Marketing Happy Hour - Why You Should Attend Industry Events (+ An Inside Look at POSSIBLE 2024) | Christian Muche of POSSIBLE

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, Christian, welcome to the show. How are you? I'm good. And thanks a lot for the invitation. Thank you. Absolutely. Absolutely. We're excited for you to be joining us. I'll have you know, I think we've had a guest from Australia, but not from New Zealand yet. So this is a first for us. I know it's quite early where you're at. but if you don't mind, we'd love to ask what's in your cup or glass this morning, or what do you just enjoy sipping on on a regular basis? Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned this, you know, I'm currently not in the U S I'm in my home base, which is New Zealand. You said this. And that means it's already Saturday morning, my time.

Starting point is 00:00:40 And guess what? It's a cup of coffee. Obviously, you you know I need one or two cups in the morning if I would be in your time zone it you know if it's early afternoon I would say it could be also a cup of coffee I like that you know maybe a second or third one the day if it would be late afternoon I would also love to have a nice you know Sauvignon Blanc glass of Sauvignon Blanc obviously from New Zealand so but right now morning time it's coffee time just coffee we're we're really big coffee people over here as well i in my glass have uh this i'm having it as a mocktail but it's called withco it's supposed to be um a cocktail where you would mix in like tequila if you like that or, or vodka. But it's got grapefruit, lime,

Starting point is 00:01:26 and kosher salt. And I'm just having it with some sparkling water for this afternoon. What about you, Cass? Well, I don't have such a routine, to be honest. You know, it depends on, as you can imagine, you know, running such a business, I'm on the road quite often. So it really depends where I am. i i would say you know we are going to meet obviously you know we are going to see each other in a couple weeks time in miami miami beach so i i would love to go out you know and maybe have a nice cocktail in the late afternoon uh or anything like this why not depends on where we are right absolutely yeah miami is a great spot we've we've been to miami a few times together and it's we love all of the the food and wine and just destinations

Starting point is 00:02:13 there um but i also i'm non-alcoholic right now it's a parched agave cocktail and it is a sparkling spiced piñerita it is delicious it's It's a little smoky. It's great. It's great. And I also have water always double fisting the beverages, but it sounds exciting. And I have to share a secret with you. You know, if I'm especially in these areas, you know, in a warm area like Miami, so on, I love to have the classical ladies drink, which is a pina colada. So that's one of my favorites. Oh, that's so fun and so beachy. And we're going to be talking about Miami and all of that really quickly where we're talking about Possible 2024 in April. And we're excited to

Starting point is 00:02:57 be attending and get to meet you in person. But I'm just excited to hear first a little bit more about, you know, your background, your,, your experience in the industry, and how you landed where you are today in your career. Yeah, so let's do not go back to my childhood, but I can start where I was stepping into this kind of advertising, digital advertising business a while ago um if i remember right i was one of the first um guys in in europe at this time who sold a banner ad you know when this came up um um and um so that was my very first experience and i i had my own company small company up and running at this time um and then i was hired by by two famous brands. Some of you might still may know them, AOL and Yahoo. And I was there responsible then for the first European and then international global sales and marketing business, which was a hell of a ride, you know, working with these big

Starting point is 00:04:02 organizations and then running a global business that was quite exciting. And then it was a time where, you know, together with my family, I've decided to move to New Zealand for lifestyle reasons. So I did a break and it was planned. You know, we will talk about this a bit later, you know, about what's in your mind and in your head, you know, what's your planning and then in your head, what you're planning, and then the reality might be a bit different. So we moved to New Zealand. We wanted to settle down for having a break for a couple of years.

Starting point is 00:04:34 And guess what? After a couple of weeks being in New Zealand, I got a call from somebody, a good friend, and somebody who became then my business partner. And I started a new business back in Germany. And this business then became the biggest trade show and conference for digital marketing in the world and was called D-Mexico.

Starting point is 00:04:54 Maybe some of you heard about this. It's still happening in Cologne every year. So we brought together a couple of 10,000 people from that industry and thousands of exhibitors. And I did this for 11 years in total. And shortly before COVID came up, luckily, you know, I've sold my shares. I stepped out of this business, had a break again. And during COVID, I was pretty much regularly in touch with my network, especially in the US,

Starting point is 00:05:27 with a lot of executives from the marketing world, and in one of these discussions, we said, you know, there is something missing in the event business if we look around, and independent from COVID, you know, there was a need to do something else, to do something new and different, and that was the time where I came up with the idea of Possible to create the next generation event for the broader marketing world. And here we are. Amazing. Well, let's talk about Possible and dive into it a little bit. So what is the mission of the event? And then for this year specifically, coming up next month in April, who is speaking? What are some of the major themes we can expect to hear about?

