Imagine you’re sitting at a dinner party with some of the biggest players in social media and new marketing. Chris Brogan is there. So is David Meerman Scott. The group starts talking about the new marketing ecosystem in Boston and wondering how they can work together to build something totally new, totally unique. That’s the position HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan found himself in a few months ago.
As you may remember, we first covered FutureM, an upcoming week-long, marketing menagerie in Boston at the beginning of the month of October.
This week, we had a chance to chat with two of FutureM’s creators, Brian Halligan, Founder and CEO of HubSpot and Kiki Mills, President of MITX, to get a better understanding of how this event came about and what attendees can expect.
When asked how the idea of FutureM came about, Halligan told us, “I guess the whole idea started a couple of years ago when I noticed that both David Meerman Scott and Chris Brogan, two guys that I have been following for awhile as real leaders in the marketing transformation movement, both happened to live in Boston.” Halligan said he soon realized that there were a number of revolutionary marketing thinkers around Boston that were “at the vanguard of inbound marketing, marketing transformation, marketing 2.0 — whatever you want to call it.”
For example, Larry Weber is based here, Dave Balter of BzzAgent is here, the Blue Ocean Digital folks who did all of Obama’s web work for his campaign are here, Chris Hughes who was Obama’s Internet czar in his election works at General Catalyst, etc.
Halligan saw a huge opportunity brewing for the marketing industry right here in Boston. He knew something had to be done to open other people’s eyes to the world class marketing talent currently living in Greater Boston.
Brian Halligan
Explained Halligan: “The fact that all these modern marketing visionaries were around here combined with a deep belief I have that the Madison Ave that we all know and love is going to have to go through some major changes to adjust for the fact that buyers, shoppers, and learners are just sick and tired of getting interrupted with advertisements and are getting better-and-better at blocking those advertisements out (i.e. DVR’s) led me to believe that as Madison Avenue crashes, Boston should be the next “hub” for the next generation of marketing.
“In other words, Madison Avenue is to marketing over the last 50 years as Boston is to marketing over the next 50 years.”
Realizing that their interests were aligned and knowing that MITX hosts excellent events regularly, Halligan soon connected with Mills.
Halligan gathered a small brain trust devoted to new marketing at his home with members including Meerman Scott, Weber, Mills, Balter, Brogan, Jeffrey Rayport, etc. “There was a bunch of excitement in the room, but there wasn’t a structure in place to really run with it,” he said of that gathering.
After the meeting at his house, Halligan talked about the idea with the board at MITX, of which he is a member himself. “It turns out that the MITX board was really supportive of the broad concept that Madison Avenue is going to have to go through some changes and that Boston should try to position itself as the next generation Madison Ave,” Halligan said.
Kiki Mills
Mills was immediately inspired and found the concept quite simple: “Massachusetts people, companies and their thought leadership are leading the reinvention of marketing and advertising. We created FutureM with the ultimate long term goal to establish greater Boston as a leading center of thinking and leadership around the future of marketing,” she explained.
From there, the board encouraged Mills to create a week long event series around this idea. She formed a subcommittee that met every couple of weeks during the winter to pick the name, the week, and organize the participants. What popped out at the end of that process was FutureM.
To get word out about the event and ensure all the right people will attend, extensive marketing will be done through their event partners. Mills told us, “Our biggest efforts are around evangelizing FutureM to the key influencers in marketing, organizations, groups and companies who are defining the next generation of marketing”
When asked who exactly should be at Future M, Mills reported, “FutureM is geared broadly towards mid to senior level marketers and technologists. The content will benefit all functions who touch marketing: creative, design, marketing, strategy, community, content product, IA/user experience, technology and web development.
“Students are a primary and important target as well, because it will provide them an opportunity to understand the vibrant ecosystem of companies in the marketing and technology space.” The city of Boston has been working hard with local colleges to get more students and recent grads involved with events and startups to keep them in-state and utilize their bright talent; FutureM is a big proponent of this movement as well.
Mills hopes that attendees will find that greater Boston is a leading center for thought leadership and innovation in the marketing arena. She also seeks to demonstrate that the next generation of marketing involves technology at its core, and “is the great enabler of everything from brand engagement to product development to user interaction.”
Halligan finds himself quite enthused about the upcoming October event as well, “If it goes as planned, we should have it every year during the same week and it will grow, grow, grow. The event I’m most excited about is the Inbound Marketing Summit. It is our third year doing it and it is a rocking event.”
We suggest everyone takes Halligan’s advice on this one: “I think every marketer in the country should block off the week of October 3rd this year and every year going forward to drink deeply in the fountain of new marketing ideas.”
To keep up to date on this event, visit to the FutureM blog, follow FutureM on Twitter, like them on Facebook and pay attention to local buzz going around the city about it.
Will you be attending FutureM in October? What part of it are you most looking forward to? What can we as a marketing community do to spread the word about FutureM and generate interest across the country and around the world? What will it take to make FutureM a hallmark of Boston’s tech and marketing culture? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
