A LOOK AT CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS IN SOCIAL MEDIA & DIGITAL MARKETING.
27TH & 28TH AUG 2024
PERTH WESTERN AUSTRALIA
SOS24: alchemy
Where Magic Meets Mastery. Bring your imagination and a thirst for knowledge – Lab coats optional.
More than just a conference, State of Social is an award-winning event – an educational, inspirational experience – where we turn Optus Stadium into a melting pot of marketing talent.
We’re bringing together our industry’s most prolific alchemists to share their stories, case studies, technical smarts and recipes for success, so you can make your own transformative magic happen.
Together, over two days of learning and laughs, we’ll equip you with everything you need to create the perfect conditions for marketing alchemy.
The data. The science. That magical creative spark. Plus, all the skills and smarts to transform it all into awareness, engagement and conversions.
See what our industry’s stars are (and aren’t) doing. Hear what the digital world’s pioneers and players think before it hits the grapevine. Taste the gourmet eats and treats, smell the bottomless barista-brewed coffee and buckle up for those oh-so-special SOS experiences.
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
PROGRAM
*SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Early risers win! Doors are open and the coffee is brewing.
Get in early, grab your lanyard, a quick nibble, and settle in for a day of magic and mystery.
State of Social Founder Meg Coffey takes to the stage to kick things off for 2024.
Be on Social Without Being on Social
Dive deep with Michael Corcoran in his keynote and challenge the conventional wisdom of digital presence. Discover how to transcend the ordinary playbook, crafting a social strategy that’s uniquely yours, defying logic yet delivering undeniable impact.
Michael will unveil the four critical variables that will redefine your brand’s social role, sharing insights on how, with a touch of creative alchemy, you can set your brand apart, tackle challenges, and seize opportunities in ways you never imagined. This session is an invitation to think bigger, bolder, and more creatively about your place in the digital world.
How to Create True Alchemy Between Brands and Gaming
If the idea of a ‘gamer’ gives you the willies, let alone hitching your brand to a gaming activation, multi-Cannes-Lion-winning James Whatley is here to educate and empower you, so you know what works, what doesn’t and why.
From the shallow waters of Wordle to the depths of developer-friendly brand activations, James will give you the insights, knowledge and questions you need to ask the next time someone says to you, ‘We should do something in gaming.’
Enjoy a long lunch in the Sports Lounge and take in the sights of the incredible grounds at Optus Stadium. We’ve left you plenty of time to grab a feed and check your emails and then devour the brain food on offer.
Your choice of sessions covering the hottest topics in social media and digital marketing.
RIVER VIEW ROOM 1
The Criticality of Meaningful Connections
Anyone can create digital marketing content. But creating meaningful experiences and connections? Not so much. Lucky for you, Juicebox’s Joel Pember will help you identify and hone the skills, smarts, systems and strategies you need to do exactly that – at scale – in his breakout session.
From the human-centred design and behavioural science required to create deep connections, to the new tech and philosophies you’ll need to scale them up, Joel will share a new way of thinking bout connections between people and your brand. And it’ll all be backed by real-world case studies.
| Level: All | Theme: Niche | Category: Any Business |
RIVER VIEW ROOM 2 | SPONSORED BY CREATIVE FIX
Culture or creativity: what comes first?
Explore how the best creative ideas have the power to shape culture, how culture and cultural groups can help drive more effective creative and how brands can find their own unique creative voice.
Discover a unique blend of panel discussion and live podcast recording in this session, delving into the interplay between culture and creativity hosted by Andrés Lopés-Varela.
| Level: All | Theme: Creative | Category: Any Business |
RIVER VIEW ROOM 3
Your choice of sessions covering the hottest topics in social media and digital marketing.
RIVER VIEW ROOM 1 | SPONSORED BY DOUBLEVERIFY
Why Transparency Matters: Protection and Performance in Social Environments
Are you getting the biggest bang for your digital marketing and media bucks? Are you sure? Make sure with DoubleVerify’s Imran Masood.
