How a Bet on Virtual Events Is Paying Off for TechCrunch

In January, the operations team at TechCrunch made a difficult call: no matter how tempting, all events would remain virtual for the remainder of the year. Now, the fruits of that decision have become evident. The Yahoo-owned publisher is on track to record its best year of revenue in company history, an achievement in which…

Stella Artois’ Solstice Celebration Shows Its Evolving Approach to Hybrid Events

Publishers’ live event organizers have had to grapple with unusual logistical nightmares amid this delta variant period of the pandemic. As Stella Artois eagerly returned to experiential marketing this summer, the beer brand has emphasized the hybrid digital-physical nature of concerts to manage any last minute issues. Whether it’s changes in health ordinances or attendance…

Triller Aims to Empower Black Creators With Conference in September

Video sharing platform Triller is giving its Black online content creators across entertainment, lifestyle, fashion and sports a way to boost their profiles with marketing decision makers at Fortune 500 brands at an in-person showcase in Atlanta next month. The inaugural Black Creators Conference presents a chance for Black videographers to network and collaborate on…

With Covid Cases Rising, Publishers’ In-Person Events Face a Curveball

For publishers planning to bring back in-person events this fall, the delta variant has posed an unwelcome hurdle. Group Nine brand Thrillist announced its return to in-person events this morning with a new franchise, the Thrillist Block Party, a celebration of local culture and commerce that will kick off with an outdoor festival in Manhattan’s…

Splash House’s Groundbreaking Cannabis Sponsorship Could Hint at the Future of Festivals

As many as 60,000 people are expected to flood into Palm Springs over the next two weekends for an upscale dance party called Splash House, where the exclusive cannabis sponsor will be as prominent as the poolside DJ sets and misting fans. The event, taking place across several tony resorts and a cavernous museum, will…

OZY Fest Returns with Title Partner TikTok, Expands to Miami

Like all entertainment in 2020, OZY Media’s annual OZY Fest had to pivot to a virtual model as Covid put a major stopper on all in-person productions. This year, the outdoor event–touted as “TED meets Coachella” by festival-goers–returns with a major title partner and a brand new, second location. On October 16 and 17, OZY…

Twitch Reveals 4 Keys to Innovation in Virtual Live Entertainment

As the pandemic has pushed live entertainment into the virtual realm over the course of the past year, innovation in the space was supercharged to fill the gaps left by the cancellation of in-person events. From gaming and sports to conferences and YouTube streaming, influencers and entertainers found new ways to create immersive and interactive…

This Sports Illustrated Ticketing Site Promises to Minimize a Big Pain Point: Fees

Brand management firm Authentic Brands Group is introducing a new ticketing platform called SI Tix, which taps into the media brand Sports Illustrated just as consumers are once again allowed to attend concerts and sporting events across the U.S. “We always believed this was a business that we could be successful in, and we always…

GivingTuesday and Pulsar on How to Measure Cultural Change

Even cultural moments can come down to a science. At least that’s what audience intelligence platform Pulsar and “global generosity movement” GivingTuesday have discovered in researching how audiences and payment platforms impact donations. The two organizations presented those insights to Adweek editor in chief Stephanie Paterik during The Giving Revolution: How Network Effects Are Rewiring…

With its Google-Funded ‘Sidewalk Issue,’ Pop-Up Magazine Inches Toward Normalcy

After a 15-month hiatus, Pop-Up Magazine has returned to the analog world. The self-styled live magazine launched its Sidewalk Issue, its first in-person event since February 2020, in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Brooklyn last week. Using funding from Google, the publisher collaborated with more than a dozen artists to create a series of art…

How Publishers Plan to Recoup Lost Event Revenue

For all the talk of lower overheads and limitless audience size, the truth is very few companies have been able to make the same amount of money from virtual events. But as more publishers plan in-person events for the fall, recouping that revenue while holding onto the benefits of virtual events is now in sight….

BT Brings Together UK Footballers to Fight Online Abuse

To tackle online hate, British telecom giant BT is recruiting a diverse team of football players to push out its Hope United campaign ahead of the UEFA European Championship. The multi-million-pound campaign is created by Saatchi & Saatchi. It will bring together 20 players from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including Marcus Rashford, Gareth…

London Campaigns Look to Give Reopening Cinemas and Theatres a Boost

After over a year of Covid-19 restrictions and closures, cinemas and theatres around London are finally reopening– and they will get a boost from two campaigns rolling out this week. Omnicom agencies TBWALondon and MG OMD are leading the Remember Cinema initiative, which will run from May 17 to the end of June across publishing,…

CMOs Are Thinking Differently About Keeping Top Talent Around in a Post-Covid World

As the world gradually re-opens from various stages of quarantine, CMOs are facing a much different set of considerations when it comes to attracting talent than they were more than a year ago. At Adweek’s CMO Summit this week, marketing leaders discussed how they are approaching recruiting and retention in a world where companies and…

The CMOs of Away and Exos Deliberate on Their Changing Roles

Whether as a brand protector or growth driver, CMOs were under the spotlight during the pandemic, charged with reaching consumers quarantined in their homes during large swaths of 2020. In conversation with Adweek’s chief content officer Lisa Granatstein at Adweek’s CMO Summit, digitally native luggage brand Away’s CMO Selena Kalvaria and fitness company Exos’ CMO…

CMOs Stress the Role of Community in Marketing Right Now

During the pandemic, ideas of community have shifted largely online. This has been a boon to internet-based companies, but a serious challenge for ones that relied on in-person gathering in the “before times.” Discord has been one winner of the pandemic economy, surging in user base and valuation. The company has shot up from 100…

Cameo Isn’t Just for Fans Anymore—It’s for Marketers Too

The selfie is the new autograph. That’s how Cameo, the platform that connects fans to pop culture icons via personalized video messages, live calls and direct messages, started nearly five years ago. Back then it was mostly athletes connecting with superfans. But it really took off when its CEO Steven Galanis and co-founder Devon Townsend…

How to Navigate Social Media Coming Out of the Pandemic

After over a year of the pandemic, customers and brands have changed how they use social media. During Adweek’s Social Media Week on Thursday, Vice Media Group’s global CMO Nadja Bellan-White said that 2021 is a year of reimagining what’s possible. “There’s never been a better time to evolve our businesses, and there’s never been…

GSK Focused on Social Insights Before the Pandemic. Here’s How it Paid Off

At one point in her Social Media Week session on in-house social intelligence, GSK’s insights and analytics lead Tina Tonielli displayed a slide with the company’s most-famous household brands–Advil, Flonase, Benefiber, Centrum and Nicorette–and asked viewers to pinpoint the ones that had the most impact on their daily lives. For a portfolio of brands that…

An AI-Powered Approach Is Key to Customer Experience Management 

When it comes to customer experience management on social media, Paul Herman, vp of customer engagement and market intelligence at Sprinklr, says brands have a lot of data and more ways than ever to connect with consumers, but they’re not using it efficiently. “We’ve created a bit of chaos,” Herman told the virtual audience at…