With his characteristic charisma and humor, Kevin Roberts’ presentation in ExpoManagement Madrid 2012 was anything but conventional. His provocative phrase “Marketing is dead” has been a big hit, and even Philip Kotler made a reference to it in the conference yesterday. Is this really true? And what do Lovemarks have to do with it? And where does the role of creative leaders come in? Find the answers to these questions and more, coming up in the blog…

• To be a creative leader, keep the following in mind:Make the world a better place for everyone; inspire people by giving them responsibility and joy. Make things irresistible and use mystery, sensuality, intimacy and storytelling to do so. Learn the difference between a lovemark and a brand; have a purpose; have a lot of little ideas; reinvent yourself and your product; be emotional.
• Anytime you see an advertisement ask yourself these 3 questions:Do I want to see it again? Do I want to share it? Do I want to improve it? If you answered yes three times, that's a good idea and a good ad.
• Brands are dead, bring in Lovemarks:A brand belongs to the company, to its sotckholders...a lovemark belong to the customer. It has gained love and respect, and has earned a place in the heart of the customer.  This kind of loyalty isn’t something you can sell through a marketing scheme.
• Even marketing is dead:No more pushing products. We have to create movements for the customers to join in on and share. We have to move from attention to participation, from information to inspiration, from interruption to interaction and from ROI to Return on Involvment. This is the new marketing.
• The world has changed:There is no more the world of one thing OR another, it is the world of a thing AND another.
• About the crisis:Kevin Roberts assured that we need creativity and new ideas to face the crisis, and that fiscal and political solutions such as adding taxes is not going to cut it. Actually, we aren’t experiencing a crisis, but crisis of mentality.