12th annual Industry Coupon Conference held in Nashville, Tennessee

The conference explored trending issues including attribution and omnichannel, personalization and big data, social media and shifting share of wallet

The Association of Coupon Professionals (ACP) presented its 12th Annual Industry Coupon Conference, celebrating the theme of “Creating Harmony,” recently in Nashville, Tennessee.

This was the only national conference dedicated exclusively to the overall coupon industry in 2017. The conference included three days of content, interaction, and engagement with coupon industry leaders discussing best practices, emerging trends and technologies via peer-to-peer learning, panels, case studies, and research in both general sessions and business function based track sessions.

The conference was developed under the leadership of the Association of Coupon Professionals in collaboration with the Joint Industry Coupon Committee, Food Marketing Institute, the Grocery Manufacturers of America, GS1 US, and the Coupon Information Center.

The conference was co-chaired by Susan Jones of Inmar and Heather Lubin of Cellfire. Sponsors included: Platinum: Flipp; Gold: Arrowhead Promotion, Ibotta, Valassis; Silver: Atlantic Coupon Services, Inmar, Pinpoint Data, Premier Packaging, Quotient, RPR, Sonoco; Bronze: Cunningham Electronics; Break: Mandlik & Rhodes.

“The game changers of our industry came together to share much expertise and insight,” said John Morgan, ACP Executive Director. “We have once again proven that there isn't a better investment in the future than learning from and interaction with leaders at the Industry Coupon Conference.”

Attendees discovered the latest trending issues impacting the industry including: attribution and omnichannel, personalization and big data, the impact of social media, coupon fraud and best practices, retail case studies with emerging technologies, ecommerce and shifting share of wallet.

Highlights included:

• A keynote from IBM’s Melissa Tatoris, who explored big data, analysis, personalization, omnichannel changes in technology and innovation that is either here or coming soon, and how Watson is working on the grocery industry.
• Attendees heard firsthand in a live consumer panel how consumers feel about coupons, the process, and the brands and stores they like. Coupon professionals brought their questions to this unscripted and revealing hour.
• Professionals got “in the trenches” with industry foot soldiers during a live cashier panel where jaw dropping insights were the highlight of the conference.
• Consumer trends and insights from Inmar and Kantar, case studies from several major retailers including Safeway.
• Peer-to-peer learning through case studies by Albertsons and Lowes Foods
• CPG Analysis; Multichannel Attribution and omnichannel marketing, and Digital Coupon Myths.

Attendees discussed, with an expert panel of industry leaders that included representatives from Walmart and Target on the same stage, current issues and best practices throughout the coupon cycle and how, by working together, they can minimize risk and inefficiency. Additional track sessions addressed unethical bloggers and coupon fraud.

Next year’s event will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana.