The Global Chief Content Officer at Digitas, the agency that co-founded the NewFronts about a decade ago, says it’s more about brands having values that people can relate to.
“Sometimes it just means that they have to speak their own truth, they have to have values, because we think that audiences care about those values now and that those things will come into purchase decisions,” Donaton says in this interview with Beet.TV.
Donaton recalls the walkup to this year’s NewFronts and how many people naturally embraced the Digitas theme of The #Boycott NewFront.
“Every time we got on a prep call with somebody to get ready for the event, we didn’t even have to get out of our mouths what we wanted to talk about before they would basically say things to us that completely confirmed that we were on the right path.”
His takeaway is that “there’s clearly this moment in time right now and our aim was to capture it and it felt like we did.”
Aligning with causes and movement requires a smart, strategic approach because brands can be risk turning people off or, worse, sparking calls for a boycott of their products or services.
“We’ve seen some of this happen in the marketplace with brands that have taken a stand on more hot button issues. I think the point is, don’t court controversy for the sake of it.”
The right strategic approach means that brands must be prepared “and be ready for what might happen. Have the answers, have the strategy in place to stick by what you’re saying.”
It’s the job of agencies to help brands understand “what their why is,” Donaton adds. That “why” encompasses the role they play in peoples’ lives and the stories they can tell in a credible fashion.
“Then it’s really just about being true to yourself and speaking that truth. As long as brands don’t try to jump on something for the sake of jumping on it or doing something that’s not authentic, this is actually a no brainer.”
This video is part of Beet.TV’s coverage of the Digital Content NewFronts 2018. The series a co-presentation of Beet.TV and the IAB. Please see additional videos from the series on this page.
]]>They also announced partnerships with content creators Epic Digital and BuzzFeed. With the ‘BuzzFeed in Residence’ program, BuzzFeed staffers will work in the Digitas’ offices, learning analytics tools while they share their rapid creation resources. In their partnership with Epic Digital, Digitas will gain an exclusive first look at Epic Digital’s developing non-fiction content each month.
“We’re really in conversations with our brands to try to inspire them to get over the challenges they might have in making huge investments in digital video and basically committing to content as part their marketing strategies,” McCarus says.
For more information on the content rolled out during this year’s Digital Content NewFronts and on the new partnerships announced by Digitas at their NewFront, check out this New York Times article by Stuart Elliott.
]]>This will be the second year the NewFronts will be managed by the IAB. The showcase was first launched in 2008 by Digitas.
We spoke with Rothenberg this week at the IAB’s Annual Leadership Meeting.
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A report in the Japanese media says the launch is set for Tuesday.
We spoke with him earlier in the week at the AOL Digital NewFront event. He talks about the evolution of HuffPost Live with its new cable deal and plans to get the show on the Microsoft Xbox platform.
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For an overview on the new offerings, we spoke with Scott Ferris, GM of Microsoft’s TV and video advertising business group. We caught up with him on 10th Avenue outside the Marquee nightclub where Microsoft made its presentation.
More on today’s presentation reported by Todd Spangler at Variety and by Stuart Elliott at The New York Times.
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