Entertainment <\/p>\n
\n\tOn Thursday, Variety\u2019s<\/em> Entertainment Marketing Summit, presented by Deloitte, brought together the top marketing executives across film, television, video gaming and fashion industries. The participants shared insights into their marketing strategies and operations at the event, held at Neuehouse in Hollywood.<\/p>\n \n\tThere were recurring themes throughout the all-day summit. Several panelists discussed the importance of bringing in existing fandoms, reaching out to younger, Gen Z consumers and the evolution of the relationships between creators and brands. <\/p>\n \n\tRead below for major takeaways from the panels. <\/p>\n \n\tDarren Abbott, chief brand officer for Hallmark, offered the argument that marketers should move away from placing a heavy emphasis on demographics when trying to reach an audience. \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing at Hallmark is trying to shift the conversation away from a demographic approach,\u201d Abbott said. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAll of us as marketers and brand leaders need to be thinking about that piece of it. Think about the psychographic profile, think about the people that for us, aspire to a very connected life, that want to put goodness back in the world, and that\u2019s universal, regardless of your age. And so I think all of us need to kind of move away from this sort of myopic view on demographics, and start thinking more about who these people really are and how to have an authentic connection,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n \n\tGayle Troberman, executive marketing advisor at iHeartMedia, spoke with moderator China Widener, vice chair and U.S. technology, media and telecommunications industry leader at Deloitte, about understanding today\u2019s consumers. <\/p>\n \n\tTroberman clarified one common misstep that marketers are taking. \u201cPart of the problem is we are targeting our way to oblivion. We are targeting our way to irrelevance, right? We need to talk to more people to sell more stuff, not just people who love Taylor Swift and this kind of shoe\u2026and are really into pop music, right? If Taylor Swift just targeted Swifties, she wouldn\u2019t be Taylor Swift and the Eras Tour wouldn\u2019t have done a billion dollars,\u201d Troberman said. <\/p>\n \n\tAllison Levin, president, advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, and Dorit Kemsley, reality star on \u201cThe Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,\u201d discussed the success of Bravoverse and engaging with fans through BravoCon. <\/p>\n \n\tLevin discussed the popularity of BravoCon, describing how for many fans \u201cBravoCon is actually our Super bowl.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cOne of the stats from the last BravoCon was that 80% of people said, that went to BravoCon, it was the best weekend of their lives, beating their literally, the day they got married and when they had their children,\u201d Levin said.<\/p>\n \n\tRELATED CONTENT: Issa Rae and Hoorae Team on \u2018Scrappy\u2019 Marketing Plan for Debut Film \u2018One of Them Days,\u2019 <\/a>a<\/a>nd If There Will Be a Sequel<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThat kind of fan support leads to a mix of brand partnerships. \u201cIt\u2019s not just fashion brands or beauty brands, which are there and have incredible impacts, but it\u2019s also State Farm and Wayfair, because these are people that are excited to interact with [the fans] in different ways,\u201d Levin added.<\/p>\n \n\tTwo executives from the company Havas Play, vice president of gaming Jarell Thompson and vice president and portfolio lead Angelique Hernandez, discussed the crucial impact that the video game creators are having in the media marketing sphere.<\/p>\n \n\tHernandez answered a question about the ways conditions have changed for gaming creators. <\/p>\n \n\tCreators \u201chave a lot of buying power,\u201d with the ability to get their followers to make purchases but also to exercise \u201ccontrol over their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThey don\u2019t necessarily have to have a brand partnership, right? They can make money on their own. There are all these platforms now that allow them to do that. You also have companies, whether they\u2019re brands or even social platforms, that turn to them because now, not only are they experts in what their audience likes to see and hear and talk about, they\u2019re also experts on the platform themselves, like creators know how to use Tiktok and Instagram,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n \n\tRELATED CONTENT: <\/strong>\u2018The Notebook\u2019 Author Nicholas Sparks Outlines His Rules for Writing Novels: \u2018What Are the Ages of the Characters Who Will Fall in Love?