The Return of Advertising Week NYC

In Beats + Bytes by Nue Agency

It’s the return of Advertising Week in New York City, so I’m in the mix for a few days. It’s great to be back at an in-person conference connecting with old friends and meeting new players in the space.

Last night, Mary J. Blige performed at the Apollo, which I missed because I was at the Brand Innovators dinner. Tonight, Anderson .Paak is performing at the Vessel in Hudson Yards, where the conference is taking place. The venue for the actual show is inside the old Neiman Marcus. Neimans was a proud launch partner of Hudson Yards just a few years ago, but now it’s completely gone; an eerie reminder of the changing times post-pandemic.

The conference itself is definitely not firing on all cylinders. There don’t seem to be any fresh, big name keynotes or a large brand presence. Lots of folks are enjoying the virtual lives they adopted over the past year and a half. For the 50-or-so people in the room per session, there are apparently 10,000 (!) that will stream the VOD over the next 30 days. I have some streaming passes still, so let me know if you want check out any sessions. I highly recommend this one.

Most excitement is around frontier industries like crypto, NFTs, The Metaverse, mobile gaming, and the future of music livestreaming. These are all areas where brands and marketers are trying to figure out the best ways to integrate. It’s exciting to see consensus about “what’s next” and to connect with other people who are building these new worlds. Brands will be a big part of Web3 and those that get in early will yield great attention when their campaigns connect with culture.

Impactful conversations are happening. Now is the time to collaborate and experiment as Web3 takes shape. The winners will win big!

It’s not the citywide Advertising Week extravaganza I’m used to, but it’s still New York City. After a couple weeks of the beautiful Miami heat, the crisp, fall air is cozy as can be. Hit me while I’m here.

                                                                              
      
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Also published on Medium.