It got us thinking — along with our friends and colleagues at MITX — that there had to be a way to stage a meeting of the marketing minds that would go beyond talk.  And so, between cocktails and panels and whiteboards, FutureM was born.  Slated for October 4-8th, FutureM is a week-long collaborative conference on the vision for marketing in Massachusetts through an intersection of people and ideas and inspiration.  It’s a chance to hear about the latest in marketing, technology, and design– together.  And if the thought of nonstop keynotes scares you as much as it scares us, fear not: FutureM includes panels, roundtables, summits, parties, meet-ups, and more, because the best ideas rarely get created around a podium.  We can’t wait.  Check out the rumblings of the future here.

In the meantime, we wanted to share the opportunity to be a part of FutureM.  If you have a topic, technology, team, or even a question that can help define what’s next for marketing, submit an event idea.  So get creative and join us at the future here.

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There’s no limit to the uncertainty and theorizing about the future of printed media. Newspapers are scrambling to hold value, magazines are trying to predict the manner in which readers will want to engage with their content – even our clients in the education sector are grappling with the value of their print materials. While the questions are many, it seems, at least at Magazine Day, that the optimism about the possibilities imparted by new technologies, namely the tablet, is doing its part to keep the focus on meeting consumers’ needs with relevant, engaging solutions.

Our publication designers shared the optimism, concluding that embracing this new dimensionality of “print” would ultimately lead to more dynamic content, more thoughtful design, and a more strategic approach to design. Here’s what a few of our designers had to say:

“The exciting part for me and my fellow print designers is that designing for the tablet – which can be done within traditional design software – will allow us to create new user experiences that combine the depth and excitement of web graphics with the rich, visual texture of a traditional magazine.

There will be pop-ups, drill-downs, video, multi-layered info graphics, scrolling content, clipping, and so on. The traditional spread will become a playground of information. And the best part is that you choose whether you want to play or just take a good old-fashioned scroll through the content. Oh, and this content, it was said by Chris Anderson of Wired, will become the most measurable content in history.”

Another designer commented:

“What’s even more impressive is how [tablets] manage to keep a tie to their print counterparts, while offering new capabilities such as pop-up boxes, video, and multi-layered explanatory graphics. These additions not only give the reader a broader sense of the topic at hand, but also offer the magazine designer the new challenge of finding the most compelling way of presenting information.

As a print/publication designer for the majority of my career, what I wanted to hear was that print magazines are fine and will continue to be so for years to come. What I didn’t know is that what I would hear was far more exciting and would leave me looking forward to the future of magazines.

To see what they’re talking about, check this out:

VIV Mag Interactive Feature Spread – iPad Demo from Alexx Henry on Vimeo.

We’re of course curious as to what this all means for the future of what we used to call “an ad.” So what do you think?

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Between handy iPhone apps and my whole work and personal world being organized on Google; paper calendars, address books, to-do lists, and even sticky notes seem to be items from the past. I even use my iPhone for my grocery list and am also using it to write and post this blog right now.

I love technology and find it amazing how fast it changes, and how much has changed in the past 10 years.

Can’t wait for what’s in store for 2010!

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from holland-mark posterous