Brand Futures: New York brought connections and genuinely interesting thought leadership content – all with the backdrop of a summertime atmosphere. On Wednesday, June 12, we brought marketers and communicators from New York’s top brands together to discuss the state of our industries – and what’s next!
One guest offered this assessment of Brand Futures: New York:
“That was really interesting, I learned a lot. Usually these things are so surface level. I look forward to learning more from you.”
Bringing “The Big Apple’s” Best Together
While the atmosphere was exciting and the thought leadership was captivating, connecting with new peers was a major draw for the audience. Creating this community and facilitating these connections is one of our favorite components of our Brand Futures series!
We’re extremely proud to say that we had attendees from amazing brands like Amazon, Walmart, Cisco, L’Oréal, NAI Global, and many more!
Tiki Bar-Inspired Food, Drinks & Atmosphere
Summer was in full swing at Brand Futures: New York. The balmy summer weather was matched by the summer vibes of the Good Behavior Rooftop at the Made Hotel. There was plentiful greenery to complement the skyline view.
The food and drinks also added to the summer atmosphere. The staple dishes of gourmet sliders and charcuterie were favorites. Of course, the tiki bar drinks and frozen cocktails earned attention from the guests as well.
Meet the Thought Leadership Panel
Our panel was defined by a wide variety of backgrounds, job duties, and companies. However, their passion for – and insight around – marketing was clear.
Meet our panel:
Erin McGee – Head of Social Media Governance, SAP
Erin oversees tool management as well as guidelines and policies for social media operations at SAP. She has been working in social at SAP for over 12 years and has seen a number of evolutions, both internally and externally, in the social space.
Maria Mazzaro – Manager, Editorial Operations, Global Communications, The Estée Lauder Companies
Maria oversees strategy and governance for the employee digital workplace and corporate email and manages the content calendar across the internal and external channels. Outside her day-to-day role at ELC, she is also a freelance arts journalist, an adjunct professor of creative writing, and a singer of choral & liturgical music.
Allison Moore Perlgut – Sr. Manager Creative Design & Production, Nespresso
A passionate brand storyteller, Allison brings the Nespresso brand to their customers through content featuring George Clooney and Nespresso’s sustainability efforts. With experience working in both the brand and agency sides, Allison is motivated by developing the content people cannot resist sharing!
Katie Pocklington – Head of Enterprise, Opal
As the Head of Enterprise at Opal, Katie helps customers establish a consistent presence in the market. She started her career by shaping digital strategies for Nike Training and later found her true calling in brand marketing at Nike Women, where she fell in love with storytelling.
Panel Discussion Summary
The lively discussion went back and forth for nearly an hour, highlighting a ton of the hottest conversations of our field. We can’t recap every insight or piece of wisdom; however, we’re highlighting the standout moments:
- Writers need to be smart about using characters in their posts – they are still wasting so many characters before getting to the point.
- Content needs to start with adding value to the consumer for daily life.
- Paid ads are push messaging to new audiences – while organic content is pull messaging meant to attract those already in the brand’s orbit.
- Fostering a community (not necessarily just customers) that gets value from your brand and content is essential.
- AI content writing is still struggling to grasp brand identity – and that’s a real problem that limits it.
- AI could never be a CEO – it is lacking true vision and judgment.
- The best way to approach AI is to treat it like an intern on day one – make sure you check and double-check everything.
- Influencer marketing needs to become more genuine. If it does become more genuine, it can create a word of mouth effect.
- A world of ad-free social would hurt small businesses who rely on paid to break through. Luxury brands and established brands would still do very well with their established social presence.
- Brands need to be willing to say what doesn’t work for them – and leave platforms that don’t make sense for them.
Discover Opal in 2 Minutes
Opal is the marketing source of truth for brands like Target, Starbucks, SAP, Nespresso, The Estée Lauder Companies, and many more.
Opal combines big-picture strategy and individual pieces of content in a visual platform that delivers value for every layer of the organization.
If you want to dive in even deeper, request a demo to tour the platform with a product expert.