Explore the critical issues affecting digital and social marketing effectiveness – namely suitability, standardisation and transparency. Learn how to manage shifting consumer expectations, brand reputation, privacy regulations and misinformation/disinformation. Find out why you need to standardise measurement and transparency standards and how to use verification to maximise quality and drive better business outcomes.
| Level: A Good Grasp | Theme: Data-Driven | Category: Any Business |
RIVER VIEW ROOM 2
From Clickbait to Critical Thinking: Media Literacy for a Digital Future
Brace yourself for a rapid-fire 30 minutes of hard-hitting dialogue as our seasoned experts – a seasoned producer unearthing truth in the trenches, a legal luminary dissecting the legal ramifications, and a social media maven navigating the digital minefield – confront the specters of fake news, manufactured outrage, and the unsettling prevalence of deliberate misinformation.
Join us on for a riveting exchange that plunges into the depths of uncertainty, probing the very essence of reality and why discerning truth from fiction has never been more crucial. Prepare to challenge your assumptions, ignite your critical faculties, and emerge empowered with the knowledge to navigate the turbulent seas of today’s media landscape.
| Level: All | Theme: Niche | Category: Any Business |
RIVER VIEW ROOM 3
Your choice of sessions covering the hottest topics in social media and digital marketing.
RIVER VIEW ROOM 1
The Alchemy of Experience Design: Turning Customer Insight into Memorable Moments to Build Trusted Brands
How do you create products, services and experiences your customers want to tell the world about? It’s the 24-carat question that Synergy’s Principal Experience Designer Emma Hollins will answer in her experience-design breakout.
Get practical takeaways on how to build empathy and advocacy for customers within your organisation. Understand how your customers think and feel and what’s important to them. Then, turn those customer insights into compelling value propositions, memorable moments and a brand customers love and trust.
RIVER VIEW ROOM 2
RIVER VIEW ROOM 3
Take a quick break and find your friends in the Sports Lounge. Grab a snack, charge the phone.
Meet Paula Bloodworth, Global Chief Strategy Officer
Somehow, Paula has crammed industrial quantities of strategic alchemy into her trailblazing, globetrotting career. She led Nike’s strategy in EMEA and China before the big kahuna, heading up their global strategy at Wieden + Kennedy in Portland. Heaps of awards (including an Emmy!) ensued. Next, she was Head of International Strategy at Uncommon, working with global brands like Peloton and the Jordan Brand.
Then, in 2023, Idris Elba lured her to work with him, bringing together the worlds of entertainment and advertising to create consequential campaigns and cultural change. Check out the recent ‘Don’t Stop Your Future’ anti-knife crime campaign that resulted in a landmark legal change.
It’s a lot! So we’re double-chuffed that she’s agreed to cram in a must-hear keynote at SOS24.
A ‘Social First’ State of Mind
Renowned CMO-for-hire and creator-economy expert Lia Haberman is going to spill the beans on the emerging social trends you need to watch (and ignore), the new apps and platform features you should embrace, and the right way to build a social-listening, social-co-creation, social-first culture.
From learning to give customers and creators the keys to co-creation to understanding why it’s so important (and the risks if you don’t), Lia’s practical tips and real-world examples will enable you to ditch your control-freak mindset and channel your inner co-creator in our social-first world.
A quick recap and it’s time to move on to drinks!
Day One is done. Let’s have a drink and reminisce.
Your choice of sessions covering the hottest topics in social media and digital marketing.
RIVER VIEW ROOM 1
What’s Old Is New Again: How To Speak to Gen-Z Through Organic Social Media
What’s the best way to speak to Gen-Z? Social media superstar Georgia Tappy will explain how to listen, cut through the noise and engage and entertain Gen-Z (yes, entertain – they’re not Gen Zzzzz).
In Georgia’s workshop, you’ll explore the pros and cons of different channels, from newsletters and Reddit subs to Threads, Instagram Polls and Facebook Groups. You’ll learn how to create valuable content that leverages brand love, how to repurpose it and harness social media trends sustainably, and crucially, how to get Gen-Z to listen.
