The 10 Best Quotes About Audio, Music and Experiences From Advertising Week 2017

This year’s Advertising Week broke new ground in a couple of areas, even though much of the event was the same as years prior. Attendees still had to scurry between 18+ venues scattered across New York City and often wait in long lines to get a seat. But those that could successfully navigate the “commute” likely earned themselves a front-row seat to the new themes and concepts that emerged this week.

For one, this year’s speaker lineup featured no short of seven sessions dedicated to discussing diversity in media--a topic many would argue was long overdue for the conference. We also heard a lot about data, but this time taking the slightly different perspective of how technology enables marketers to think more consumer-first.

Yet, we were most excited to witness a renewed interest in audio overall. Specifically, how audio, music and experiences are expected to play a central role in the future of marketing (and by future, we mean 2018 and beyond). NPR even hosted a 3.5-hour “summit” dedicated to the subject of audio’s renaissance via podcasting, further confirming that the format is here to stay for listeners and advertisers alike.

Below are the 10 best quotes we heard on these subjects. If you happened to hear some other great ones, we’d love to see them. Send us a tweet at @PandoraBrands.

“In the next couple of years, we’ll trust voice systems more than influencers and celebrities.” Rafi Mamalian, Global Director of Content & Influencer Marketing at Undertone, on the growing importance of voice-activation

“People will skip ads but they won’t skip experiences.” Melissa Barnes, Head of Global Brands at Twitter, on how to combat ad blocking

“When you look at Generation Z and Millennial behaviors, the implication of all this technology is that we’ve moved from a touch world to a voice world, where voice has become the new touch. It’s really bringing the sexy back to audio advertising.” Susan Panico, SVP Strategic Solutions at Pandora, on the implications of voice-enabled devices

“The fourth screen is audio. We’re seeing that start to evolve as a key strategic thought process for brands and agencies.” John Trimble, CRO at Pandora, on how brand’s need to rethink their audio strategy

“What you need to think about is how do you product-ize FOMO? How do you create a real-time experience that people can have together, something that’s impossible to miss.” Andrew Essex, CEO of Tribeca Enterprises, on how to blend technology and live events

“It’s like taking the ‘brand’ out of ‘branded content.’ If you can meet the need state of that consumer, you’ve achieved 70% of the battle.” Karina Montgomery, VP Strategic Solutions at Pandora, on brand creating experiential activations that mean something

“The best advertising strikes an emotional chord. The capability of reaching people has existed for some time, but it’s the advent of the computing power enabling AI and machine learning that enables us as marketers to deliver messaging that’s so super relevant it becomes personal for the consumer.” Bridget Davies, VP of Advertising at eBay North America, on the power of technology to enable deep consumer relationships for brands

“Because [smart speakers] are fun and easy to use, we now have social audio. We have people actually listening in groups, as families and friends. We haven’t had that in some time." Tom Webster, Vice President of Strategy at Edison Research, on how smart speakers are bringing more audio into our lives

“As brands, we should be focused on who’s the human on the other side of these devices. Music listening gives us so many signals that can lead to greater contextual relevancy for more marketers.” Susan Panico, SVP Strategic Solutions at Pandora, on humanizing advertising through music

“The podcast opportunity [for brands] is such that it’s a cleaner, less cluttered environment so there’s an opportunity for advertisers to capitalize on that.” Hal Trencher, VP of Sponsorships at New York Public Radio, on the advertiser opportunity in podcasting