Monday marked the official start of Advertising Week New York 2023. The 19th edition of the event brought a brimming crowd to Manhattan’s recently redeveloped PENN DISTRICT, featuring some of the keenest minds in marketing, media, advertising, and communications.
Mediaweek was on the ground to attend a number of key sessions throughout the day. Here is a recap of some of the highlights:
“Big Game” Purpose
Beyond the sensational commercials, halftime shows and sports fandomania, this session spotlighted the purposeful and positive impact the “Big Game” ushers in outside the gridiron, ahead of Super Bowl LVIII taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada in February 2024.
Hosted by NFL athlete and NBC sports commentator, Kyle Rudolph, the panel featured Alexia Gallagher, VP of philanthropy for the NFL and executive director of the NFL Foundation, Myisha Boyce, chief community engagement officer for the Las Vegas Super Bowl LVIII Host Committee, Ann Marie Krautheim, CEO of national nonprofit GENYOUth, and the multi-talented Carla Hall; celebrity chef, author, host, and regular participant in the friendly competition fundraiser, Taste of the NFL.
Big Game’ Purpose – Carla Hall – Celebrity Chef, Author, Host, Ann Marie Krautheim – Chief Executive Officer, GENYOUth, Myisha Boyce – Chief Community Engagement Officer, Las Vegas Super Bowl LVlll Host Committee, Alexia Gallagher – Vice President of Philanthropy and Executive Director of the NFL Foundation, NFL and Kyle Rudolph – NFL Athlete and NBC Sports Commentator
As Boyce stated, “I’d like to say that the Super Bowl is happening for Las Vegas and not to Las Vegas.” Gallagher likewise affirmed, “The whole point is to leave this community better than we found it and that that’s core to our purpose, it’s core to everything that we do every single day.
“We want to ensure everything that we do in the community with the Super Bowl, with our grant partners, that these are not transactional relationships; these are really transformational.
“We do make a lot of grants, but we’re not a check writing body, we really want to make sure that we’re making the impact that these communities deserve.”
Gallagher pointed to the examples on stage, the NFL’s long standing grant partner, GENYOUth Foundation that aims to support the 30 million food insecure families in the US who rely on cafeteria meals for their children’s nutrition, as well as the Taste of the NFL event, “which is really this fun, celebratory event, but does incredible work.”
Hall said of the Taste event last year, “we raised about $1.8 million that went back to GENYOUth. It’s amazing.”
The Sound of Sync: How the Perfect Song Placement Can Boost Your Brand
Grammy award-winning songwriter, producer and lead singer of OneRepublic (of Counting Stars and Apologise fame), Ryan Tedder was brought to stage for a fireside by Brian Monaci, president and global CMO for Sony Music Publishing.
Tedder has worked with the likes of Adele, Paul McCarty, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift, and over the last 15 years has created original music for brands including Bose, Samsung, Jeep, and Assassins Creed.
The discussion highlighted the diminishing taboo of “selling out” in music, particularly as the traditional, sanctimonious role of a record label has been losing its promotional relevance.
The Sound of Sync: How the Perfect Song Placement Can Boost Your Brand – Brian Monaco – President, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Sony Music Publishing and Ryan Tedder – Grammy Award-Winning Songwriter & Producer, Lead Singer of OneRepublic
Tedder, who holds a degree in marketing and advertising, explained, “Brands were always in the attention economy, but for music, we live in the attention economy now.”
The music industry appears to be shifting as brand partnerships and campaigns are now one of the most viable ways of amplifying emerging talent.
Tedder continued, “A great example: Target. Five years ago, they had a song [by] Zed, featuring Maren Morris called The Middle.
“That song was written for Target and became global number one, and I think won a Grammy.”
He added, “Sia. Samsung Galaxy. 18 months ago, [Samsung] see a record from seven years ago called Unstoppable… Unstoppable is now the second biggest hit of [Sia’s] career and went number one.”
Tedder articulated how the right forging of brand, licensing, and Zeitgeist can create these symbiotic success stories, “You want to capture the spirit of the brand or ethos combined with whatever that year’s campaign objective is, without being too on the nose.
“When you get too on the nose … it just gets cheesy. It gets really corny really quick.”
“The endgame is you want people to be Shazaming the song, because then the brand looks crazy smart and culturally relevant.”
Inside the Dreamhouse: A Look at Barbie’s Transformation from Doll to Cultural Phenomenon
In one of the most in-demand sessions for the day, Eliana Dockterman, correspondent at TIME, sat down with Lisa McKnight, executive vice president and chief brand officer of Mattel. The pair explored the remarkable impact of the recent Barbie movie for Mattel, and what the next era of the near 65-year-old toy brand will look like.