RIVER VIEW ROOM 2
RIVER VIEW ROOM 3
Self-Care, Burnout and the Busy Mind
You don’t need Happiness Co’s Julian Pace to tell you burnout is rife. With the pressure on to do more with less, the evidence is everywhere. So how do we protect our mental health and wellbeing? Even better, how do we create a power-up culture to combat burnout?
Learn new strategies for avoiding burnout and get tips and tools for unleashing motivation. Find out why and how you should set and communicate boundaries in our always-connected world of work, so you have the time and space to enjoy the life and person you want to be.
Your choice of sessions covering the hottest topics in social media and digital marketing.
RIVER VIEW ROOM 1
RIVER VIEW ROOM 2 | SPONSORED BY QUIIP
Managing the Social Media Outrage Economy
What do you do when your brand or campaign gets caught in the outrage culture wars on social media? Ask Quiip’s Larah Kennedy.
In an evolving social media landscape where outrage is capital and algorithms are primed to feed off it, what exactly are collective outrage and manufactured outrage? How are they impacting brands on social media? And what can you do to manage and mitigate this online toxicity? Find out with Larah during her deep-dive workshop.
| Level: All | Theme: Niche | Category: Client Focused |
RIVER VIEW ROOM 3
From Diversity Angst to Brand Magic: The Messy Business of Inclusion
Take a moment to consider your biases (yes, we all have them) with Brandable’s Tess Palmyre and examine how they’re holding your brand back. How they’re limiting your brand’s appeal. And how you can make your brand more welcoming by harnessing the power of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Enjoy your very own DEI eureka moment. Master the art of learning from new voices and perspectives. Discover how you can navigate conflict and differences to form a safe, brave space where everyone can thrive. Create inclusive brand magic that resonates with growing diverse audiences.
| Level: All | Theme: Niche | Category: Any Business |
Your choice of sessions covering the hottest topics in social media and digital marketing.
RIVER VIEW ROOM 1
So You Want a Viral Video Strategy? It Starts With…
All eyes on Lily Hoffmann. She’s about to equip you to go beyond the quest for views and a viral flash in the pan, just as she did with her groundbreaking video-first social campaign (winner of the 2023 AMI National Marketing Excellence Award for Social Media Marketing). In her must-see workshop, she’ll show you how to gain broader brand awareness and deeper brand salience, including with younger audiences. From convincing your boss to invest in video, to the value of both evergreen and trending video content, you’ll leave empowered to assess your current approach to video and take it to the next level.
RIVER VIEW ROOM 2 | SPONSORED BY BENNETT
A Social Media Law Update
Get all the answers to all those nagging social media law questions and hypotheticals with Bennett’s Dave Stewart.
Online safety and privacy. Posting no-nos and influencer no-gos. New laws and old legal myths. Join one of Australia’s leading intellectual property (IP) lawyers for everything you need to know to stay on the right side of the law and avoid ending up on the wrong end of a court case.
| Level: All | Theme: Niche | Category: Any Business |
RIVER VIEW ROOM 3
Universal Fan Engagement: Lessons from Fandom to Power Social Community Cultivation
In her fan-tastic workshop, Dr Georgie Carroll will help you achieve brand fandom, just like your favourite sports teams, celebrities, bands, movies and TV shows.
Drawing on a host of case studies, Dr Georgia will reveal what fan-fave brands can teach us about nurturing community, loyalty and a passionate fanbase and explain how you can apply the fundamentals of fan engagement through your socials to create your own fandom.
| Level: All | Theme: Niche | Category: Any Business |
Enjoy lunch in the Sports Lounge and take in the sights of the incredible grounds at Optus Stadium. We’ve left you plenty of time to grab a feed and check your emails and then devour the brain food on offer.
Your choice of sessions covering the hottest topics in social media and digital marketing.
