Recently I was fortunate enough to attend Digital Branding Analytics Miami 2019 Conference (#DBAmiami), a marketing conference organized by Florida International University. Each of the discussions I attended were relevant to my career and education, but Mike Kappitt’s presentation on “Marketing = Math + Magic” was very enjoyable for me. Mike Kappitt is the executive vice president of Bloomin’ Brands and president of Carrabba’s Italian Grill.
Mike Kappitt’s career has been wide and varied. He began in operations and said that’s the best way to learn about a business because you touch every part of the brand. He then moved on to become the director of field marketing at Burger King and then to Outback Steakhouse. Truly he loves the hospitality industry and finds that marketing is the means to the end of operations in business.
Math + magic = marketing: Mike Kappit says that industry professionals must to understand just how much analytics plays a role in marketing. Marketing fills buckets such as production and creative services and product marketing and loyalty and marketing analytics and consumer insights – and in every one of those buckets there is math.
There is a great power to this seemingly simple equation. Math is about dispersion: the functional delivery of impressions to people who haven’t asked for them, but whom we hope to influence. Magic is about attraction: creating impressions so perfect that people choose to spend time with them, and maybe even pass them on.
I found Mike Kappit’s presentation to be the most relatable of the entire conference for me. I enjoyed hearing about how his career took him down many different paths and how each one of those paths have come together to make him a better marketer. I have a similarly varied work experience and I do truly believe that my experiences have made me into a better student and professional.
You can watch his entire presentation here: Mike Kappitt – Marketing = Math + Magic (Digital Branding Analytics Miami #DBAmiami)