Takeaway Trends from Ad Week New York 2023

Last week, I attended Advertising Week New York for the first time. As someone who has only been in the industry for two years, I’m not sure what I expected, but entering the show a few blocks from the Empire State building through a roped-off entrance certainly felt exciting (and possibly ego inflating). As I did my first lap of the new Penn District space, I found it a bit ironic that an event for marketers and brands was being held in an old retail mall. However, there was lots to see beyond programming, from Google’s McLaren Formula 1 race car, to TikTok’s pop-up content space where attendees could take part of the 'Tube Girl trend.' I learned a lot from the programming I attended. (Note to self for next time to bring snacks, water, and prepare to stand in lines.) 

Here are a few of my overall takeaways from the week:

1. Through the entirety of Advertising Week, one word stuck out more than any other: Authenticity. Brands, creators, agencies and even a professor took the stage to talk about building authentic connections with audiences. Why it is important, how to do it, and what channels can help. The takeaway? The only true way to get there is through co-creation: cultivating a space for storytelling, led by the people that know best with creators as true creative partners on a campaign.

As Laurie Lam, chief brand officer at E.L.F. Beauty said, “The order of importance when working with a creator: heart, purpose, brand, and then product.” The only true way to get authenticity is through gaining a thorough understanding of what makes your target audience click (no pun intended) and co-creation. Led by data, a brand needs to cultivate a space for storytelling for people that know best with creators as true creative partners on a campaign.

2. We also heard a lot about the importance of data to power creative and marketing strategy. According to Linda Harrison, vice president of data strategy for Acxiom, “Advertisers have a lot of data options, but not all of them are created equally. We think of data as the fuel for your campaign: It fuels everything, but certain fuels work better for different conditions. Everyone likes to talk about all the things that work well (from ‘who should I market to’ to ‘how should I optimise my campaign?’ to ‘how many channels should I use?’), but they rarely discuss the little, itty-gritty things that ruin it for you.”

In order to avoid the pitfalls common to digital marketers, it’s important not to be overly reliant on first party data, don’t go too narrow on audience segmentation and be sure to use basic data – such as life stage and location – to ensure that ads delivered to third-party audiences are relevant.

3. A day after WPP announced the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson into VML, Crispin Porter + Bogusky leadership took the stage to address why they are investing in building back an iconic industry brand, especially during a time when we’ve seen holding companies retire some of the hottest legacy shops. So what does it take? Crispin’s North America President Maggie Malek said: “to do really great work, you need passion.” Clients come to agencies through many different doors. The key to integrations goes beyond solely merging capabilities to solve business problems; you need complimentary cultures that bring passion and expertise to each project.

4. Finally, why are we all trying to be AI experts? There was no shortage of panels on AI this year, but it begs the question: are we asking the right questions when it comes to AI and how we can actually implement productively? Dan Gardner, executive chairman, Code and Theory said, “AI is to creativity what calculators were to math. It’s only going to make us better at our jobs, and in turn, better at serving consumers.”