1871 startups head to the ANA conference

By Erik Severinghaus, founder of SimpleRelevance

Spark Media’s Scott Hess got the event started with a fascinating look at the generational differences between millennials and their forbearers, and how that impacts brands and advertisers. Next, Kevin presented to the audience about emerging trends in entrepreneurship, how the new creative class is disrupting traditional industries, and most importantly how those in the audience can get involved in building entrepreneurial economies locally.

Elisa All of 30 Second Mom kicked off the 1871 presentations. She gave great context about her background as a serial entrepreneur (she previously built and sold iParenting to Disney) and how that informs her perspective on her current venture.

All detailed the importance of 30-second informative videos on a variety of topics and dropped a few hints about some exciting upcoming content partnerships she’s working on. 1871 is building a reputation as a hotspot for female entrepreneurship largely thanks to dynamic founders like Elisa.

Erik Severinghaus of SimpleRelevance stepped up next, with a survey of how big data is disrupting a number of industries from politics to baseball.

His message was a stark one – marketers, agencies, and the broader industry must either adopt to quantitative, data driven marketing or be relegated to the sidelines as the world changes around them. Erik detailed case studies of how data is improving email and social marketing.

Erik challenged the audience to challenge startups with ambitious problems, define metrics for success, and harness the energy of emerging companies to create value within their organization.

Justin Massa batted cleanup, taking the big data theme into the food industry.
Like Erik, Justin praised election analytics king Nate Silver of the 538 blog, then gave a detailed analysis of how data can be used to determine effective menu language, down to the level of how to describe the smoking of bacon.

FoodGenius is uniquely positioned for that type of analysis, analyzing half the menus in the United States! Justin’s presentation left the audience hungry for more information, and frankly, craving some bacon.

The 1871 foray to the ANA conference is just the latest evidence that Chicago’s reputation is growing, it’s innovators taking a step to the fore of the world’s technology stage and gaining recognition as a thought leader in digital entrepreneurship from coast to coast.