RIVER VIEW ROOM 1 | SPONSORED BY BONFIRE
20% Less Traffic: How AI Answers Will Change Your Search Marketing Strategy
If your brand relies on digital marketing (yes, that’s everyone) you’re going to want to be at Bonfire’s workshop, delivered by SGE expert Will Bal.
How does Google’s Search Generative Experience work? What has Bonfire’s SGE testing revealed? How will SGE change the search marketing landscape? What does it mean for SEO? And crucially, what do you need to do about it? Get all the answers you need – in plain English – from Will.
| Level: A Good Grasp | Theme: Data-Driven | Category: Any Business |
RIVER VIEW ROOM 2
Give Us Your Faking Attention: The Rise and Faux of Fake OOH
Josh Gurgiel is coming straight from inspiring advertisers and agencies to push the creative boundaries of Out of Home (OOH) at POLY – oOh!media’s creative and content innovation hub – to inspire you at SOS24.
The rise of FOOH or Faux Out of Home (giant eyelashes in London, giant handbags in Paris, a giant Barbie in Dubai) blurs the lines between viral video and OOH, online and offline, reality and CGI fantasy. But is FOOH effective, or a fad? What does it mean for social and OOH advertising? And where next?
| Level: Intense | Theme: Niche | Category: Any Business |
RIVER VIEW ROOM 3
Your choice of sessions covering the hottest topics in social media and digital marketing.
RIVER VIEW ROOM 1
RIVER VIEW ROOM 2
Tales From the World of the Emoji Overlords
Ever wondered what it’s like to have every person in the world come to you with their fantastic emoji idea? Emojipedia’s Jeremy Burge knows that feeling well.
In his fun and anecdote-packed workshop, he’ll answer all your emoji-related marketing questions about the Unicode approval process, how brands have tried to subvert it and failed (or succeeded), and whether you should base any new marketing around an emoji proposal.
| Level: All | Theme: Niche | Category: Any Business |
RIVER VIEW ROOM 3
Teach Me Something and Be Real with Me
Social media producer Scotty McDonald says that if the TikTokification of social video has taught us anything, it’s that you don’t need a production company to cut through and connect on social.
In his workshop, he’ll explain how to set aside perfection, be yourself in front of camera, create content that brings value to your audience – the stuff people WANT to learn, engage with and share – and establish yourself as a trusted, knowledgeable guide.
| Level: All | Theme: Creative | Category: Small Business |
Take a quick break and find your friends in the Sports Lounge. Grab a snack, charge the phone.
TFW one of the world’s top TikTok alchemists comes to SOS24!
Stop press! Hit record! Whether you’re a TikTok virgin or a veteran, this is BIG news. The alchemist behind The Washington Post’s TikTok success and the must-read book Make a TikTok Every Day: 365 Prompts for Attention-Grabbing TikToks is coming to State of Social ’24.
Meet Dave Jorgenson, senior video reporter leading the Washington Post TikTok Team.
State of Social Founder Meg Coffey takes to the stage to close things out for 2024.
Two epic days are done. Time to let the drinks flow.
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TICKETS
ALL ACCESS
$945+GST
UNTIL 31 JULY
FULL PRICE $995
GENERAL
$685+GST
UNTIL 31 JULY
FULL PRICE $725
ONLINE
$299+GST
ONLINE
VIDEO ACCESS ONLY
“you hit the nail on the head when it comes to organising an event for marketers. The two days of the event are two of my favourite days of the year and something I really look forward to!”
“This is the only event my team comes together for and we’ve had so many great conversations out of it.” – brad l.
“AMAZING CONFERENCE, THE BEST SOCIAL AND DIGITAL CONFERENCE I’VE ATTENDED IN AUSTRALIA.” – ELIZA T.
“DEFINITELY THE BEST MARKETING AND OR SOCIAL MEDIA CONFERENCE I’VE BEEN TO.” – SARAH B.
In the spirit of reconciliation, State of Social acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
SPONSORS
State of Social ‘24 would not be possible without a dedicated group of supporters and friends.
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