The Creativ Brief: Advertising Week Recapped
We’re ending our day with The Creativ Brief, recapping Advertising Week which officially wrapped yesterday.
The annual advertising conference gathers several thousand marketing and advertising professionals in midtown, Manhattan.
Here’s the biggest trends emerging from our conversations:
In-game advertising panel with Activision Blizzard, Livewire, Spark Foundry, and Digiday
1. In-game advertising appears to be the next advertising and media frontier. Multiple conversations with professionals at Unity, ActivisionBlizzard, Livewire, Venatus, and more spoke about the opportunities to advertise in the largest and most immersive form of media, the video game.
Look for much, much more coverage into next year on this emerging media trend. The audiences are massive, the players big, and the potential huge. Several heavily backed start ups are clamoring to be the defacto in-game advertising firm. The leader will ultimately be who can curate the best inventory from all the video game publishers.
Google’s activation with McClaren at Advertising Week New York 2023
2. Nuanced AI applications were another hot button topic in medialand. Advertisers, publishers, and media talked about varied use-cases for the emergent technology, besides generative AI. Use cases we saw covered were tracking, data clean up and organizing, computer vision, ad serving, and bidding.
Google had the largest AI activation with McClaren, showcasing various ways that AI products can be applied to search and display advertising using their suite of tech. Canva showcased several AI tools to generate design. Rembrand showcased in-video product placement which allows brands to integrate interstitials into social content. Look for more companies to show off some sexy AI tech in a variety of sectors soon.
Netflix’s activation at Advertising Week New York 2023
3. Streaming TV advertising is becoming big business, and was Netflix’s presence at the conference. With one of the biggest activations in NYC and rumored CPMs around $50-100, the streaming giant is courting advertisers with its first ever presence at the festival. Look for more streamers to adopt a dual model similar to Hulu, in which a free ad-supported and subscription without ads exist on the same platform.
In-person experiences are back! We went to multiple programs at Advertising Week, Brand Storytelling, and Brand Innovators, all of which were packed to capacity. The line to get into the conference was 3 New York City blocks Monday morning. To generate enterprise business, get out there and shake some hands.
3 Stories Dominating Media and Tech Headlines
TikTok has secured a significant partnership with Disney for its premium ad product, Pulse Premiere. The collaboration includes a dedicated section within TikTok where Disney fans can engage with branded content, create videos using Disney's music and effects, participate in Disney themed activities and collect “character cards” of their favorite players.
Why it matters: Disney’s content has already garnered 240 billion views on TikTok. Custom pages around dedicated IP like Disney’s is something to pay attention to as the platform adapts.
Negotiations between Hollywood studios and and the SAG-AFTRA have been suspended. The AMPTP suspended negotiations after reviewing the unions most recent proposal, stating “the gap between the two parties is too substantial”.
Why it matters: SAG-AFTRA has demanded a share of streaming revenue as a bonus for cast members, a proposal that the AMPTP finds economically burdensome. While the WGA has recently approved a new 3-year contract with major studios, expect a few more weeks of negotiations before SAG-AFTRA members reach a favorable agreement.
Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision received approval from Britain, a crucial step in completing the deal. The deal instantly adds more than $3 billion in mobile game revenues to Microsoft’s catalogue and attracts more users to the Xbox console and Game Pass subscription service.
Why it matters: The merger has several implications. Massive layoffs for redundancies between the two companies, exclusive titles for Microsoft gaming platforms like Xbox, gamepass, and microsoft store, and in-game advertising solutions across both Activation and Blizzard properties. Expect much more news from this space.
Client Spotlight - How New Media is Changing Brand Creative
Charles Ifegwu, Head of US operations at The Fifth agency, dives into how the changing landscape of new media is altering brand creative, including social creators as creative directors and new ways of approaching campaigns.
Stat of the Week - Which advertising gets the most attention?
The study reviewed the most effective ads in terms of recall with TV taking the top effectiveness at garnering attention, with 25% of adult respondents.
Social media content and short-form video online received the second highest marks. Despite the apparent victory for TV, the amount of time spent watching TV has plummeted in recent years, complicating the findings.
One Fun Thing - Photos from Creativ Strategies at Advertising Week
The Creativ Strategies team attended four full days of advertising panels, networking and fun. Many libations, handshakes, and collected swag.
Here are some of our favorite photo moments from the events.
