Panel of Digital Experts Help Marketers Navigate Evolving Media Landscape

Valassis, one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, announced today that it will host a free digital webcast from 2 to 3 p.m. ET Thursday, Sept. 27 aimed at helping marketers effectively navigate the rapidly evolving media landscape. A panel of Valassis digital experts will share knowledge and key insights to address the challenges marketers must overcome to drive ROI for their brands. The "Directions in Digital" webcast panelists, are:

Jim Parkinson, Valassis Chief Digital Officer, a world-class engineer and leader with 30 years of experience in the software industry. Prior to his role at Valassis, Parkinson was part of the team at Sun Microsystems that built the world's first utility computing platform that led to the introduction of Cloud technology.

Greg Bogich, Valassis Senior Vice President, Digital Media, who leads Sales and Marketing efforts for the organization's display, e-mail and digital offer platforms and products. Drawing upon his experience in media planning, targeting and client marketing, Bogich also has developed advertising strategies for some of the nation's top retailers.

Sue Twombly, Valassis Director of Marketing, Digital Media, who leads the development of the company's go-to-market strategies for its digital media portfolio. Her extensive background in business development, integrated campaigns, customer relationship marketing and campaign analytics has cultivated a unique perspective on leveraging data-driven marketing strategies to hone in on key challenges facing today's multi-channel marketers.

The panelists will discuss what the future holds for digital marketing and what marketers can do to optimize targeting and media integration to ensure they are getting the most out of their marketing initiatives and budget. The Directions in Digital webcast will map out corresponding considerations that can guide planning and campaign execution, such as:

• Data and privacy – Find out more about consumers' primary privacy concerns and what companies are doing in response to those concerns;
• Technology and user experience – Learn more about technology's role in creating and delivering a great user experience to drive success; and
• Media integration – Learn how important media integration is not only across channels, but also throughout the path to purchase and how digital media effectively expands the shopping and brand experience before and after the actual purchase.

Tablets and smartphones are changing consumer behaviors by adding greater freedom, portability and personalized experiences as users simply tap to get email, news, information and entertainment on demand. As the digital world moves with speed, marketers are continually challenged not only to stay abreast of this changing media environment but to get ahead of it, as the Directions in Digital Webcast will address.  Consider this:

• U.S. adults are spending one-third of their media time with digital (Scarborough multi-Market August 2012);
• 70% of mobile searches result in action within one hour  (Mobile Marketer, June 2012); and
• 14% of U.S. adults own a tablet today– up 400% in the last 12 months (Nielsen, Jan. 2012).

To sign up for the Sept. 27 free webcast, go to:  http://bit.ly/Ny2fq4.  For more information, please call 1-877-529-5001 or email [email protected].