George Town, Grand Cayman: The local marketing community turned out in force for the Cayman Islands Marketing Professionals Association’s (“CIMPA”) fifth annual marketing conference on 25-26 September. Held at the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort, this year’s event offered local marketers two full days of workshops, presentations, panel sessions and interactive activities, all focused around the future of marketing and technology.

Discussing what’s important in marketing now, and what will be important in marketing looking ahead, this year’s theme Futurementals: When Fads Become Fundamentals kicked off with a full day of small group sessions. Attendees delved into in-depth discussions on and strategic planning for marketing fundamentals such as campaign planning with January Kohli from Evans Hunt and business-to-business sales and marketing with Connor Kinnear from Passle, as well as emerging trends like programmatic and SMS marketing with Julian Lynch from Trend Media and live video streaming with Stephanie Liu from Lights, Camera, Live.

The following day, over 150 marketers enjoyed a jam-packed conference with inspiring and educational insights from visiting experts from internationally-renowned advertising agencies the community, Wieden + Kennedy and Critical Mass. Other international speakers included Facebook Live expert Lights, Camera, Live, LA-based cult ice cream brand Coolhaus, expert-to-expert sales and marketing platform Passle and media giant Buzzfeed, who showcased the powerhouse’s newest and fastest-growing brand BringMe!, which focuses on authentic travel content. Attendees also heard from a panel of local marketers across a variety of industries, enjoyed surprise-and-delight experiences throughout the day, and played games of ‘Cards Against Caymanity.’

“This year’s conference was reimagined to make it even more inspirational and conducive, to create tangible takeaways and stronger connections for attendees,” says CIMPA Chair Catherine Healy. “The Board really enjoyed putting this conference together for our members and the wider marketing community – from building relationships with our amazing speakers, creating our very own ‘CIMPA bot’ with AirVu, partnering with the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort on an ‘experience room’, to creating our own ‘Cards Against Caymanity’, we tried to make it as interesting and fun for our industry peers as possible.”

CIMPA is already gearing up for its next social event, a unique speed-dating inspired evening where local marketers can meet some of the islands’ not-for-profit organisations and charities who need marketing support and advice. “This is what we see as the future of marketing in the Cayman Islands,” adds Healy. “Bringing exceptional speakers and training opportunities to our community – and for them to pay it forward in return, sharing their knowledge with those who will benefit the most.”

If you are looking to join a charitable board, volunteer your time and expertise to a worthy cause, or simply give someone the opportunity to pick your brain in a social setting, keep an eye out for more details on the 1 November event or contact [email protected] to pre-register.

Marketers interested in joining the 2019 CIMPA Board, or volunteering with CIMPA, are encouraged to attend the organisation’s 2018 AGM on 14 December. More details will be available soon on www.cimpa.ky/events or follow CIMPA on Facebook (www.facebook.com/caymanmarketers) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/cimpaky) for more events, training and industry news.

About CIMPA
The Cayman Islands Marketing Professionals Association (“CIMPA”) is a non-profit organisation that embraces all major business sectors and all marketing disciplines, channels and technologies. Its goal is to help shape the future of the marketing profession in the Cayman Islands by building talented marketers and exceptional business leaders and by demonstrating marketing’s value and strategic role as a key driver of business success to gain respect as an industry.

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Photo Captions: Buzzfeed’s Executive Creative Director Richard Alan Reid spoke to Bring Me!, the online media company’s new travel-focused platform & the 2018 CIMPA Board celebrate a successful conference.