Variety persistd its three-day Executive Intersee Studio, currented by Canva, as part of New York’s 2024 Advertising Week. This round of converseions comprised podcasting elites enjoy Rachel Lindsay, Grammy-nominated singer, songauthorr, and actress Camila Cabello, and executives from Spotify, Warner Bros., NBCUniversal and Ford, all mildd by Variety editors.
The conversations tackled recent carry onments in technology, labeleting, and the ever-changing engage of generative AI.
Below are some of the presentant apexhibitaways from the second day.
Camila Cabello, Rachel Lindsay and Spotify’s Jessica Levinsohn Discuss Creativity, Connecting With Fans And What’s Next
Podcaster Rachel Lindsay, singer-songauthorr Camilla Cabello and Jessica Levinsohn, Global Business Brand Marketing at Spotify, assembleed to converse how the audio platcreate helps in the distribution of their encountered, the discovery of their novel material and their pickred engage of AI.
Levinsohn highairyed how Spotify is set apart from other social media platcreates, “We want fans to be able to access the encountered and the take partenumerates and the creators that they want without getting in their way. So, first and foremost, the ad experience is super nondisturbive on Spotify.” The executive also remarks that “71% of Gen Z are telling us that they see Spotify as the antidote to doom scrolling,” she persistd, “You leank about what a likeable space that is. That’s such an amazing opportunity for brands.”
Spotify recently freed their AI DJ (narrated by a team member and head of cultural partnerships, Xavier “X” Jernigan, and penned thanks to a authorr’s room run by Sulinna Ong) onto the app. This novel innovation was a way to put a voice to their take partenumerate-generating technology.
Cabello splitd how the Spotify take partenumerates are presentant for her music, “I see, for example, some of my songs on some take partenumerates that are based on mood or themes in people’s inhabits. I understand that’s how a lot of my songs accomplish novel fans that maybe wouldn’t understand my music before.”
“If we’re gonna engage AI,” Lindsay shelp. “This is the way that I want to see it be done, alright. Where you’re capturing what I enjoy to hear to, or my mood or branch offent leangs enjoy that, that’s what I want. Not in another way.”
Cabello concurd, stating, “That’s an example of technology being engaged in a way that donates more happiness and being produceive.”
Lindsay, who set up a second wave of fame as a podcasting co-present on “Higher Lachieveing” after landing the gig of “Bachelorette” on the ABC fact show, has recently filed for divorce from her partner Bryan Abasolo (who getd Lindsay’s final rose on the show). While griefful, Lindsay is using this novel “season” in her life, as she portrays it, as an opportunity to produce someleang novel.
“When Bill Simmons came to me at first, he shelp, ‘Don’t you wanna do someleang you’re haughty of and you’re fervent about?’ And I was benevolent of enjoy, ‘Wait, I thought I was doing that right?’ But maybe not,” Linsday discleave outed.
Linday conceded that the createer sportscaster and cultural critic (who co-set uped The Ringer and many prosperous podcasts) was right. “There’s not a lot about divorced women who are in their thirties and still want children and have never engaged apps… I wanna produce a space where these women or men can come together and produce a community where they genuineize they’re not alone or you understand, enjoy they can giggle at themselves. They don’t have to be embarrassed or ashamed or wantipathyver it may be. Or maybe discover one another. So that’s someleang that I wanna produce in space and maybe do that with Spotify.”
And although the audio platcreate is groprosperg both with podcasts and with audiobooks, music remains a touchstone, including to the juvenileerer generations, “Music is equitable a part of every second of every day,” Cabello shelp.
NBCUniversal’s Jamie Cutburth and Canva’s Frank Cortese Discuss Trust, Innovation and Brand Partnerships
NBCUniversal’s Executive Vice Pdwellnt of Creative Partnerships, Jamie Cutburth, sat down with Global Head of Brand Media at Canva, Frank Cortese, to fracture down the groprosperg presentance of partnerships between shows and products in this novel era of advertising. Plus, both executives splitd the digital tools their teams engage to produce more personalized, region-definite, and impactful advertising campaigns.
