Digitas NewFront

The Digitas NewFront is an annual marketing conference first held during Internet Week New York. Hosted by Digitas and its brand content entity, The Third Act, the event's stated purpose is to "bring together content creators, distributors, talent and brands to harness creative media opportunities made possible in the age of digital marketing". In 2009, it was broadcast via public webcast.^[1]

History

First launched in 2008, the event was titled "Digital Content NewFront". The event title was later shortened to "The NewFront" with the stated mission to "explore and help evolve the brand content and distribution landscape". The event showcased online video content companies like 60 Frames, MySpaceTV, MTV New Media, Generate, Next New Networks and Vuguru. Speakers and panelists included Michael Eisner, CEO of Tornate and Vuguru, former Disney CEO and Dmitry Shapiro, the founder of Veoh Networks.^[2]

Notable speakers and participants

2009

• Al Gore, former Vice President and co-founder of Current TV.^[3]
• Tom Green, actor and comedian, led a live version of his digital talk show, Tom Green Live. Guests included: Craig Brewer, director, $5 Cover; Paula Deen, Paula Deen Enterprises and star of Get Cookin' with Paula Deen; Milo Ventimiglia, actor, producer and founder of Divide Pictures; Faith Ford, actress and host of MSN's original web series, Mind Body Balance; and Kevin Nalty, blogger and YouTube star.
• Daisy Whitney, multimedia reporter (ABCNews.com and KNTV) and host of her own show New Media Minute, led a panel on measuring brand content programs ^[4]

2010

• Kevin Pollak, actor and host of Kevin Pollak's Chat Show led a live version of his popular digital talk show. Guests included: Lisa Kudrow, the star of Web Therapy; Teri Hatcher, co-creater of GetHatched.com; Ben Silverman, founder and CEO of Electus; and Ricky Van Veen, founder of CollegeHumor and Notional.^[5]

2011 participants

• An opening keynote with Philip J. Crowley,^[6] former assistant secretary for public affairs at the State Department and Amr Salama, an Egyptian filmmaker and blogger.^[7]
• Live content pitches from Isabella Rossellini,^[8] Demi Moore,^[9] Amanda de Cadenet, Tyra Banks,^[10] Zachary Quinto, Neal Dodson, Soleil Moon Frye,^[11][12] and more.
• A talk with Ashton Kutcher^[13] about his digital entertainment company, Katalyst Media.
• A panel discussion on brands as publishers with executives Beth Comstock (General Electric), Susan Popper (SAP), Susan Sobbott (American Express OPEN),^[14] Steven Rosenbaum, author of Curation Nation,^[15] and John Battelle, as the moderator.^[16]
• A panel discussion with Robert Kyncl (Google), Rio Caraeff (Vevo), ?uestlove, and Rich Lehrfeld (American Express) discussed the shifting of strategies to scale to larger engaging experiences for fans.^[17]
• A round table discussion on how today's "modern family" consumes media with Kevin Jonas, 12-year-old singer/actress Jenna Rose, 11-year-old chef Lizzie Marie and actors Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott, moderated by Jane Pratt.^[18]

2012

• Emcees: JB Smoove & Ali Wentworth
• Andrew Ross Sorkin, Author of Too Big To Fail
• A panel discussion about digital authenticity with stars of the social screen led by Piers Morgan with Kristin Chenoweth, Felicia Day and Michelle Phan^[19]
• A discussion with Chief Marketing Officers led by Adam Ostrow, Chief Strategy Officer for Mashable, with Christa Carone (CMO, Xerox), Michael Lazerow (Founder, Chairman, CEO, Buddy Media) and Diego Scotti (CMO, J Crew)^[20]
  • YouTube fashion stars Elle and Blair Fowler performed a live style haul
• Jonah Peretti (Founder & CEO, Buzzfeed) and Ron Faris (Head of Brand Marketing, Virgin Mobile) in a discussion about audience development
• Live content pitches from Heidi Klum, Anthony E. Zuiker, David van Eyssen
• Actress Rashida Jones launched her Twitter account live on-stage after a staged “Digital Intervention” by Bravo’s Andy Cohen, Mashable’s Pete Cashmore, moderated by Krista Smith (Vanity Fair)^[21]

