Lively’s Panel Debate Highlights How Integrating Experiences with TV Advertising Is a Huge Opportunity for Brands

TV advertising is far from dead, but in an age of connected TV and digital channels and with people craving experiences in real-time, emotionally-driven, targeted content is essential for gaining cut-through with viewers. This is one of the findings from a panel discussion hosted by marketing agency Lively, global experts in hybrid, live and virtual events, part of its Future of Marketing event. 

The event, chaired by Jeremy King, CEO of Festival of Media, was the third in Lively’s ‘The Future of …’ series and the first such event to be held in front of a live audience. A select number of people were invited to attend in person, with hundreds more accessing the event online. 

Panel moderator Jeremy King, Festival of Media CEO said: “It’s very refreshing to see Lively not only create fantastic experiences for its clients, but also give back to the industry with a number of its own curated events bringing the global advertising and marketing community together to debate, discuss and preside over the issues dictating their daily working lives. Lively has always been a forward thinking agency determined to ensure events and experiences are not just marketing bolt-ons, but part of the fabric of global brands’ marketing strategies. This is showcased by the calbre of brands they bring to their events, which has included everyone from Virgin and Lego to Ericsson and Pinterest."

The first panel, which focused on the right way to leverage TV and whether TV advertising was dead, featured Linn Frost, marketing director at Virgin Red, Charlie Cooper Henniker, director of production at the Lego agency, Paul Gayfer, strategic planning partner at Goodstuff and Mark Mitchell, CIO and co-founder of Lively. 

Linn Frost, marketing director, Virgin Red and Lively panellist said: “Lively's panel series "The Future of..." not only enables hot topic discussion on the things that matter to the industry, but they also bring us together to share ideas and collaborate at a time when human connection has never been so importan”.

The debate concluded that TV’s ability to reach a mass audience and broadcast content at scale was undeniably attractive; however, the medium is fragmenting, and linear audiences are in decline. Brands need to consider the benefit of reaching smaller audiences and the impact of connected TV. The discussion highlighted the importance of experiences to establish an emotional connection, but also acknowledged the challenge in measuring the impact of experiences. 

The second panel session debated whether audiences are still engaged, and featured Visha Naul, director of business marketing at Pinterest, Emma Perkins, head of the Lego Agency, EMEA and Mike White, CEO and co-founder of Lively. Tracking data is vital but so too is bearing in mind that audiences are human beings and not just numbers.  

The third session featured a fireside chat on stage with Matthew Smith, VP, global marketing at Ericsson, who was joined by Bafta and Emmy-award winning producer Dr Aleks Krotoski, appearing on screen live from New York. The discussion centred on the future for B2B events, and how hybrid live marketing and technology are transforming the sector. 

The Future of Marketing took place on 7th October 2021 at White City and is the third in Lively’s The Future of series. The previous two events have focused on live music and virtual experiences. 

The exclusive hybrid event was live-streamed to the LiveFi platform, Lively’s hybrid event software. Virtual guests were able to access the 'main stage', the full event agenda and the speaker hub (where they could view speaker headshots, bios and view the speaker's relevant social media channels) from the central lobby. Guests participated in polls, commented on the live event chat bar, as well as searched, private messaged and met online with other attendees.