I'm excited to announce that the theme for this year's Consumer Forum, to be held from Oct. 27-28 at the Hilton Chicago, is "Delivering Optimized Product Experiences Across Customer Touchpoints." Disruptive technology, digital connectivity, and the proliferation of customer touchpoints are dramatically changing the way customers interact with products and channels. Coupled with changing consumer behavior, this means that we are seeing the eradication of traditional business models, products, and distribution tactics.

Marketing and strategy professionals must therefore adapt the physical and digital goods they sell, as well as how and where they sell them. Only those executives that become customer-obsessed, agile, and global will capitalize on new distribution models across touchpoints, delighting their customers and driving incremental revenue in this new age of the customer.

As this year's forum host, I'm working with a great team to establish a fantastic lineup of speakers and sponsors. The Forrester keynotes this year will include our own James McQuivey and Brian Walker. James' will present "The Disruptors Handbook: How To Reinvent Your Products—Before They Become Irrelevant," and will guide you on how to become your own best disruptor to:

  • Understand why today’s digital platforms make every product experience vulnerable to value destruction
  • Think like a disruptor, understand how unlikely competitors innovate the adjacent possible
  • Assess how susceptible your business is to disruption from the outside, and gauge your readiness to disrupt from the inside
  • Go on the offensive to become a disruptor, building the total product experience your customers will expect

And Brian Walker will present "Optimizing Your Business In the Era of Agile Commerce," exploring how organizations can ditch channel-oriented strategies and optimize business in the Era of Agile Commerce, learning:

  • How consumer expectations and behaviors are shifting, making existing channel-centric commerce approaches extinct
  • How consumer and business technology capabilities are shifting to disrupt existing markets and operational approaches
  • Which businesses are adapting their organizational approaches to increase speed-to-market and adapt to the era of agile commerce   

For more information, and to register, please visit the homepage for the event here. We hope you'll join us, and please stay tuned for more information including following the event with hashtag #FCF11 or follow me on Twitter @apstockwell.