APC-NYC Panel: Where Technology & Production Meet

One of the biggest concerns today for brands is staying relevant. Brands are striving to keep up with the pace of technology and creatives in marketing and advertising. Maintaining this pace, and seeing what’s coming next, is on everyone’s mind. The end goal is capturing the attention of consumers and keeping them engaged with your products and services.

This week, the Advertising Production Club (APC-NYC) held a five person panel to discuss life in this evolving fast lane. Christy King, COO of Levels Beyond Inc, was the moderator of the discussion. The panel consisted of Mark Benussi, the Director of Technology and Operations at AKQA, Carolyn Johnson, the Brand Activation Lead from Google, Chris Searson, the VP Director of Operations at Digital Evolution, and Matt Myers, the CEO/Co-Founder of Tidal Labs. Each panel member represents different stages through the brand marketing and advertising experience.

The course of discussion was marked by developments in technology and how they affect brand stories, consumer engagement, and overall experience.  

Here are the key points from the conversation:

How do you understand new technology and advertising in marketing? Data.

Carolyn Johnson of Google focuses on measurable data and strives to figure out why that data matters.  This understanding is an important part of the marketing process. She called out several brands for their aggressive campaigns saying, “You can’t have 150% brand awareness.”

Is there a marriage between data and creativity?

Marketing showcases the importance of creativity though consumer reaction. Marketers and brands then use the data they collect to gauge their success.

Carolyn Johnson explained her creative process experience by declaring that “You have to have multiple messages for multiple parts of your audience.” She also finds that “To create great content, you have to create a lot of content.”

On video content: When asked about diving into a specific channel of video content, Johnson explained how Snapchat users “expect something authentic that relates to them,” which might be different than what users on YouTube crave. Data helps brands and marketers draw these conclusions.  

“The conversation with your brand online is already happening, so how can you tap into that?” – Carolyn Johnson, Google

Matt Myers jumped-in and agreed that “There is a change in expectations [in regard to social channel], but it doesn’t go all the way down to user-generated content.” In order to understand these differences in what is expected, we turn to the data.  

Matt also stated, “Tech tracking is creepy, but everyone under 30 knows they’re being tracked.” He explained that some people embrace targeted ads and others shudder away and find loopholes to escape them. The collected data helps brands figure out what their consumers want, how they react to this content, and on what to focus their advertising.

In terms of web content, is the traditional mega ad dead?

The panel cited the success of a tweet that went out during the Super Bowl XLVII blackout, which garnered tremendous success across social media platforms. Oreo was able to cleverly capitalize on the blackout and saw tremendous social media engagement. 

Power out? No problem. pic.twitter.com/dnQ7pOgC

— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013

Chris Searson agreed with the “importance of the great idea,” and that “There’s such a bombardment of content, [but] a need for great content.”

Matt Myers closed up the panel conversation with the following statement, to which all panel members shook their heads in agreement: “Everyone is a user now – whether a professional filmmaker or a 13 year-old-girl.”

Final Thoughts:

As technology is constantly changing, both in how content is created and consumed, marketers and advertisers are adapting. As they do so, they are able to use data to measure which efforts are most impactful.

It’s worth noting that such measurements are available immediately, calling for brands and marketers to move just as fast as consumers on social media. As such, brands are becoming ever more aware and looking to marketers and producers to collaborate together. Even as the relationship changes over time, it’s evident that the marriage between creativity and technology will continue to grow stronger.

Photos from the event at APC-NYC

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