The wrap-up report from Advertising Week highlights key trends such as the necessity for brands to engage with consumers on their terms, emphasizing customer-led interactions and inclusivity in advertising. Gen-Z is identified as a crucial demographic, influencing brand strategies by prioritizing honest communication about mental health and embracing interactive experiences akin to gaming. Additionally, the report discusses a shift towards collaboration between brands and consumers, promoting diverse storytelling, and the rising trend of solitude as a new luxury in consumer behavior.

1. Wrap Up Report

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Advertising Week: Key Trends
Meet customers on their level
Getting real about inclusion
The Gen-Z influence
From adverting to open worlds
Collaboration raises the bar
Wildcard Trend: Solitude is the new luxury
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3. Meet customers on their level
If you’ve seen Carat's recent B2Me work
you’ll know that 10 years ago 2/3rd of
consumer touch points were brand
driven, with advertising, brand websites
and salespeople in control of a brand’s
narrative. In direct comparison, today
2/3rd of consumer touch points are led by
customers and influencers with reviews
and blogs evaluating the brand.
During Advertising Week numerous brands
touched upon the shifting customer
expectation. The days of simply talking at
consumers are long gone, given the
explosion of immersive and interactive
ways people can experience a brand
across video, social, audio and gaming.
Advertisers need to think beyond
the narrative to more of an open world
solution. It has to be both convenient and
magical.
DTC brands such as Glossier have seen
that customer reviews have been their #1
conversion. Meet consumers on the
channels they reach out on. Don’t
respond to their tweets by asking them to
e-mail you. Instead, tweet back at them.
Engage them in the channels they are
engaging your brand on, collaborate with
them, and most importantly, make them
partners.
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Salesforce Stat, New Rules for a Consumer
Led World: Nick Brien CEO Americas, Dentsu
Driving Brand Love Through
Customer Experience, Jennie Weber
VP, Customer & User Experience, Best Buy

4. Getting real about inclusion
While we have made great strides in
talking representation in advertising, there
is still a long way to go in terms of action.
According to She Runs It and consulting
firm, Diversity Best Practice’s third annual
Inclusion Index and the second annual
#Inclusive100 benchmark, only 29% of
executive positions in Advertising, Media
and Tech companies are held by women,
down 30% from last year.
This isn’t just an issue in the Advertising
workplace, but reflected in the work the
industry is producing - most household
and baby ads are still targeted at women
and most car ads at men. LGBTQ+ and
people with disabilities are less than 2%
represented in ads. As we saw at SXSW
this year, accessibility in all things should
become an increasingly important focus
for advertisers.
Commitment takes bravery; it isn’t just
about having diversity but empowering
diversity to challenge and question the
status quo. It also means going beyond
Pride month as we see with big brands
such as Mastercard including preferred
pronouns on customers’ cards and Nike
thinking about race and inclusion beyond
Black History Month.
Cultural fluency starts with listening and it
starts with your employees. You can take
the #Inclusive100 test to anonymously find
out how your company measures up,
because what gets measured, gets done.
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Diageo Pride 2019
Mastercard introduced the “True Name”
card, which will allow card holders to
choose their preferred name to appear on
their credit and debit cards even if it does
not match their legal name.
Still a way to go as AWNY attendees are
upset with Pitbull’s performance undermining
equality conversations.

5. The Gen-Z influence
It’s official, Gen-Z is the hottest audience
that every brand is interested in
connecting with.
TikTok dominated the upper concourse of
the AWNY venue with a wall of devices
showing an array of content from the
newest kids on the social block. We’ve
seen Gen-Z flock to the platform as it
allows them to show up in the digital
world in an expressive and creative way,
a trend we’ll see brands emulate as they
continue to delve into the world of low-fi,
UGC and social-first content.
However, it’s not just how this generation
is showing up in media, but also what
they are open to talking about. With 1 in 5
children and teens struggling with mental
health, and being open to talk about it
with their communities, brands will need
to show their understanding and honesty
to win with GenZ and the coming
generation, GenAlpha.
With 4 talks touching on mental health
including one with actor Jesse Eisenberg
sharing his battle with separation anxiety,
we saw people getting honest and open
about very human topics.
So what can brands do? First make
places of employment safe to discuss
these human topics, to encourage
diverse and inclusive thinking around
messaging and respectful behavior.
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TikTok’s experience area at Advertising
Week, where they announced the elusive
usership figures were significant, “It’s not a
billion, but it’s not half that either,” TikTok
VP Blake Chandlee.
Oscar nominated actor and writer Jesse
Eisenberg was interviewed by Harold
Koplewicz, President of The Child Mind
Institute, a non-profit organization
focused on bringing awareness to child
mental health issues and providing
families with resources for treatment.