\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tThat power allows creators to be more selective about the brands they partner with, Hernandez said, which ultimately is a win-win for both creators and brands. \u201cYou really know that once you pick the creator and that creator picks you back, that\u2019s probably going to be the start of a beautiful relationship that we would want to continue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \n\tMarketing leaders from e.l.f. Beauty, J.Crew, Hulu, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Blizzard entertainment talked about the consumer base that\u2019s on everyone\u2019s mind: Gen Z. <\/p>\n \n\tMonica Austin, Blizzard Entertainment\u2019s chief marketing officer, said that ultimately, the key to understanding Gen Z and how to draw them in is to incorporate Gen Z voices into the company: \n\t\u201cWe don\u2019t need to, I don\u2019t think, hypothesize about what they\u2019re going to be. They need to help us in this room identify how to reach their generation and beyond. And so it\u2019s really on us to bring them in and not to try to overanalyze,\u201d Austin said.<\/p>\n \n\tJenn Lockhart, senior vice president, sales, west coast, at Teads, believes that in order for companies to figure out how to integrate AI into their daily workflow, top leadership needs to embrace AI. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI think the first place to adopt it is with the leaders as well, because I do think we have to demystify it a little bit,\u201d Lockhart said.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019m like, I need to adopt it in my every day, and I need a sticky note that tells me to adopt this in certain ways that help me stick to the strategy and find more efficiency, and then I can bring those to the team. So I do think it starts with us,\u201d Lockhart added.<\/p>\n \n\tSara Pollack, Pinterest\u2019s global head of consumer marketing, shared a recent example of how Pinterest has tapped into fandoms and created opportunities for them to engage in their passions. At this year\u2019s Coachella, Pinterest partnered with the K-Pop group ENHYPEN. The group created a Pinterest board full of denim aesthetics.<\/p>\n \n\tRELATED CONTENT: <\/strong>Marketing Chiefs Say Film and TV Biz Will Hang Tough Amid Recession Fears: \u2018We Are the Affordable Pastime\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWithin hours of that board being live, they performed at Coachella, and the entire audience, it was a massive audience for them, was wearing denim. Everybody had literally gone home, back to their hotels, wherever they were, changed into denim because they had sort of picked up on the signal,\u201d Pollack said. <\/p>\n \n\tJo Fox, senior vice president of marketing at ESPN, discussed ways that ESPN is engaging younger audiences given how their attention is spread across various forms of media. One method is employing a \u201cmusic strategy\u201d and partnering with artists like Travis Scott.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s not just about talking to them about sport. It\u2019s about culture. What they\u2019re interested in as sports, entertainment, culture becomes even more intersected,\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n \n\tJoe Whitmore, executive vice president of global marketing at Sony Pictures Entertainment, discussed rolling out franchise installments and working to keep both existing fans interested while bringing in new fans.<\/p>\n \n\tHe spoke about the upcoming film, \u201c28 Years Later,\u201d the third in the zombie apocalypse trilogy that began with \u201c28 Days Later\u201d in 2002. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYou have this older, activated fan group that really love it, and then this whole new audience that will be fans, if you can just introduce them to the property in the right way,\u201d Whitmore said. <\/p>\n \n\tWhitmore said the trailer was purposefully constructed to make sure fans didn\u2019t feel that the original property was \u201cruined\u201d but also ensuring that it didn\u2019t reveal too much of the story.<\/p>\n \n\tTo introduce the franchise to new fans, \u201cwe did a feature in Empire Magazine,\u201d Whitmore added.<\/p>\n\n\t\tThe Right Stuff \u2013 Impact Marketing Roundtable\t<\/h4>\n
\n\t\tBreaking Through to the New American Consumer\t<\/h4>\n
\n\t\tThe Business of Bravo: How Brands Tap into the Bravoverse\t<\/h4>\n
\n\t\tFrom Players to Creators: How Gamers Are Shaping the Creator Economy\t<\/h4>\n
\n\t\tGen Z Levels Up \u2013 Today\u2019s Power Consumer Group\t<\/h4>\n
\u201cWe have to bring them in the room. They are going to shape our brands. They\u2019re going to shape our strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\tEmbracing AI for Marketing Success\t<\/h4>\n
\n\t\tMaster Class in World-Building \u2013 The Force of the Entertainment Franchise\t<\/h4>\n
\n\t\tUnderstanding the Power of Sports Fandom\t<\/h4>\n
\n\t\tThe Anatomy of a Fan Favorite Campaign\t<\/h4>\n