barri Rafferty, our world is changing dramatically. According to data, in 2019, in a single minute, 118 emails are sent, 41 million web messages are sent, and 4.5 million videos are exchanged. Everyone is competing for attention. We live in a multi-channel, multi-screen and multi influenced e- commerce dialogue. In this scenario, how can communicators effectively communicate with the target audience who has an attention span of less than a goldfish, that of about 7 seconds?

Rafferty believes that it is important to leverage the available data and use creativity to hit the right spot. The left brain-right brain paradigm helps us measure this with the help of evidence based creatives. Barri supports her argument with the help of a number of case studies throughout her speech. The first case study by “The Clorox Company” focused on the emotional impact of cleaning. The case study is a different way of thinking about measurement. In this case, the firm used the algorithm of happiness to create an impact among its target audience.

 In the second case study Rafferti spoke about was focused on peanut allergies and was aimed to educate the masses about the implications of peanut allergies. This was a challenge was achieved through business and analytics by focusing on increasing peanut butter consumption to aware the public. Another case that Rafferti focused on identifying sales opportunity through digital platforms, mainly by optimization of social media and websites. This was an example of using both the left brain and the right brain.

“Creativity: Show not tell”. According to Rafferti, visual content is very powerful in conveying the message to the target audience. This is evident in the Puerto Rico campaign. Similarly, the role of influencers cannot be ignored. Barri provided example of a campaign by Jameson called #LoveThyBar,that used local musicians to create an impact. The role of technology and Artificial Intelligence to identify micro influencers is crucial in this regard. This is a trend noticed in 44% of the marketers. 

Barri concluded her speech by reiterating the fact that it is important to understand the target audience in a new way. She believes employees of a company can act as ambassadors to create a powerful impact. Indeed, it is important to understand the use of left brain and right brain in communications.