Steve Rubel from Micro Persuasion informs us about an upcoming ANA conference (actually, two) where bloggers will be given press credentials in order to attend. Details in the block.
The Association of National Advertisers, the industry trade association that represents 340 companies with 8,000 brands that collectively spend over $100 billion in marketing communications and advertising, will issue media credentials to very select number of established marketing bloggers for its upcoming annual conference.
The ANA Annual Conference, which takes place October 7 – 10, 2004 at the Ritz-Carlton Naples, in Naples, Florida, is the industry’s marquee event. It focuses on issues critically important to ANA members, including building brands, accountability and ROI, and marketing innovation. Terry Semel, CEO, Yahoo! and McDonald’s CMO Larry Light will keynote the event and Ron Insana, of CNBC’s Street Signs, will join as host. Other speakers include Michael Winkler, chief marketing officer, Hewlett-Packard; John Costello, executive vice president, merchandising and marketing, Home Depot; and Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi.
Bloggers interested in securing credentials should contact Steve Rubel at srubel@cooperkatz.com. Webloggers are required to cover their own travel expenses for the conference and will receive credentials based on a qualitative assessment of their audience and topic relevance. For more information on the conference, visit www.ana.net.
Not sure on the rate details yet for pressfolk, but the room rate for the Ritz-Carlton runs at the least $299/night around that time and goes up from there.
Rubel also points out that bloggers who are qualified for credentials will also be able to attend any ANA event where the press is permitted. Coming up in July is the 2004 ANA Marketing Accountability Forum, taking place on Monday, July 19th at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. Further details on this and other ANA events are also available on their website, www.ana.net.
