Under Hyve Group’s ownership, Possible conference expands its offerings

While ShopTalk schedules something on the level of 50,000 such meetings, the scaled down version for Possible is closer to 3,000 according to Mark Shashoua, CEO of Hyve Group. 

Even MMA Global, the organization that co-founded Possible and remains the marketing driving force behind it, is purchasing several meetings to showcase some of its knowledge to interested parties. 

Christian Muche, Possible’s fellow co-founder, said the meetings will make use of the Fountainbleau Hotel’s location — Miami Beach — and sizable property, in that the meetings will be in a huge tented space outside rather than inside the conference halls. “It will provide a complete different atmosphere, instead of being in a convention center,” said Muche.

It’s all designed to incorporate the value of these meetings (which cost one party in the meeting several hundred dollars; none of the sources Digiday spoke with for this story would confirm the actual cost) without losing the intimacy and exclusiveness of the conference. That’s hugely important to Muche as well as to Shashoua. 

“This is the first introduction of the meetings program at scale,” said Shashoua, who said he expects about 3,000 meetings to take place (whereas ShopTalk, an event that’s been around for years, offers more than 50,000 such meetings). “The proof will be in two weeks time. But we are very pleased with the engagement of what we call the ‘gold dust.’ The people who are the budget holders — whether it’s CMO or an equivalent title, meeting with prospective martech companies.”

“The challenge of any events, and it’s not just in the marketing or creative industries, is, how do the right people meet the right people?” Shashoua added. “You can’t just leave it to serendipity or their own black book where they already knew people.”

Part of the appeal of Possible is it also doesn’t require a seven-hour flight from New York to the south of France, or the jet lag of a six-hour time difference, to network with the right crowd. That “right” crowd, to Muche, are those gold dust that Shashoua referred to: marketers.

Ramping up marketer presence

Muche said a key focus from year two to three has been to increase the ratio of marketers at Possible — and he said the percent of registered attendees who identify as marketing folk rose from 22% in 2023 (year one) to 33% this year.

“We talked with a lot to CMOs, who we knew came in the last two years, and we motivated them to bring their teams this year and over time,” said Muche. 

“You can only grow it as long as you’re growing the core,” added Shashoua.

Muche has also been focused on securing a cross-section of talent for the content this year, landing such industry celebrities as Martha Stewart, Mark Cuban, Alexis Ohanian and Katie Couric. He also was personally proud to land tennis legend Stan Smith, who’s doing an activation with Adidas (which makes his signature tennis shoe) and Group Black. 

MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart said having Hyve Group bring its decades of experience to Possible has been a game-changer. “Just as the global board and I first thought years ago, there was a necessity for a new type of marketing event,” he said. “We couldn’t be more excited to have Hyve Group really fulfill on that dream in a more powerful way than we could have imagined. They have the magic answer to events in the future.”

That networking is of great value to Marisa Thalberg, who sits on MMA Global’s board, and has been a supporter and attendee since year one. “What’s been fun about this event consistently in a short time, is it’s just attracted so many people that you have that very concentrated and fun but informative networking. So it’s just a really nice way of having that mini-Cannes experience,” said Thalberg, referring to Cannes Lions. 

Stuart is once again bringing his signature tough-love approach to Possible with a keynote that will stress that marketers need to get serious about educating themselves on the science side of marketing — and act more like marketing is a profession more than an assemblage of tactics that aim to be a strategy.  

So what’s new for year four? Shashoua and Muche both agreed the Fontainbleau in Miami remains the venue, but the plan is to expand festivities to the beach, which is currently not being used — although the canal behind the hotel is becoming more of a mini Yacht Row. 

And attendees can expect a major drone show during this year’s Possible — it appears Hyve Group is even making use of the sky above the hotel.