OMD’s annual thought leadership conference, OMD Predicts, scheduled to take place on September 20 in Dubai, is focusing on personalized communications this year. After a successful event last year, focusing on “triggering desire” and “building demand”, this year’s event focuses on “evolution”. As lifestyles become ever more digitized with technology serving as an enabler, brands are now able to communicate with even greater precision. This evolution in consumer behavior, coupled with better technology and analytics, is transforming the marketing landscape and presents brands with opportunities to target and interact with their audiences like never before.

The line-up of speakers assembled includes Martin Lindstrom, a child prodigy who started his career in Lego’s design department at the age of 12. Now described by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of the world’s most respected branding gurus, Lindstrom will discuss the new role of communications for the modern consumer. He will share the innovative approach, rooted in science, that he gives to the blue-chip companies with which he consults.

Brian Solis, a digital analyst, futurist and global influencer on new media, will address the strategies brands need to adopt in order to build more meaningful relationships with their consumers in this new landscape. The top-selling author, whose Twitter account was listed by Mashable as one of the 25 accounts that will make you smarter, will showcase the infrastructure that enables organizations to excel in the era of connected consumers.

OMD EMEA’s chief digital officer, Blake Cuthbert, will focus on how brands can address audiences in hyper-relevant ways, using advanced targeting strategies that prioritize need-states over demographics and attitudes.

Leveraging his experience in producing award-winning work, Alex Brunori, Google’s head of creative agencies in MENA, will build on this point and present new uses of data to make brand communications more human and intuitive.

Marketers from McDonald’s and INFINITI will also weigh in the conversation, joining the speakers and representatives from DMS and Snapchat in two panel discussions.

“This continuous transformation the industry is undergoing needs guidance, shaping and foresight so that we make sure it’s going in the right direction,” says Nadim Samara, CEO of OMD UAE, in a press statement. “This year’s edition of OMD Predicts will help marketing practitioners unravel the elements of this evolution in consumer behavior and the technology driving it. By gaining a clearer picture of where we are headed and how we, as marketers, need to transform our strategies, we will be able to steer our organizations with stronger confidence and ultimately generate better results.”

Launched in 2007, OMD Predicts is an event series designed to keep marketers at the forefront of emerging trends that will impact their operations and help to future-proof their strategies. The conference brings best practice and thought-leadership from around the globe to support the media network’s clients, staff and business partners enhance the quality of their planning and prepare for what is to come. The 2017 edition of OMD Predicts is produced in association with Arabian Radio Network and with the support of Prime Zone, Mediaquest, Sport360, SAMS and Entrepreneur Middle East.