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BREAK THROUGH: Legal Strategies for Dynamic Businesses – The 39th Annual ANA/BAA Marketing Law Conference
We’ll be heading back to Chicago again next month to attend the 39th Annual ANA/BAA Marketing Law Conference which is taking place this year November 13-15 at the Downtown Chicago Marriott. I think this will be my 10th year that I’ve attended this conference and it always provides me with new and updated information as well as a great networking event. It is known as the top conference in marketing, advertising, and privacy law. This year’s conference is titled “BREAK THROUGH: Legal Strategies for Dynamic Businesses”.
The program features another full agenda spanning key topic areas such as digital and social media, internet privacy, self-regulation and class action suits. Some of the cutting-edge topics will be how to measure the efficiency of social media advertising, data security, native advertising, sweepstakes, fantasy sports, virtual reality and influencer marketing. The FCC has recently released more information in their endorsement guidelines and is cracking down on some influencers who have not properly followed these. So I’m sure that will be a topic of discussion. Thomas Pahl, Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection will be a keynote speaker during lunch on Tuesday.
There will be 130 total speakers and over 65 sessions, breakouts and round tables . Some of the legal speakers will be from brands like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Oculus, Snap, BuzzFeed, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Sony, and P&G. Of course it also includes some great networking and two large cocktail parties.
Last year’s conference again broke the attendance record with over 750 attendees and with over 200 major brands present. I summarized last year’s conference with this post. The conference started the day after the presidential election. So there was quite a bit of discussion about the outcome during the breaks and cocktail receptions. Donald Trump had spoken out against the new privacy rules the FCC had imposed along with some changes to the advertising tax laws that are on the table. So we’ll see what, if anything, has changed in those areas since he took office.
Ed Kabak, SVP, ANA and Chief Legal Officer, BAA, kicked off the first official day of the conference last year and he is again heading up this year’s conference. He had stated that “Ours is an industry of rapid evolution. Since we deal with best practices and the state of the art in Marketing and Advertising Law and Digital Media; IP and Privacy, FTC, State A.G. and state-regulation, Lanham Act, Class Actions, and other areas, this forum is invaluable for marketers to move responsibly forward.” When I spoke to Ed recently he was very happy with the number of attendees that had already registered for this year’s conference and he’s anticipating breaking another attendance record.
One of the highlights of the conference will again come from Linda Goldstein, a Partner and Head of the Advertising, Marketing and Media practice at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP in New York who will deliver her annual industry review on Sweepstakes, Contests, Privacy, Digital and Social Media. Last year Pokemon Go was a bit hit at the time, so Linda entertained us throughout her talk with videos of a new, imaginary app her team created called PizzaMon Go!
Then on the final day Ron Urbach, Chairman/Davis & Gilbert LLP, will be back again to give another highly entertaining presentation. This year it is titled “The Current and Future History of Advertising, Media and Production Companies in an Ever-Shifting Legal Compliance Landscape”. Last year Ron ended his talk with a video that asked people on the street “If you were a hashtag, what would you be?” Ron’s was #WhatIDoForClients.
If you’re interested in attending you can register here. I’ll be at the Marriott from Michigan Ave. Mon. Nov. 13 till Thurs., Nov. 16 so please say hello if you’re there. This year I am staying an extra day since I now have a daughter, Alex, that lives in a Chicago suburb. She and I will get a chance to see each other and have dinner and do some shopping and sightseeing. So I will definitely have time go next door for my annual visit to Nordstrom’s shoe dept!