Variety on Monday announced the first-ever Content Meets Commerce Summit hosted by Kinesso, bringing together thought leaders exploring the dynamic convergence of entertainment and commerce. The half-day event sparked a lively discussion on how cutting-edge product placement in digital content not only captures viewers’ attention, but actively drives their purchasing decisions.
The event began with a keynote address about rapidly evolving consumer viewing patterns. Busy Phillips is the host and co-executive producer of QVC+’s late-night talk show “Busy This Week,” alongside Stacey Tedesco, VP of Streaming at Qurate Retail. group. This was followed by the expert panel’s question: “Is it retail or commercial?” Learn the difference between the digital spending economy and the physical spending economy, and the specific strategies used to succeed in both.
As the days went by, the conversation deepened and we analyzed what the future of commerce might hold. Crystal Wallace, Executive Director of Data and Data at Kinessoech joined IPG’s Chief Commerce Strategy Officer Jeriad Zogby and Variety’s Senior TV Editor Brian Steinberg in a segment called “The Connected Commerce Revolution.” The day ended with a deep dive into Netflix and the business behind the hit show Emily in Paris. The series became a vessel for buyers and sellers, partnering with search engines like Google to introduce new product placement techniques. This makes it easier for Gen Z viewers to discover and purchase brands sold on the show.
For more information on each segment discussed at the Commerce Summit, please see the information below.
Keynote: The evolution of QVC and consumer viewing behavior
Busy Phillips, host and co-executive producer of QVC+’s late-night talk show “Busy This Week,” speaks with Stacey Tedesco, VP of Streaming at Qurate Retail Group. variety As Co-Editor-in-Chief, I explore QVC’s place in an evolving and increasingly digital world.
“Busy Tonight” started as a show on the E Network, then a podcast, and then a fledgling Christmas special on QVC. One of the things that made the show’s final home a perfect fit for Phillips was her idea of making everything viewers could see “shoppable.”
“They want to know what I’m wearing, where they can buy it. They want to know where they can find that pillow,” Phillips said. “This was an idea, but [producer Casey St. Orange] And I was thinking of other sources of revenue for E Network. But they didn’t have the ability to do that. So this partnership with QVC made a lot of sense for both of us. ”
Panel discussion: Is it retail or commerce?
Ashan Khan, Head of Agency Partnerships, Uber Advertising. Aaron Gallagher, Managing Director and Head of Sales, United Airlines Kinetic Media. Parvinder Dhaliwal, vice president of CVS Media Exchange, and Suzanne Sukopf, senior director of agency and off-platform partnerships at Instacart, spoke with Amy Owen, global chief growth officer at Kinesso, on “Retail? Or is it commercial?” We had a conversation about this. A panel discussion discussing the differences between the online and physical consumer economy.
Although the online commerce sector is booming with the rise of companies like Uber and Amazon, brick-and-mortar retailers remain a defining pillar of the consumer market. According to Dhaliwal, two reasons why brick-and-mortar retailers remain competitive are their “accessibility” and face-to-face interaction with customers.
“If you leave Penn Station or this particular area, you’re going to run into three different CVSs within three to four blocks,” Dhaliwal said. “This is not just about our 9,000 locations here in the city or elsewhere where there is a clear distinction between commercial and retail media. You can truly understand whether you’re buying something at a CVS, at a CVS outside of town, or somewhere across our locations.”
For Uber Advertising’s Khan, the scope of the online marketplace provides a wealth of data that allows him to place ads more accurately. Because Uber offers both a rideshare and food delivery service, Kahn said it has real-time information about “where people are going and what they’re buying,” which is extremely valuable to customers. It’s precious.
“We are the only company with a global platform that has a delivery component with Uber Eats and a mobility aspect with the Rider app,” Khan said. “We can help advertisers understand that and reach high-value audiences, whether it’s within the Rider app or ordering something on Uber Eats.”
Connected commerce revolution
Crystal Wallace, operations executive lead for data and technology at Kinesso, joins Jeriad Zoghby, chief commerce strategy officer at IPG, and Brian Steinberg, senior TV editor at IPG. variety, To predict the next big moves that will transform the commerce space.
As streaming becomes more interactive, will marketplaces follow suit? Absolutely, says Wallace. Using Netflix’s recent “Emily in Paris” name-checking shoppable Google ad as a good example, executives explain that the very nature of binge-watching opens the door to more interactive shopping. “I binge-watch movies all weekend and probably spend about $200 to $300 just on what I saw.”
That said, Wallace emphasizes that creative placements need to be relevant to the audience. “You still have to be relevant at the right time, in the right place, with the right signals,” she said.
“The media industry is being reshaped by these commerce players,” Zogby added. “Amazon has live TV, right? They have football and, as we all know, they’re about to get the NBA. They have streaming TV, they have podcasts, they have music. They have owns Twitch, the world’s largest game streaming platform. They own the IoT. NBCUniversal stores all of their products when you visit their website to shop, as well as content and advertising. Imagine they have their own warehouse where they make their own private label version, and they use delivery drivers to deliver it to their door. They have a doorbell that watches you unload, so you can come in and play the game Joystick on Twitch.”
“And you can return it. It’s the easiest return process and you’ll get your credit back as well,” Wallace said.
“We sometimes think of Amazon as the place to buy a phone charger because that’s how we grew as a brand. But it’s a reinvention. [itself] As an emerging media ecosystem,” Zogby continued. “If you look at what Walmart is doing when they’re looking for partners and Best Buy, what we’re seeing is this evolution, because they’re looking around and saying, ‘If they have what they have, If I don’t have it, who can I play with to compete on an equal footing?” We’re still in the early stages of this, but it’s shopping and basically rebuilding a new kind of media ecosystem around commerce. ”
“What I’m looking forward to is building more collaborations. We might not get there right away next year, it might take two or three years, but I think the integration will happen. I think so,” Wallace concluded. “There are a lot of long-tail players on both sides: buyers and sellers.”
More on Netflix: Balancing shoppable integrations and a ‘fan-first’ mentality
Magno Herran, vice president of global brand and marketing partnerships at Netflix, spoke. of variety Business Editor Todd SpangleAnd we discussed how the Netflix brand is expanding beyond its streaming service offerings. Herran detailed details about recent collaborations, including “Emily in Paris” with Google. This included innovative advertising solutions, shopping moments, and fan activations, all aimed at engaging Gen Z viewers.
Google Shopping wanted to launch a partnership with a fashion-centric series during back-to-school shopping. “This partnership was comprehensive in that it involved custom creative, including one-time runs, 15-second spots, and show sponsorship,” Herran said. “When you paused your ads, you could actually use Google Lens to shop for inspiration from Emily’s most popular looks.”
However, there was no product integration into the “Emily” series itself. “We like to say we’re ‘fan-first’ and creator-friendly on a brand level,” Herran said. “We’re always thinking about telling the right story in the best way. If we do an integration, it has to be very authentic, very thoughtful, and we force it into the brand. It has to be an addition to the experience, not a thing.”
The two also discussed the “set jet” idea experienced by Netflix’s former partner Expedia. This is when searches and bookings for a destination skyrocket after it is featured on a well-known TV show.
“what [Expedia] What we’re trying to do is understand how they behave,” Herran said. “If we see search traffic to a specific destination, how can we work together to develop creative and campaigns that will help us take action on that dream?”