Charting a Course Through Demographic Change with Ken Gronbach

Demography, in terms of our industry, is the statistical study of human populations. And in terms of just about any industry, there is nobody better at interpreting demographic information that 2017 VIBE Conference keynote speaker Ken Gronbach. Perhaps more importantly than the gathering and analysis of demographic statistics, Gronbach has a peerless, innate ability to explain demographics. It’s his seemingly preternatural skill for the communication of invaluable information that makes his upcoming appearance at VIBE so significant, and what he has to share to his essential to your success and the success of your brand.

So what can 2017 VIBE Conference attendees expect from Ken Gronbach’s keynote speech? Perhaps the best way to answer that question is to share a story directly from the demographer himself. Not too long ago, Gronbach was invited to speak to a group of elite marketing officers operating in the hospitality industry. He started his presentation by asking those gathered one question: “What’s the most important question in marketing for you?”

Many answers were offered up: understanding Gen Y, reaching Gen Y, discovering what products and services are most important to Gen Y, psychographics, and many more answers specific to particular hospitality operators. Gronbach looked around this room of powerful officers and told them that they had all missed the answer: How big is your market, and is it getting bigger or smaller? What the 2017 VIBE Conference keynote speaker understands as a demographer is that it doesn’t actually matter much what you do for or provide to your customers. If your market is shrinking, if the generation that’s heading towards you is tiny, it doesn’t matter how great your products or services may be or how clever your marketing campaigns are – your business is going to go down.

“On the other hand,” Gronbach says, “If you have a huge market headed your way, it almost doesn’t matter what you do – you’re going to sell a lot more of it, whatever ‘it’ is.”

For the most part, the demographer states rather bluntly, your success depends on the size of your market. And that, in short, is what Gronbach will talk about during his keynote presentation. Not only will you not want to miss this presentation, “Charting the Course through Demographic Change,” you can’t afford to miss it. Register now for the 2017 VIBE Conference taking place in San Diego, CA, from February 27 through March 1.