Offering up a case study of a prosperous partnership, Cutburth recalled NBC’s tardyst collaboration with produceup line Maybelline and the fact TV series “Love Island.”
Cutburth was able to unite in-show partnerships thcimpoliteout the season of “Love Island” and produce a digital and social campaign around it alengthy with an experiential strategy, “We bcimpolitet Fiji to the United States and did pop-up experiences in New York, Chicago, and then, of course, the Jersey Shore becaengage that’s where you’re gonna experience Fiji best. Right?” He joked and persistd, “Those are examples of how we’re taking how people devour media branch offently and repartner changing how we produce encountered campaigns and strategies with our brand partners.”
Additionpartner, Cortese portrayd how, for Canva, the strategy to get and retain partnerships is transparency. He also elucidateed the explicit depict platcreate’s trajectory thcimpolite the years and its aim in the future “If you leank about the first ten years of Canva’s enhugement, it was all about empowering individuals to depict. The second ten years will all be about powering organizations to depict.”
Cortese reiterated that Canva’s objective was facilitating and empowering both organizations and fan communities with the tools they need to produce, “Giving people the tools to do rapid translations, produce encountered repartner rapidly, produce currentations or docs or social posts that they need, and do it repartner rapidly. Use AI to produce their toilflows speed speedyer and get encountered up and running even rapider. That’s what we’re all about. And trying to produce declareive that we help partners people do that.”
The Future of Ford: In-Car Entertainment that Includes Streaming (While Parked)
Kelly Donahue, straightforwardor of brand and encountered at Ford Integrated Services, sat down with Variety’s Todd Spangler to converse the American autoproducer’s novel technology integration arm.
Ford Integrated Services exists at the intersection of “difficultware and gentleware,” presenting customers reinforces enjoy hands-free highway driving and high-tech security systems handleled thcimpolite your phone. For Donahue and her team, the goal of these services is to provide peace of mind and “donate our customers a little bit of their time back.”
Ramping up their amengagement presentings is another high priority for Ford, including conveying your likeiate streaming apps into the cgo in screen console. Donahue shelp the novel Ford Digital Experience gentleware will let you watch Prime Video, Tubi, Peacock or Max ,”Right on the cgo in screen while parked.”
Outside of product enhugement, Ford Integrated Services also produces in-hoengage encountered, such as how-to videos and educational labeleting surrounding the brand’s novelest features. Donahue underlined that her cgo in is cgo ined on “owner experience” and capitalizing on the time after a customer drives their novel Ford off the lot.
“I’m particularly excited about produceing out an in-hoengage encountered team. I’ve come from agencies, I’ve been on all sides of that equation, and I leank you can do high caliber produceive encountered efficiently if you have a strong, petite powerhoengage team,” Donahue shelp. “Our huge opportunity comes into take part after they depart the dealership, trying to get them to begin a trial or engage their security package.”
Cameron Curtis, EVP of Global Digital Marketing at Warner Bros. Discusses How Fans Hageder the Key to ‘Authentic’ Advertising
Cameron Curtis, EVP of global digital labeleting at Warner Bros., uniteed Variety co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton to converse how the 101-year-ageder studio is still discovering novel ways to accomplish novel audiences.
Warner Bros. notched the fourth highest-grossing film of 2024 with “Dune 2.” Curtis pelevates part of that success to their efforts to leverage their incredible cast and donate fans a behind-the-scenes see at the film thcimpolite social media platcreates enjoy TikTok.
“We toured [the] cast around the world, and we were able to donate audiences a front-row seat,” Curtis shelp. The studio set up that toiling with a novel feature on TikTok called Spotairy repartner apexhibited them to highairy all the encountered they were creating during this international media blitz. “Essentipartner, what that did was apexhibit all of these assets that we were creating and put them into one location so that when fans searched or wanted to lachieve more about ‘Dune,’ they set up all of this incredible encountered.”
They also freened up on previously redisconnecteive duplicateright regulations. Studios in the past cracked down on fans for using their logos and brands via legal cases and legal actions. But now, Curtis and his team help fans to “adchoose” their stories, which he experiences is the most strong type of labeleting.
