September 25-28, 2017By Kaelyn Digiamarino If there is one way for a coffee-addicted, espresso-obsessed marketing student to become completely and absolutely enamored with her major, it is to sit five rows away from Howard Schultz. In the unseasonable heat of late September, Times Square buzzed with professionals of all different backgrounds and ages, industries and levels, as Advertising Week took over New York City for four days. Sessions were held throughout different venues across Midtown, as attendees were free to walk back and forth among the ones that piqued their interest the most. Topic tracks ranged from data analytics to storytelling, from brand innovation to the future of media, from Millennials to agency culture to leadership. Food trucks offered free wood fired pizza and coffee, while another sponsor’s booth challenged passersby to stop and anonymously divulge their deepest professional confessions. Tantalizing previews of the latest AR and VR innovations filled the Tech X exhibit, where there were conversant dragon robots, and holograms that offered recipe suggestions for dinner. On Tuesday night, the Impact Awards showcased companies that were breaking ground in environmental, humanitarian, cultural, and economic awareness initiatives. But while all of that contributed to the energy and impressiveness of AdWeek, there was nothing that quite matched the brilliance of the speakers themselves, who each in their own way proved that great minds think unalike. Notebook in hand, it was not possible to scribble down quickly enough the words that spilled offstage from industry leaders I never fathomed being near. First to take the stage was Andrew Keller, Facebook’s Global Creative Director. He led a panel of speakers in discussing creativity and collaboration, addressing mobile specifically as a consumption platform. “Mobile is with you at your best and worst moments,” Keller pointed out, noting that it changes not just our minds but also our brains. Our brains are fast; and they are getting faster. It takes the average person just 13 milliseconds to identify and develop an emotional response to an image. Keller later cited that people thumb through 300 feet of content in their social feeds every day, a figure equal to the height of the Statue of Liberty. This overwhelming amount of content has resulted in the decoupling of reach and attention. To capture an audience you must bring your brand message to life in a way too compelling to be ignored. You must think braver, bolder and stand out in a way that is contextually relevant. Modern consumers look for the promise of personalization and want to be engaged in the process. On the note of collaboration, one panelist emphasized that, “Collaboration is at the heart of any creative genesis.” Furthermore, friction between people who think differently leads to innovation, and being comfortable with being uncomfortable is a must when embracing the messiness of collaboration. Protection, trust, generosity and empathy are the keys to this approach. “Thinking like a startup” can also transform collaboration and creativity; startups are committed, resourceful, resilient and have skin in the game. Next up was a session with Allan Thygesen, the President of the Americas at Google, and Keith Weed, the CMO and CCO of Unilever, that discussed marketing in the age of assistance. The age of assistance is characterized by increased empowerment of consumers, a result of the democratization of information and connectivity through the rise of mobile, social, and real-time web. Thygesen began by remarking that for these reasons, today’s consumer is more demanding, more curious, and more impatient than ever before. The hyper-connected consumer is changing how they engage with products and in turn is transforming the traditional path to purchase. To navigate this new landscape, Weed suggested following a framework of “5Cs” to resonate with today’s consumers: consumer, connect, content, community, and commerce. Give users real utility and real value in the moment, because the best strategy a brand and its marketers can have is to become consumer centric. Jessica Alba, founder of The Honest Company, Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, and Harry Kargman, founder and CEO of Kargo, took on the topic of building a brand in a mobile-first world. Both Alba and Blumenthal believe that the best businesses are those that solve real problems. The Honest Company and Warby Parker each rewrote the way consumer-packaged goods were sold when they began their online, direct-to-consumer business models. Both companies received unprecedented attention from the start because their ideas innovatively launched entirely online, and because both supported ethical initiatives. Blumenthal credited the phenomenal success of Warby Parker to good timing in entering the market, and to deliberate serendipity—putting in the work to help create luck, and then taking advantage of it when it appeared. Warby Parker and The Honest Company thrive because they are simple solutions to customer pain points, because they clearly define the purpose of their brands, because they use details and specificity to create authenticity, and because they understand that consumers buy products based on attributes and price, not just for the good of other people. My time at Advertising Week ended with Howard Schultz, and as he began, it became clear his session would be the most impactful. Schultz started with a provocative statement, one that might have made accountants shudder: not every business decision should be a financial one. Schultz mused that Starbucks’ purpose as a business is to build shareholder value, but making money is not its mission. Starbucks is a financially driven company. But, it is one so that it can scale for good and through the lens of humanity. He challenged the audience: what is the courage of your convictions? Schultz explained that he is adamantly against the way people and companies are conditioned not to talk about certain subjects, such as race and sex. Except Schultz believes that there are some topics you simply cannot start the workday without first discussing and addressing. Furthermore, Schultz emphasized the need to be curious and the need to see around corners, but not just in terms of products and innovations. We, as marketers and people, cannot be indifferent; companies must use their sphere of influence to demonstrate that there is another way. The need is to be sensitive to human experience, because that is where you learn. Advertising Week was impactful in ways that words cannot fully describe. The train ride home from New York was a bittersweet one, as I sat with mixed feelings of melancholy and exhaustion. But also with feelings of excitement and empowerment and confidence, and with feelings that could not quite capture the invigorated passion for marketing instilled in me. And with the feeling that I really, truly needed another shot of espresso (or two).
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