Ready to move your business forward? Here's what you missed at ADTHINK last week!

Last Wednesday, we heard from our wonderful moderator Joseph Jaffe, Co-Founder & CEO, Evol8tion, along with three impressive startups Enplug, Graphika and SLED Mobile who pitched their companies to our wonderful panel of industry experts. The panel included George Smith, Director, Global Beverages Group at PepsiCo; Lauren Fleischer, Global eCommerce Brand Manager, Mondelez International; Lynn Power, President, J. Walter Thompson New York; and Taylor Valentine, Chief Invention Officer, Horizon Media. These startups discussed the intersection of advertising and technology, examining social analytics, cyber-social geography, and the next phase of native advertising.

Thank you to our amazing moderator, panelists and startups who all took part in what was an exciting night of exchanging ideas, hearing from industry veterans and networking, and thank you to Redbooks and our wonderful ADTHINK venue at the Offices at J. Walter Thompson!

Missed ADTHINK last week? See the recap and key findings below!

When Creativity Meets Technology

The cornerstone of startup culture is creativity and innovation, and ADTHINK’s panel emphasized the importance of these traits when combined with technology. When most people think of big data and technology, creativity is not the first association that they make. But when defining creativity as productive originality, the ties between marketing and technology, data and creativity become more apparent.

“The actual definition of innovation is doing things differently, then achieving substantial and credible results,” said Moderator Joseph Jaffe, Co-Founder and CEO of Evol8tion. “You cannot be creative today without technology, and particularly technology combined with innovation.”

Startup/ Brand Collaboration

For huge brands, the freewheeling inventiveness of startup culture is more difficult to achieve. That’s why many brands are beginning to take a close look at how they can bring entrepreneurship into a large company.

Lauren Fleischer, Global eCommerce Brand Manager of Mondelez International, defines herself as an entrepreneur within her company. To her, that means actually launching startups within Mondelez.

“It’s been really exciting to have the hat of a brand owner and a client, and also the hat of the scrappy startup founder,” she said. “It’s also a great learning experience to view business problems from both sides.”

Social Engagement: Are you really measuring it?

Two startups addressed the metrics issue in advertising, particularly online advertising—how do advertisers know who is actually engaging with their ads? Nanxi Liu, CEO and Co-founder of Enplug, pitched a software that gives her clients crucial analytics to reaching target audiences. With an open platform and a large app market, the software creates a social environment that has seen a 50% increase in a number of social interactions. The panel appreciated the idea of creating more immersive experiences, where brands are finding ways to be inviting towards consumers rather than intrusive.

Startup SLED Mobile has developed a platform that seeks to stay ahead of the curve with native advertising and measuring impressions by the time spent with the ad. SLED has also has developed a new format for native ads, creating a platform where audiences consume the ad in the same way that they consume the content.

Mapping Your Audience: Influencers and Segmentation

Graphika, a social media-mapping platform, provided a solution for brands looking to pinpoint key influencers and segment audiences effectively. The platform allows brands to tie into the social-sphere, providing content specific to a micro-community. It gives social context to messaging, ensuring that advertisers are gaining the whole picture before pushing out content.

Check out Evol8tion’s ADTHINK recap, “3 Simple Rules For Startup Collaboration,” for more from ADTHINK!

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