Close-Up: Why everyone's still talking about integration.(BrandMAX summit)(Conference news)

The BrandMAX summit will offer an industry-wide platform for debate on all aspects of integration, Philip Smith says.

Marketing integration may have become a well-worn phrase in advertising circles, but the challenge of getting out aligned marketing messages in the most relevant, cost-effective way across a plethora of media channels is only getting bigger for most client marketers.

'It's not easy to define,' Guy Hayward, the chief executive of JWT UK and chair of the inaugural BrandMAX Summit on the first day, says. 'True integration goes beyond comms. It is now affecting the entire behaviour of brands.'

With that in mind, a new two-day conference and networking event for senior marketers, run by Campaign's publisher Brand Republic Group in association with JWT and Ebiquity, will take place at the Altitude 360 venue in London's Millbank Tower on 21-22 September.

The keynote speakers at the event include Andy Street, the managing director of John Lewis Partnership; Nina Bibby, the global chief marketing officer of Barclaycard; Richard Hudson, the marketing director of BMW Group UK; Gurmej Bahia, the director …