Advertising Week New York 2021 - The Creativ Strategist Perspective and Recap
Advertising Week New York was the first major marketing event held live since COVID brought Ad Land to a screeching halt in March of 2019. In just 20 months, we’ve seen our industry go fully remote, a massive shuffle of talent around the globe, and new players bring innovation to a secluded workforce.
Despite all that, this past week on the well-worn streets of New York City felt like an almost pre-pandemic normal. For those of you who may have missed it, here’s our recap of what Ad Land was talking about at Advertising Week New York 2021.
The Marketing Jargon and Talk Tracks Popular at the Conference
Authenticity still hasn’t gone away. It still means ‘good’ in marketing speak.
Multi-cultural, diversity, and inclusion were everywhere in the conference. More diverse casts of panelists were apparent. Brands from Cheetos, Ally Bank, and Warner Media touted campaigns that supported minority communities. We counted 13 panels with these topics.
Community, ESG, and public good. A few new terms we heard more and more throughout the conference. Brands are currently rethinking how their campaigns affect the social good. These themes ranged from global impact of climate change to supporting local communities to supporting various causes.
Gen Z is in. Millennials are out. Sorry my generation; Ad Land is courting a new, younger mistress. A whopping 15 panels listed Gen Z. Zero mentioned millennials. We liked the attention while it lasted.
Advertisers are Hot on New Tech Like NFTs and Block Chain. Most Are Just Experimenting.
There were no fewer than 7 panels about NFTs this year, but we didn’t get a sense anyone really knew what they were talking about. Everyone in Ad Land wants to jump in the NFT pool, but no one has put on their suits to dive in. We heard several brands talk about their experimentation with NFTs in their campaigns. Very few of these campaigns were actually mainstream but were non-the-less interesting experiments in the space.
Listen Campaign is auctioning NFTs off in an upcoming public service campaign to raise money for disadvantaged children. iHeart experimented by giving out NFTs at EDC Vegas to create exclusive merch tied to an event. The NBA worked with a third party developer to make NBA top shot, digitally licensed NBA and WNBA moment NFT collectibles (think player cards for individual moments).
The most interesting panel was actually a digital one where NFT creators, who found success in the NFT market, talked about their experience in the community. SpottyWifi, an NFT rapper, made over $300k by selling NFTs which provided a slew of IP rights to his music while retaining a royalty. He also used his CryptoPunk NFT on the panel as an avatar which was just excellent.
Jim Gaffigan talks with The National Comedy Center and TBWA/Chiat Day
Most of the Panels Were Hard Sells, Except a Choice Few
Most of the panels this year were painfully boring talk tracks of advertisers’ and media owners’ new programs or capabilities. Like most advertising trade conferences people like to talk about themselves, but perhaps 20 months of silence compounded this. Most audiences nodded politely behind glazed over eyes as interesting panels were few and far between.
Our advice to B2B clients would be to pick a phenomena or trend to talk to as an expert rather than styling a panel around a campaign you executed. Jim Gaffigan participated in a great panel with the National Comedy Center and TBWA/Chiat Day on what role comedy has in advertising. The NFT application panel from actual creators mentioned above was full of actionable case studies. We enjoyed the VIZEO breakfast once they brought their Polaris team on stage.
If a panel started with The Power of or The Future of, we generally avoided it.
Streaming TV Ad Companies Made Big Investments
We expected the usual cast of Googles, Facebooks, Twitters, and TikToks to be at the events (they were). This year streaming TV also showed up to play. Vizeo, Roku, Samba TV, and Amazon Ads were all over the conference this year.
Roku sponsored a coffee bar. Vizeo a breakfast. Samba TV a panel. Amazon Ads sponsored the whole event, including a multi-thousand person concert, open bars, food tents and Anderson Paak performing in Hudson Yards. We estimate these spends are between $50k and a few million apiece for one event. Streaming TV players are betting big that advertisers will soon be moving marketing budgets to addressable, digital TV buys. We agree.
Anderson Paak Performs at Advertising Week New York 2021
Ad Land Came to Party. A Greenlight on Live Events?
We estimate about 2,000 people attended the Anderson Paak party on Wednesday. The Hudson Yard venue, complete with open bar and about 15 food tents was impressive. The happy hours at 5pm in Hudson Yards were busy and buzzing. The Brand Innovators VIP dinner was so well attended that the restaurant had to set up impromptu tables for spillover. Their staff stood while they ate.
Media vendors threw parties, people attended the 8:15 breakfasts to see the new highest outdoor Skydeck in the West Hemisphere, and everyone generally had a good time. This event will serve as a green light for live marketing events moving forward. Expect CES in January and Brand Storytelling to move forward live in Vegas and Sundance respectively. Ad Land seems to be back in the live business.