Ad World ’21 Insights: The Importance of Knowing Your Audience

Recently, leaders from across our S4Capital family of companies were asked to share their knowledge at Ad World 2021, one of the largest global online events for digital marketers.

The event brought together over 50,000 of the world’s brightest minds in advertising to learn, share secrets, and connect and our team helped them explore a variety of ways that brands can better understand their audiences and act upon insights at speed.

• S4 founder and executive chairman Sir Martin Sorrell  spoke about the state of the advertising industry with an emphasis on the need for executing faster, better, and cheaper than ever before.
• James Donner, partner and head of media strategy at Decoded Advertising, made a case for placing economic concepts at the core of the media approach.
• Claudia Cameron, head of marketing and insights at IMA, revealed what makes TikTok users really tick (spoiler alert: storytelling is key).
• Brittany Blanchard, vice president and head of account services at MediaMonks, shared her methods for breaking reliance on ROAS (return on ad spend).
• And our very own Lanya Zambrano, co-founder and president of Firewood; Kamron Hack, senior director, global DE&I and culture; and Sam Haskin, SVP of client services and DE&I marketing lead spoke about why fully integrating wellness and DE&I into the workplace is important (and how to get there). 

While we all spoke on different topics, there was one throughline: To sustain consistent, healthy growth—whether with your customer base or employees—you need to understand the needs and desires of your audience. And then deliver on them.

For an overview of S4’s Ad World insights visit How S4 Came Together to Own the Stage at Ad World @MediaMonks.com. For a recap of the Firewood panel discussion on the importance of DE&I and wellness in the workplace visit Humans First: How to Build an Approach for the Future @Firewoodmarketing.com.