What?

Lunch, Ask the Expert and Welcome Presentation including 2009 Women and Social Media Study presentation11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Network over lunch or grab one of ten spots to spend lunch with Communications Expert Stephanie Azzarone, founder and president of BlogHer Business Sponsor, Child's Play Communications, an agency specializing exclusively in publicity and marketing communications targeted to moms. She is also “Chief Mom” behind Team Mom™ , a multiple-award-winning network of mom bloggers. Stephanie, who is also a blogger (www.momarkettrends.com) will be on hand to answer any questions about her experience working with bloggers over the past few years and to share what she has learned about how to do it most effectively.

12:05-12:45 p.m.
BlogHer’s co-founders, Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone, kick off the day, as we have for the past two years, taking at look at the State of the Social Media World. We will review the findings from our 2009 Social Media Benchmark Study, which examines Women And Social Media. Our study this year focuses even more on how women rely on and influence their blogging communities when it comes to information, advice and purchasing recommendations. We also explore their behaviors and perspectives on how those recommendations are changing in the midst of this challenging economy. Understanding how women are using social media…and why…will set the tone for what we all want to accomplish the rest of the day at BlogHer Business ‘09.

Allstate case study: Jory interviews Lizzie Schreier about building the internal case for social media in a heavily regulated environmentBlogHer co-founder Jory Des Jardins interviews Lizzie Schreier, the woman responsible for Internet Marketing at Allstate, and responsible for working across departments at her company (including Legal) to build a social media program that is innovative, achieves measurable and desirable results, all within the unique regulatory environment that Allstate, as an insurance company, is beholden to. Learn how Lizzie built the case for social media engagement.

The Allstate case study is brought to you by GasPedal and the Blog Council.

Fiskars case study: Jory moderates a discussion with a Fiskars brand rep, an agency rep and one of the FiskateersBack in 2006 Fiskars decided to launch an online community and blog site to spread the love of crafting and form deeper relationships with their customers. They recruited customer advocates to be "Fiskateers", leaders and evangelists online and off. Join Fiskars Director of PR Suzanne Fanning, Brains on Fire agency account advocate, Carrie Woodward and Fiskateer Angela Daniels to find out why this program works…and how Fiskars defines success.

Prego case study: Jory moderates a discussion with a Prego brand manager and an agency rep about their BlogHer programSponsored conversations are certainly in the social media news stream lately. This case study is an example of how one Campbell brand, Prego, encouraged unfiltered conversation around core brand values of its product. Through this campaign, Campbell was able to support women in their quest to find and share value with one another during these tough economic times, which ultimately improved the image of its brand among the consumers who took part. Not only was Campbell able to reach millions of consumers, but it was able to interact with them in a way that was authentic, not forced. m80’s Maureen Larsen will be joined by Patti McGreal, a Prego brand representative, and one of the bloggers who took part in the conversation to discuss what motivates bloggers to participate in such conversations…and what brands can learn and gain from it.

Break

Keynote Conversation: BlogHer co-founder Lisa Stone interviews Women@NCBU's General Manager, Lauren Zalaznick, about what it takes to succeed in today's turbulent timesBlogHer co-founder Lisa Stone interviews media star Lauren Zalaznick, President of NBC Universal’s Women’s Lifestyle Networks aka Women@NBCU. Identified by Ad Age and other publications as a “Woman to Watch”, Lauren is ready to lay out the game plan companies need to follow to get through tough times like these. The bottom line is that it’s all about your brand, and with brands like Bravo, Oxygen and iVillage (and all the brands within those brands) to manage, Lauren knows the score when it comes to differentiation, monetization and cross-pollination.

Coach case study: Jory moderates a conversation with a Coach brand rep, an agency rep and a blogger about their "Design a Coach Tote" contestCoach wanted to reach a new, younger market for their bags, and they wanted to engage those women in a totally new way. They worked with social media marketing solution, Brickfish, to launch a “Design a Coach Tote” program that went completely viral. Facebook, Twiiter, MySpace, blogs…working across those apps and more Coach received over 3,200 design submissions and millions of trackable engagements. Come hear from Vanessa Flaherty, Coach's Public Relations Coordinator of New Media and Celebrity Relations, as well as Brickfish's EVP of Sales, Jamie Dicken, and blogger Stephanie Rahlfs, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Adventures in the Stiletto Jungle, to find out why this program went viral, from everyone’s point of view.

Tropicana Trop 50 case study: Jory sits down with a Trop 50 community manager and a PR agency rep to discuss the comprehensive BlogHer campaignTropicana Trop 50 decided to take the radical step of asking, not telling...and of listening more than talking. By working with BlogHer to create "The Juice," a sponsored online community designed to help women get more of what they want, and less of what they don't want, from life, Trop 50 is reaching women where they already are. By launching a series of weekly video shows, each tackling one easy-to-digest issue and each featuring tips from both experts and community members, they are providing a space for women to seek and share advice. By creating a series of quick polls, they are making it clear that their customer is in the driver's seat of defining what issues they care about and what content comes next. It's a new hybrid using the reach of advertising to drive action within a deeply engaged online community. Ogilvy's VP of Digital Strategy Kaitlyn Wilkins and Tropicana's Melissa Wagamon will discuss both the development and execution of such a comprehensive campaign.

Putting Best Practices into ActionLisa Stone and Jory Des Jardins wrap up the conference with a look at the next two days of BlogHer '09 , discussing how to put best practices into action.

Cocktail PartyBrought to you by Sprint.