The television industry is undergoing a huge transformation thanks to the rise of connected TV (CTV) devices, which now reach the majority of American homes. As the marketplace where the vast majority of television inventory is still bought and sold, the upfronts can serve as a laboratory for industry buyers to determine how to evolve…
For the past decade, upfronts week has had the same rhythm to it: While each network’s slate of new shows changed, buyers still pretty much knew what to expect at every presentation. But not this time: After a wild year of mergers, spinoffs and #MeToo-related exits, the majority of the companies involved in upfront week…
Nadalie Dias joined Hearts & Science in September 2017 and before the end of 2018 was promoted to her current role as senior director of digital activation, a critical leadership position on the AT&T account overseeing a team of 45. Her career trajectory is especially impressive for someone who says she “fell into advertising” after…
Some years ago, it was hard to fathom a Hollywood actor doing more than standing in front of a camera for ads. Sure, it was easy money but, over time as the digital landscape continued to evolve, content in all forms continued (and continues) to fragment. While for some, it may be a daunting proposition…
Nineteen fifty-three was a seminal year in world history. Biologists discovered the double helix of DNA. Sir Edmund Hillary reached the top of Everest. Dr. Jonas Salk perfected the polio vaccine. And in a suburban backyard in Fairfield, Conn., a bunch of kids played the first game of Wiffle Ball. All right, so maybe a…
Jezz Chung has always let her curiosity guide her career–and it’s served her well indeed. While a psychology major at UT Austin, Chung made her way into advertising after joining a student-run club called Texas Advertising Group. During her senior year, she participated in three programs that helped launch her career in advertising: AAF’s Most…
Imagine the novel idea of being able to read the news without a pop-up ad or a screen notification for a new email or a tweet from the White House. As some magazines have gone digital-only, other big publishers and brands have reversed course and leaned deeper into the ultimate lean back experience, print, with…
Ask any media buyer, tech company or cable provider about addressable TV, and they’ll ask a question in return: How do you define it? Because while addressable TV simply means using data–rather than content–to buy audiences, the industry as a whole is still playing catch-up when it comes to the concept of serving different ads…
In this day and age, a simple swipe right or left is all that’s needed to make a connection. But for brands looking to make a lasting partnership with prospective endorsers like Kyler Murray, the top overall pick in the NFL Draft last month, an evening of old-fashioned speed dating ignited potentially fruitful relationships. The…
We’re living in the era of digital video. “If you’re not making online video, you’re missing out” is a widely accepted platitude across the board today. People on both sides of the digital divide agree that video is the way to go. Last year was the biggest yet for online content globally, and it’s safe…
Supply path optimization, better known as SPO, might seem like another buzzy tech phrase looped into the programmatic landscape, but it’s one of the industry’s most effective ways to cut the clutter between media buyers and publishers hungry to sell their inventory. Though different players in the ad-tech ecosystem need different approaches, the general idea…
Influencers are still going strong, but as the novelty fades, should brands keep including them in their strategies? New research from Toluna suggests they should. While there’s still skepticism–30.4% of American consumers don’t trust influencer recommendations–almost half (49.2%) follow influencers on social media, and 49.3% have bought something based on a recommendation from an influencer….
In Amazon’s early days, enterprising merchants carved out lucrative niches for themselves by identifying what wasn’t being sold on the site, sourcing those products at low prices and offering them as third-party sellers. This phenomenon helped the ecommerce platform serve more consumers while mitigating its risk and made Amazon the so-called Everything Store it is…
A Swiss Army knife has nothing on Carrie Brownstein. For music fans, she’s the guitarist for the seminal rock band Sleater-Kinney. The rest of the world got to know her intimately over eight seasons of Portlandia as one of the series’ stars, writers and producers. The sketch comedy show that skewered the Pacific Northwest city’s…
Each of the seven years IAB has managed the NewFronts has yielded a different organic theme. In the past few years, brand safety, over-the-top (OTT) video and TV-like experiences have all been central to the conversation. This year, it’s the dominance of digital video and the ripple effect it’s creating throughout our industry. The big…
As the 2019 NewFronts kicks off in New York today, the brand safety issue will once again be the apex talking point between programmers and brand and agency partners, who are considering whether to shift more of their advertising budgets into OTT and non-linear television. The annual Adweek NewFronts roundtable convened at Adweek’s HQ a…
We’ve sung the praises of Giant Spoon before–most recently, when we named it Breakthrough Agency of the Year last fall. But we can’t help it if they keep topping themselves. An American Red Cross blood drive presented as an immersive Game of Thrones experience to promote the HBO show’s final season? We don’t know how…
Not enough people talk about the good the president is doing–like providing abundant comic fodder for a hilarious experiential activation by Comedy Central. The network’s Donald J. Trump Presidential Library was so clever and on point, it landed the Comedy Central the coveted Experiential Brand of the Year honor in our first-ever Adweek Experiential Awards…
There was a time when experiential marketing was a niche category, a simple add-on in a brand’s overall strategy. That time is over. Experiential activations have become more ambitious than ever–extraordinarily creative, inventive and engaging. With our inaugural Adweek Experiential Awards, we celebrate the talent behind the past year’s most impressive initiatives, and we can’t…
To hear Paul Woelbing tell it, all he ever needed to know about lip balm he learned from … motorcycles. Woelbing is the third-generation president of Carma Laboratories, the Milwaukee-based company that makes Carmex lip balm. As a man who literally grew up with the product (his grandfather mixed the first batches in his home…
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