Starting point is 00:06:06 And who do you think, in your opinion, should attend this event? Yeah, well, to break it down, Possible is, after the first year, last year we launched it, I think it already became one of the premier marquee marketing events, which is specifically curated for the greater marketing ecosystem. And this includes brands, this includes technology, digital, media, culture, and more. And that sounds pretty straightforward. But if we look around, there are many events like this, who are serving the entire marketing world in today's world. If you go to the big events, there's always, you know,

Starting point is 00:06:49 a lot of other components, there are always a lot of other components which makes it also challenging to, you know, organize your trip and to meet the right people and have enough time to sit down and talk about whether it's business, whether it's, you know, career opportunities or anything like this and create new connections. That makes it so difficult. And Possible is designed to have, to be, you know, to bring a couple of thousand people together,

Starting point is 00:07:16 but not 10th of thousand of people. And it's all on the other side, it's not just a boutique event, which I call boutique event, you know, when you go to these great events, no doubt, you know, the Patels and the CMO Forbes summits, and there are so many great events out there. Here you have then 100, 200 very selective people. So it's also difficult for younger people, you know, for younger professionals to get in there. So possible is exactly somewhere in the middle here, but most importantly, it's not just a conference, it's an immersive experience. So we have a lot of activation, we have more than 120, something like this. And of course, being in Miami Beach, I don't need to tell you how beautiful this is, and there's always a good reason to maybe come in a day earlier or maybe stay a day longer. But this is, in a few words, this is why we came up with Possible.

Starting point is 00:08:17 And the very first step is to bring everybody who's providing something to the marketing world, on the brand side, on the solution provider side, agency world, to bring them together and have a three-day immersive experience, which doesn't exist in the US. Absolutely. And that's so exciting. And I think it's a really great opportunity for people in their careers and in their everyday to kind of come and learn from some experts. So like Cassie said, could you give us a little bit of insight around like who will be speaking,

Starting point is 00:08:50 who you think should really attend this event? You know, addressing the whole market world, obviously we have very senior attendees, but also we came up with a dedicated program, a rising talent program, for example, for younger professionals. And first and foremost, it doesn't matter whether you are already on the brand side or whether you work for an agency or for a solution provider. As long as you belong to the marketing world, that's important for us. And we are introducing the Rising Talent Academy at Possible this year, which is an exclusive track tailored to spark inspiration in the careers of up and coming industry professionals and at the same time we are providing best practices on propelling them forward towards

Starting point is 00:09:33 the next phase of their careers so we bring very experienced industry leaders um marketeers cmos but also industry leaders from other areas into this academy to share their experience and their perspectives. But we're also teaming up with the Ad Club, and they integrate their unique and popular conversation with Sirius, which means they're creating and leading also sessions with their young professionals. It's not just that you know, that the experience one telling the younger ones what they should expect. It's really to bring all generations together here and share this experience. And this is just one example where I believe that makes so much sense for younger professionals

Starting point is 00:10:19 to come as well, because it's a three-day immersive experience. So you really have the time um it's one big venue um with the fontainebleau but it's not like you know the other mega events where you have to uh travel from a to b and it takes you half an hour or so to to go to another place you're really together three days long and you run into each other all day long. And of course, we are creating with the programming we are setting up to bring the right people together. And this is also important for us.

Starting point is 00:10:53 We have to make sure to have the right people in our industry and the best people in our industry. And that's all about mixing up the young professionals with the senior and C-suite leadership. And this is exactly what we do in Miami. Amazing. Well, so with events like this, there's a lot of professionals who may be wondering, how do I get my boss to help me go to these events? I know this is a great learning experience and there's a lot of value that professionals can get out of this, but do you have any tips

Starting point is 00:11:23 or just approaches for professionals looking to propose this to their team in order to hopefully get sponsored to go to an event like this to learn and grow and contribute to the brand? I was in the same situation. When I was young, I had to come up with the same kind of arguments, why I should go to this and there. And then I was in a position that I had people, you know, team members who asked me the same question. I think it makes absolute sense because it's easy and it's so, it could be so meaningful. You know, if you say, Hey,

Starting point is 00:11:54 there is a great opportunity for me, not just meeting the right people, but also bring all the outcomes and the learning back to, to, to your team. I would really say, you know, I'm not, you know, I'm not away for a whole week, you know, like for other events, you know, it's a two to three day compact experience and I get so much out of it. I will go into sessions. I will write to meet people. I will join the hosted meeting program, which I would like to come back in a second.

Starting point is 00:12:20 Share your experience and all the outcomes with, you know, when you're back in the office, you know, and with your teammates and your leadership. I think everybody would really appreciate this, you know, to get different, you know, expectations, different perspectives from people who took part in an event. I think that's the best argument. And then there's another one, especially it was possible that we're launching a hosted meeting program by the way brand marketeers doesn't matter which level whether you're cmo or young professionals you get free access to possible if you belong to the brand side you get free access and if you are willing also then to take part in the hosted meeting

Starting point is 00:13:01 programs which means in addition to how you set up your own kind of schedule, you're committing to up to eight meetings over two, two and a half days with our partners on site. And of course, it's your choice. You can select who might be interesting for you. And if you do this, then you get a travel reimbursement on top of this. So there are good reasons to go to your boss and say, hey, I'm learning a lot. I'm bringing a lot of knowledge back. I'm meeting the right people, you know, in our hosted meeting program. And, you know, it doesn't cost us anything because I have free tickets, because I'm a brand marketer and I'm getting a reimbursement for my travel