2013

• Media theorist Doug Rushkoff, Author of Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now ^[22]
• Tina Brown, Mark-Hans Richer (CMO, Harley Davidson), and Jules Daly (President, RSA), in a storymaking discussion led by transmedia storyteller Alison Norrington of storycentralDIGITAL
• David Karp (Founder & CEO, Tumblr)
• Adam Bain (President, Global Revenue, Twitter) and Peter Vesterbacka (Rovio Entertainment, the creators behind the video game franchise Angry Birds), in conversation led by John McCarus (Digitas)
• Arianna Huffington^[23]
• Eric Hippeau (Partner, Lerer Ventures)
• A "Brands as Software" discussion between Richelle Parham (CMO, eBay), Bob Kupbens (VP, Marketing & Digital Commerce, Delta), moderated by Jason Spero (Global Head of Performance Media, Google)
• Blake Shaw (Data Scientist, Foursquare)
• Amy Kavanaugh (Chief Public Affairs Officer, Taco Bell) & Juliet Corsinita (VP, Media and Brand Partnerships, Taco Bell)
• Brian Wong, Founder of Kiip
• Steve Martin in a discussion with Joe Levy (Billboard)^[24]

References

1. The NewFronts 2009. thenewfront.com.
2. McCarthy, Caroline (June 5, 2009). "Who’s afraid of online video? Not Michael Eisner". CNET.
3. McCarthy, Caroline (June 3, 2009). "Al Gore wants to save advertising, too", CNET.
4. "The NewFronts 2009". digitalcontentnewfront.com.
5. "Digitas and The Third Act: Present Digital Content NewFront 2010". pitchengine.com.
6. "What Not to Do on Social Media". clickz.com.
7. "Egypte : le social média nous a rendu notre dignité" (in French), Petit Web, June 14, 2011.
8. "Isabella Rossellini Goes From Porno to Parenting". Tubefilter.com.
9. Oldenburg, Ann (June 20, 2011). "Demi Does New York; Kanye West and Mary-Kate Olsen?", USA Today, June 10, 2011
10. Griffith, Erin (June 9, 2011). "Tea Time With Tyra", AdWeek.
11. "Digitas, Kraft Dive in with Hersay" Bostinnovation.com.
12. "Life Images". Life Magazine online.
13. "Ashton Kutcher Urges Marketers to Disrupt". Scene.yahoo.com.
14. "Oublier le juridique pour entrer dans la conversation" (in French), Petit Web, June 14, 2011.
15. Griffith, Erin (June 9, 2011). "Brands Love Content When They Make It", AdWeek.
16. "Story-Telling: The New Way to Market". Scene.yahoo.com.
17. "Exploring the New Front Between Entertainment and Advertising". Onlinevideo.net. June 2011.
18. "Jane Pratt Hosts Modern Family Panel with Tori Spelling and Kevin Jonas". Saymedia.com. June 2011.
19. "My Week in Photos: Michelle Phan MichellePhan.com. April 2012.
20. "NewFronts Make Bids for Big Marketing Dollars" New York Times. April 2012.
21. "Tom Hanks, Anthony Zuiker, Microsoft Kinect at the Digitas NewFront" Adweek. April 2012.
22. “Put Down the Botox and Join Real Life” Direct Marketing News. May 2013.
23. “Digitas and Huff Post Attempt ‘Real-Time’ Native Ads” Ad Exchanger. May 2013.
24. “Digitas NewFront Extolls the Power of Now, Focuses on the Message” Streaming Media. May 2013.

Further reading

• Samardak, Kelly (June 4, 2009). “Just An Online Minute...You're Either Newfront Or You're Oldbehind and "Just An Online Minute... Green Beer And Faith Butter At The Newfronts". MediaPost.
• Reagan, Gillian (May 25, 2009). “The Observer’s Guide to Geekery at Internet Week New York” – The New York Observer.
• Lombardi, Gian (June 9, 2008). “Digitas’ NewFront Event in NYC”. Take 2 Video Blog.
• Shields, Mike (June 5, 2008). ” 'Digital Newfront' Weighs Web Video Gains, Goals”. Mediaweek.

External links

• The DigitasLBi NewFront official web site
• The NewFront on Facebook
• The Third Act on Twitter