6. From advertising to open worlds
The influence of gaming upon the
advertising industry is becoming more
prevalent, as we continue to see
consumers gravitate toward interactive
experiences.
Gaming is influencing social, video and
event voice. The rise of smart speakers in
households is allowing for brands to build
new experiences and services that can
live in an audio only environment, such as
HBO’s recent audio game for Westworld.
Battle Royale games such as Fortnite are
allowing people, regardless of their
device, to enter into the same digital
experience and have the autonomy to
explore the world as they see fit.
The 4A’s hosted a panel discussing if
Game Design will influence the way
brands behave and advertise in the
future, and the answer was a resounding
‘yes.’ With the power of data, artificial
intelligence and an array of interactive,
relationship building platforms, brands will
need to start thinking about building
experiences that put their customer at the
heart of it, choosing the narrative and
path vs. what the brand wants to tell
them.
This can seem daunting for a brand, but
the best starting point is to the data
available, explore building solutions for
the top five queried topics and scale
through platforms. When thinking about
building brand UX, start incorporating
game designers into the conversation.
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HBO’s Westworld Experience: The Maze
The Game Changer, Fornite continues
to influence the advertising industry
in thinking about how to connect
with audiences.

7. Collaboration raises the bar
Transparency and trust continued to be
key topics, with more agencies and
brands agreeing that collaboration and
standardization is needed to fight fraud
and murky supply issues in programmatic.
It wasn’t just about advertising businesses
working together to create safer
environments and better accountability,
but also how brands can collaborate with
their consumers to create better products
and services.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s HITRECORD
production house has been working with
Zappos! to tell the human tales of their
customers. Collaborators not only see
their ideas and stories reflected in
advertising, but also get paid for their
contributions which can range from
creative on the Zappos site, to the design
of the delivery box. Diverse advertising
isn’t just about in the talent or the
copywriting, but actually asking people
about themselves and their stories rather
than brands interpreting them.
Customers should be actively engaged in
the tracking and data sharing in the
digital ecosystem. With GDPR and CCPA
continuing to trip up big social players,
brands who invite customers to
understand their interactions and
moreover help design their relationship
will see permissions and trust increase.
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HITRECORD, an open online community
for creative collaboration.
The Zappos! X HITRECORD collaboration
has seen an increased level of
engagement and inspiration with Zappos!
employees, leaning into the collaboration
with customers and creators.

8. Wildcard trend: solitude is the new luxury
With the constant bombardment of social
and togetherness, we hear a lot about
the importance of human connection.
What we aren’t hearing enough about is
how people are craving solitude, a time
to just think.
In the UK, dining solo has seen a 116%
increase. In Japan, consumers are renting
cars, not to drive but just to have a space
to be alone. There has even been a rise in
solo travel.
In the RARE sessions, young creatives
talked about how isolation inspires their
creativity, that being alone doesn’t equal
loneliness. As a culture we have been
bombarded with the idea that being busy
equals success, yet these rising talents,
reminded us that doing nothing is a thing.
Doing “nothing” is not only a thing, it is a
productive thing.
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Indian Airline Vistara has policies to ensure
single women don’t get the middle seat
on flights.
Restaurants in Japan and South Korea
have been catering for single dining
experiences.
Ichiran in Midtown Manhattan bringing
the solo dining experience to NYC.

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Sarah Stringer
SVP, Head of Innovation
Carat US
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Contact us
Carat.USMarketing@Carat.com
Danielle Hemsley
Director, Insights
Carat US