CONFERENCE RECAPS

 Hosted by: The Advertising Research Foundation  Since 1936 ARF has been providing unbiased quality in research on advertising, media and marketing. Over 400 companies have utilized ARF for their knowledge, unifying standards and best practices.  About the Event:  In partnership with Kantar, ARF shared a newly developed best-in-class framework of Brand Purpose, which could be used to shape, guide and evaluate purpose campaigns even in the context of the evolving COVID-19 news environment. “The only certainty brands face as they grapple with two drivers of uncertainty — a pandemic and recession — is the need to adjust their marketing and communications strategies. considered reliable and accurate can create a halo of trust that benefits brand advertisers.” Moderators:  Sarah Capers Head of Brand, North America, Kantar J. Walker Smith Chief Knowledge Officer, Brand & Marketing, Kantar Paul Donato Chief Research Officer, ARF Pandemics Politics and Business: Clo...

Coronavirus and social distancing are affecting consumers’ daily lives in profound ways. Virtual experiences are usurping in-person experiences. E-commerce and home delivery have filled the void left by closed or virus-risky stores. Home cooking and takeout have supplanted once- thriving restaurants. Streaming video has temporarily achieved total victory over its theatrical cinema competition. Obsession with hygiene has overtaken other factors (e.g. local, eco-friendly) in driving consumer choices. Consumers are profoundly affected by COVID-19 and social distancing—from virtual experiences usurping in-person events, including a massive uptick in streaming video viewing, to home delivery filling the void left by closed or virus-risky establishments. When the crisis passes, will people revert to their former ways, or will some of the crisis-induced behaviors persist? Industry experts will share their work about how recent changes could impact ongoing behavioral and social norms. The adve...

 During the Retail Innovation Week I learned: Resilience is the new state of Retail. If we had to define in one word what the Retail industry has been during the past year, that word would be resilience. That is because every company that survived 2020 had the ability to rapidly respond to the disruption of a pandemic. Even though this characteristic is vital for any kind of business at any given time, last year was especially rough on companies that did not have it.  Adaptability to change is the key to survival. Different current trends within the Retail industry point towards how companies were able to pivot as fast as possible in the middle of theCOVID-19 pandemic. This change had three pillars: Sustained awareness, through developing foundational analytics; Adaptive decision making, through redirecting strategy based on real-time insights; and Modular infrastructure through reorganizing retail channels. E-commerce is the future of Retail. The pandemic was taken as an oppo...

Technology has grown exponentially in the last decade. During that time, NYC Media Lab has driven innovation in media and technology by cultivating collaboration between universities and companies based in New York City. Thanks to this advance in the industry, the COVID-19 pandemic could not impede the organization’s annual summit, which took place online.   It is bold for an organization that has taken the development of technology and media as a banner, to break the ice of the event with a keynote presentation featured by Tristan Harris, social media critic behind the creation of the top 10 Netflix film The Social Dilemma.  The conversation with Harris, also President and Co-Founder of the Center of Humane Technology and former Google design ethicist, then was followed by a panel of tech and media sector experts, who offered “Three Big Ideas to Fix the Internet.”  Moderators Steven Rosenbaum and Erica Matsumoto, Managing Director and Director of Partnerships of NYC...

 I joined this conference on May 14th as a recommendation by a friend. As someone who loves to travel, and explore new places and restaurants, the title stood out to me. In these uncertain times, I am constantly reminded of how many different industries are suffering, and how the only focus now is survival mode. The conference was hosted by Brick and Wonder, a membership collective focused on connecting and supporting real estate and design professionals, and Independent Lodging Congress, a place for independent hotels to connect with other visionaries and thought leaders from the lodging sector. It quickly started off by stating the obvious, everyone has been feeling this existential threat, and although were all in this together, it seems as though were being driven apart. The mediator posed a series of questions for the various speakers, RP Eddy from Ergo, Ryan Simoneti from Convene, Mathew Goodrich who’s an interior designer, Aliya Khan from Marriot, and Scott Williams from Nan...

Over the days of September 1-3, 2020, WARC held a 3-day webinar series about how COVID-19 has accelerated e-commerce growth globally, prompting a rethink of the fundamentals, including 'digital availability.' Assembling an expert panel to speak on how to navigate this shift in strategy, each day provided the latest evidence, expertise, and guidance to make marketers more effective. Kicking off the series was Jonathan Jagard, Senior eCommerce Insights Manager at Edge by Ascential, speaking on The Significance (& Seasonality) of Search and started with the expansion of the e-commerce market since the pandemic hit that has caused limited choices for consumers. Using Amazon as an example throughout his presentation, we quickly learn that 90% of Amazon's purchases start directly on the Amazon homepage. This very high percentage is a directed effect from the 4 Pillars Of Search, including sales, SEO content, conversion, and traffic. "People are not always going to Amazon...

Here Are All The Black People or HAATBP by The One Club was a wonderful and memorable event. I love being a part of special moments like these that diversify creative opportunities. I enjoyed the faces of creatives from young to old. I appreciated that I ran into old classmates from undergrad that have made their way into tabling at this event and representing their organizations. And disliked losing my umbrella between moving from one panel to another. My favorite moment was hearing the inspiring words of the keynote speaker, Tariq Trotter formerly known as Black Thought. These words of inspiration to “Never give up on your dreams.” was resonating to me because I too work on never giving up everyday. I related to this speaker a lot from the details of his life and how his hard work and dedication prevailed. Another great speaker at this event was Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia. He is a blunt and down to earth individual. And inspired me to apply to his company one day. Him and hi...