Chatbots, Online-to-Offline, Geo-Fencing, Location Data and Digital Innovation Top the Agenda at Next Month's BIA/Kelsey ENGAGE Conference

CHANTILLY, Va., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest innovations and best practices in local advertising and marketing solutions will be center stage at next month's BIA/Kelsey ENGAGE (#BIAKENGAGE) conference, which takes place May 16-18, in Austin. This new event will gather media companies, agencies, adtech and martech platforms, SMB brands and enterprise marketers, to examine what it takes to deliver local advertising and marketing services in a constantly changing local media and commerce environment.

Headliner, bestselling author and media theorist Steven Johnson opens the conference with a thought-provoking talk on "Creating Organizations Where Great Things Happen." He'll set the tone for a two-day program that covers leading-edge topics, like the use of messaging apps and #chatbots to automate local customer support.

"Innovation, execution and re-invention are some of the common themes on the ENGAGE agenda," said Charles Laughlin, SVP, BIA/Kelsey and BIA/Kelsey ENGAGE conference chair. "We're looking forward to frank discussions from a wide range of local advertising and marketing experts on what does and doesn't work when providing digital marketing services for SMBs and enterprises targeting local audiences."

The program features real case studies about delivering local advertising and marketing services to brands like Denny's, Pandora Jewelry stores and Shoe Carnival. On the agenda are:

• "Using Location Data to Drive Customer Engagement" (Denny's and Yext), which will show how Denny's optimized its location data to drive more engagement with new customers.
• "Bringing Billboards to Life with Geo-Fencing" (Outfront Media and xAd), which will demonstrate best practices for forging cross-media partnership as well as using new technologies to re-invent traditional media formats.
• "Closing the Loop from Search to Store" (Shoe Carnival and SIM Partners), which will show how to harness the power of location data to create contextualized content and offers to convert searchers into customers.
• "Bridging the Online-to-Offline Gap" (Empyr.com), which will show how brick and mortar businesses and their media partners can bridge the online-to-offline gap for a bigger revenue opportunity.
• "Using Data to Drive Sales" (Matrix), which will demonstrate how a media company improved customer retention, increased the customer value index, reduced the number of churned accounts and improved deal profitability.

For complete conference details, including the current list of speakers, agenda, sponsors and registration visit http://www.biakelsey.com/ENGAGE.             

About BIA/Kelsey
BIA/Kelsey defines, organizes and analyzes the multibillion-dollar Local Commerce Universe (LCU) for media, technology companies, brands and agencies competing in today's multiplatform, interactive local media and marketing arena. LCU, the firm's proprietary vision for tracking the evolving local marketplace, provides an effective framework for delivering meaningful data-driven analysis, consulting and valuation services, competitive intelligence and state-of-the-industry conferences. Learn more about BIA/Kelsey at http://www.biakelsey.com.

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