Starting point is 00:13:40 costs. I mean, what else do you need? Yeah, lots of incentive there. And I think too, you touched on this a little bit, bringing back insights to your team, whether it's with, you know, sometimes companies will have like a weekly all hands meeting where people can bring their insights or just some presentations to the whole company. I think if you go to an event like this and you have these conversations and you're an event like this and you have these conversations and you're meeting the right people and you have these great takeaways, you can go ahead and create a little presentation. It doesn't have to be very long, maybe even like 10 minutes, and you just present what you learned. And I think that even shows personal and drive for growth in your own

Starting point is 00:14:23 career and your whole team will be better for it. So I am a huge advocate for going to events like this. And I love that you have the Brand Marketer Pass opportunity. So we will be linking out all of that information in the show notes of this episode. So everybody who works at a brand can kind of access that and understand what that means

Starting point is 00:14:43 and maybe join us at Possible this year. But we love asking this question on the show, and we want to ask you as well. What do you know now that you wish you knew a little earlier on in your career? Oh, that's a tough one, as you can imagine. My initial answer would be, don't expect to know everything you know, what you normally then know when you're getting a bit older. This is, I think, just part of life, which you can't change and shouldn't change.

Starting point is 00:15:13 It's a process, and that makes sense. But I would say, looking back, I would love to have the confidence you know maybe earlier than later that to know that there's always another door you know um opening if you believe you're stuck in in you know when you made a decision and that brings me to the point that it's not just try and error i mean that sounds a bit too simple for me but of course you have a plan in your mind but sometimes it doesn't work out and and you feel stuck or you feel you know no longer motivated to do something there's nothing wrong to do a step back and and go to another door and and this is what i'm saying there's always an opportunity an alternative um this is

Starting point is 00:15:56 what i've learned um sometimes you you get a bit scared you know and and maybe nervous or whatever but um that that that kind of, I would love to have, you know, I would love to see for myself earlier than later to know there's always something, you know, there's always another opportunity. And don't be scared about, you know, going to one direction. And if it's not the 100% one for you, then doing a step back and go into a slightly different one. Oh, yeah, Man, we talk about that a lot on the show. So it's always good to hear someone else reinforce that and pick that up. So thank you for that.

Starting point is 00:16:31 And we've experienced that personally, too, especially in the past year or so, just stepping into things, trying it, you know, didn't work out, stepping out of it, going through hardship. And that's all part of life, right? But I think we can learn a lot through all of those experiences. So grateful. I would love, you know, I was so inspired by this conversation. Thanks again for inviting me, Cassie and Erica. But let's do the following. I mean, we're going to see each other on site. And why not maybe, you know, why not asking your audience, you know, to meet on site and say,

Starting point is 00:17:02 okay, if somebody is keen, maybe to to share you know his his experience not just from possible but also from other events younger generations let's let's meet and discuss you know how we can bring them at least next year on stage and share exactly these kind of experience for other younger professionals i would love to do this i would love to see that and let's make it happen. And we have just to think, you know, how to engage your audience and make sure that we are connected with the people who are interested

Starting point is 00:17:31 and make this happen. But I would love to see that more and more also happening at Possible and on our stages. Let's bring them on. Let's tell experienced people what's happening next. Love that. Very cool. Thank you for the challenge yeah

Starting point is 00:17:46 if you want to learn more about that or you're interested in coming you have some questions about the event uh we'll of course be there and you'll be there christian of course as well um but reach out to us if you if you need anything but reach out to the possible team as well i'm sure they would be more than happy to answer your questions. But Christian, speaking of that, do you mind sharing with us where we can stay in touch with you personally online, but also where can we learn more about Possible 2024 and beyond? Yeah, I mean, definitely on our official website, you know, which is possiblethevent.com. We are launching our app very soon in the next two weeks or so latest, so end of March

Starting point is 00:18:23 latest. And for myself, I mean, as you can imagine, living down under and then running a business in the US and have a global client base, I'm on the road most of the time. So I'm on the usual, you know, social channels. My main channel because of this business background is LinkedIn. I'm on insta you know i'm um surviving on fit on on on facebook as well but of course x um i'm not on tiktok these days so i have to say um shame on me um so that will that will change hopefully sooner than later but yeah so this is where you can you can see what i'm what i'm up to and where i am currently and who i'm going to

Starting point is 00:19:02 meet and what we are doing as a team and come up next. So you see all the updates on my and the possible channels on those on those in social media as well. Amazing. Well, this has been such a great conversation. And I'm so excited to, you know, meet you in real life and then also see everybody at Possible 2024. We cannot wait. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Marketing Happy Hour podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please remember to subscribe, rate, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. If you want more of Marketing Happy Hour but don't know where to

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Marketing Happy Hour - Why You Should Attend Industry Events (+ An Inside Look at POSSIBLE 2024) | Christian Muche of POSSIBLE

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