McKnight firstly acknowledged how prior to the Blockbuster, the Barbie doll had a perception and relevancy issue to overcome. As a result, bringing “the doll that started it all” to the screen was a long process, with many scripts rejected before the “genius, breakthrough storytelling” of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie could come to fruition.
Mcknight recalled of earlier iterations, “I felt the story that they presented wasn’t going to further evolve the brand and further advance it in a positive way.”
Inside the Dreamhouse: A Look at Barbie’s Transformation from Doll to Cultural Phenomenon – Lisa McKnight – EVP and Chief Brand Officer, Mattel, Inc. and Eliana Dockterman – Correspondent, TIME
Throughout the production process, McKnight recognised how it was thinking of Barbie as less of a doll “and more of an idea” that gave her the confidence to take risks and elicit the broad thinking that has led to these cut through product extensions and experiences.
McKnight remembered one of the most challenging, counterintuitive marketing decisions she made was green-lighting the film’s tagline, “If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you.”
She noted, “But if you want to reengage people you need to be self aware.”
The self-awareness and bold decisions clearly struck a chord in the court of public opinion with the rollout of the film being met with viral online trends such as Barbiecore and Pinkcore, which took on a life of their own. They represented not only a tick of approval endorsing the relevancy of Mattel in the modern era, but also to McKnight’s delight, the “reengagement of an older audience”.
Speaking to the future of the brand, McKnight mentioned Mattel’s focus was “turning from a toy company into an IP” with the launch of the first authorised Barbie game on Roblox, and 14 more films in the pipeline.
“We’ve got a really new, exciting launch plan for toys next year. A different scale. We’ll leave it at that. But it’s a way to experience Barbie Land in a new way.”
A life size theme park, perhaps?
Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media and Catapulting Brands into the Cultural Zeitgeist
Unbeknownst to many, around three years ago, the pop culture icon, businesswoman and argued creator of the “selfie”, Paris Hilton, partnered with Emmy-award winning media executive Bruce Gersh to found the 11:11 Media global media content company.
The company boasts divisions across television, audio, digital, impact and listening. According to their brand statement, “11:11 Media has an authentic and in-depth understanding of creator-led brands with scale, authenticity and purpose.”
The session showcased the company’s journey and success towards a mission to, in Gersh’s words, “Build a global next gen entertainment company [and] at the centre are our content, commerce, and community.”
Said Hilton: “I really wanted to create 11:11, because I’m involved in so many different business verticals.
“From film and television, podcasting, impact work, everything that I’m doing in the Metaverse, all the product lines I’m doing, and just being able to have them all under one company, because I’m just doing so many different types of projects.
“I’m also able to collaborate with other brands and other creators to create this whole business where anybody can really come in and work with me and insert themselves into pop culture.”
Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media and Catapulting Brands into the Cultural Zeitgeist – Paris Hilton – CEO / Co-Founder, 11:11 Media and Bruce Gersh – President & COO, 11:11 Media
Commendable case studies presented in the session included 11:11’s work with Taco Bell for the return of their “Volcano Menu”. The ad campaign, featuring Hilton, became one of the fast food chain’s most successful campaign efforts to date, amassing $4.5 million in ad equivalency, and 2.5 billion in aggregated reach.
11:11 was also responsible for the top performing campaign of all time for the shop-now-pay-later Klarna App, which generated $13.6 million in ad equivalency, and 145 million impressions.
Hilton recounted, “We created this Y2K museum. It was this amazing activation in Hollywood. I had all of my iconic pieces like my outfits from The Simple Life, and my 21st birthday dress, and all my Louis Vuitton purses, and my dazzled sidekicks and flip phones.
“We invited a bunch of people, celebrities and influencers for a huge event, and it was just really fun to create something like that.”
What’s next for the entrepreneurial heiress, and for 11:11? Upcoming tentpoles include Hilton’s “Be an Icon” cookware collection, an apparel line, an album executive produced by Sia, the launch of her 30th fragrance, and the second season of her reality TV show, Paris in Love.
See Also:
Day two recap: Netflix Cup, Chris Olsen, Andy Cohen & Shark Tank
Day three recap: Renaissance Woman, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Jonathan Van Ness & Issa Rae
Day four recap: Binging with Babish, TIME Magazine, Pepsi & WWE
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Top Image: Paris Hilton & Lisa McKnight