After two years of virtual team gatherings, LiveRamp’s Sales Kick-Off was seamlessly held on May 2-5 in breezy Chicago at the beautiful Fairmont Millennium Park. This year’s theme, “Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Brilliant.,” aimed to motivate the LiveRamp sales team to challenge the status quo, take risks, and step confidently into the 2023 fiscal year. Attendees and speakers were mostly internal, but a handful of customers took the stage as well. More than 350 employees met for the kick-off, with another 200 tuning in virtually from their own homes.
The planning for this event began in January, commenced when cred confirmed Army veteran, burn survivor, actor, New York Times best-selling author AND Dancing with the Stars season 13 winner J.R. Martinez as the event’s keynote speaker. From there, our team focused on project management, content curation, and speaker prep.
May came quickly and our team landed in Chicago early for an onsite run-through (and a quick visit to the famous ‘Bean’) before the event. Following a day of speaker onsite rehearsals and tech checks on Monday, LiveRamp hosted an energy-packed welcome dinner where CEO Scott Howe, Senior Advisor Laura Desmond, Financial Consultant David Minsker, SVP of Commercial Strategy and Excellence Daniella Harkins, and more, kicked off SKO by reflecting on the past year and looking forward to what’s next.
The first day of content focused on “Looking Back and Looking Forward.” Daniella Harkins took the stage to Lizzo’s “Good as Hell,” before the leaders of LiveRamp’s commercial team joined her to share their highlights and promises for the upcoming year. Morning session highlights included a panel sharing tips from LiveRamp’s top performers on the keys to success and 5-minute client success stories focusing on major brands like Dell and Innovid.
Nilaja Montgomery, a Customer Success Manager at LiveRamp and a veteran herself, welcomed J.R. Martinez to the stage to share his story of resilience and strength, and left the audience with takeaways on turning the unexpected into an opportunity, controlling the controllables, and tackling adversity one day at a time. Following his inspiring hour-long talk, he headed upstairs for a VIP Meet & Greet lunch where only speakers were granted access. He signed copies of his book “Full of Heart,” including personalized messages, and took the time to get to know everyone in the room by name.
Speakers from Kimberly-Clark and IRI took the stage post-lunch for a conversation with LiveRamp Chief Customer Solutions Officer Josh Abdulla, sharing valuable customer insights into improving relationships for better business outcomes. Attendees broke into smaller groups for afternoon breakout sessions with training leaders to fine-tune their customer centricity, relationship-building, networking, and managerial skills.
Despite the rain, everyone headed to the Wrigley Rooftops for hot dogs, nachos, baseball, bleacher views, and bonding to watch the White Sox beat the Cubs 3-1 in the Crosstown Classic.
Day 2 focused on conversations around LiveRamp’s products— including announcements of product improvements and a demo of the newest platform capabilities. Leaders from the product marketing, product, and commercial teams also met onstage to discuss the importance of cross-collaboration for the future.
Client success stories highlighting VideoAmp and Prudential, a fireside chat with Havas Chief Data Officer Mike Bregman and LiveRamp SVP of Sales Joe Glass, a presentation from Forrester’s Joe Stanhope on finding balance and opportunity in a transformed marketing industry, and a conversation with LiveRamp’s brand new CMO Jessica Shapiro filled the afternoon. With a focus on even more global expansion in the last year, a “LiveRamp Goes Global” session hit on supporting international growth for all sellers in FY23. The afternoon’s breakout sessions focused on understanding customer needs.
An awards dinner ceremony closed out the event on Wednesday evening. Commercial team recognitions, ‘RampChamp’, Top Performers Club, and President’s Club winners were all announced to an excited crowd as LiveRampers cheered on their fellow sales leaders. Bonus: President’s Club winners are heading to St. Lucia this November as a reward for their amazing work this past fiscal year. The award ceremony wrapped with a special surprise celebration for SKO content lead and event emcee Daniella Harkins, who was named one of AdMonsters and AdExchanger’s Top Women in Media & Ad Tech.
Spirits were high as attendees headed to the after-party in the Rouge Room, complete with a 1920s photo booth, event-themed cocktails (including the ‘BBB’ - bold, brave, brilliant!), a talented live band, a green and black donut wall, and an ice sculpture.
As an optional activity on Thursday morning, LiveRampers lined up to fill bags and backpacks for members of Chicago’s under-served communities with buildOn before heading home. It was so neat to see them incorporate a volunteer experience into their Sales Kick-Off.
SKO was a major success all around, and we’re continually grateful for our partnership with the LiveRamp team. We’re walking away this year feeling bold, brave, brilliant, and with another in-person event in the books.