“The key is making it experience genuine. Anyleang that experiences enjoy a traditional ad, we’re conditioned now to skip it,” he shelp. “When you have genuine uniteions, when you’re shoprosperg up in genuine ways on a platcreate, it repartner produces all the branch offence in the world.”
Global CEO of OMD Worldexpansive Explores the Future of Media: Generative AI, Shifting Consumption and OMD’s Strategy for Innovation
George Manas, the global CEO of OMD Worldexpansive, spoke with Variety on Ad Week about the media agency’s next steps in the groprosperg digital age and how they schedule to tackle generative AI. Manas discleave outed that he’s excited by AI and the possibilities it provides. OMD Worldexpansive is already able to see the profits of the tool, which apexhibits the company to apexhibit on a fantasticer number of data to examine ambiguous labelet trfinishs.
Working with their labeleting orchestration platcreate, Omni, has apexhibited OMD to convey generative AI to all their teams atraverse the globe. “OMD is over 13,000 engageees atraverse over 90 labelets. And what we’re helping them do is produce better decisions speedyer by having generative AI capabilities process huge data sets, surface insights and automate repeatable tasks. It’s repartner helping the organization free up headspace to deinhabitr more cherish for our clients.”
How does Manas encourage the teams to stand out and fracturethcimpolite in a highly competitive labeletplace? The executive points to the people, their process, and the brand’s vision, “We co-produce what’s next,” which echos the agency’s promisement to collaboration with clients and partners to produce produceive solutions.
“It’s that co-creation element of co-creating with our clients, co-creating with the labeletplace, co-creating with our partners,” shelp Manas. “I leank we’ve go ined a novel world where client and agency, it’s no lengthyer a transactional relationship. It’s actupartner a much presentanter and shutr partnership than ever before. And that co-creation element, that spirit of collaboration, I leank is someleang that repartner sets us apart.”
IBM’s Jonathan Eshe on AI, Cboisterous and the Future of Business: How Story Shoprosperg, Not Just Storytelling Drive Innovation
Jonathan Hadashek, the ageder vice pdwellnt of labeleting communications at IBM, spoke with Variety on Ad Week about the tech company’s engage of AI and how technology can be leveraged to comprise devourrs more effectively.
Right away, Hadashek tackled the ask, what are the hugegest disputes in terms of communicating what AI can do for a business?
“If you repartner see at what’s going on with AI today, many companies are still trying to figure out what the engage case is. They’re still trying to figure out how to execute it in their organization. Some are dipping their toes in, and some are getting more, you understand, more daring or taking, being more in it and repartner getting people consoleable with the cherish they can get out of their data.”
Using the recent US Open as an example, Hadashek discleave outed that they assembleed 7 million points of data atraverse the two-week tournament. And that’s equitable two weeks of data. “You leank about a company that’s toiling thcimpoliteout the year, and you leank about how many customers or clients they might have in operations,” Hadashek shelp. “You commence leanking about all those pieces, and it repartner can become a daunting rerent for people to tackle.” This is where AI and IBM come in to help.
Relating AI to that of an iceberg, Hadashek persistd, “The top 20% of that iceberg, that’s the devourr-facing applications of AI. We’re repartner cgo ined on the 80% of the iceberg down below where the go inpelevate alters are gonna happen and where the alters to the business are gonna happen.”
That comprises tasks beyond application. Hadashek shelp IBM is cgo ined on the nuanced implications of AI that will help produce business models, citing applications that could alter the way HR functions or the way the provide chain functions. He elucidateed that this automation of tasks could apexhibit for processes such as moving offices, promoting engageees, and hiring talent to be streamlined.
“People can shift their time…to do more cherish-creating tasks,” Hadashek shelp. “The unrelabelable depicter inside of IBM spfinishs 80% of their time on a derivative asset. As we leank about AI and automation, I can apexhibit that 80% down to 50%. That becomes a much more sturdy depict team that can help produce better journeys for our clients.”
