Latest / The Marketing Brief / Vanessa and Brian Connect on how Entertainment Marketing has Changed in 2026 (S3 E3)
Transcript
- Brian: Hello and welcome back to the Marketing Brief podcast. I am your host, Brian Aquan, and this is the podcast where we talk about marketing and really anything around marketing. it's more fun to do that with a guest. So today I'm very excited to bring in an old colleague, an old friend, someone I've known in the business for a long time, Vanessa Gilmore. I knew you as Vanessa Krace, but now you're Vanessa Krace Gilmore. Vanessa Gilmore: Yes. I I still have to correct people sometimes. I'm like, no, we're the same person. It's wild. Brian: And we depended so much on last names when we were working Vanessa Gilmore: yeah. Brian: on Sony at right? You were crace. Vanessa Gilmore: Yep, exactly. I s I mean and I still I I always will be to some people and I love that just how others will be too. So yes. Brian: Yeah. Well, how would you like to introduce yourself to the listeners? Vanessa Gilmore: Yeah, so Vanessa Gilmore, formerly Vanessa Crace. yeah, Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: been in the media and marketing world agency and client side for about eighteen plus years at this point, which is crazy to Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: think about since you know I'm like twenty two. no. But well Brian: Yes. And you still look twenty two. Yes. Vanessa Gilmore: thank you. But but yeah, but you know, really have just been passionate about entertainment as well as You know, more recently working in the tech field or pretty much any industry where you can just really learn about consumers and tell a story and really the full gamut of marketing, whether it's you know who you are, what your brand is, how do we connect people, how do we showcase offerings and then really just like make sure that things are efficient and you're working cross-functionally in large organizations. So yeah, kind Brian: Yeah. Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: of run the whole gamut, like keep flip-flopping between client and agency just cause. That's the way the that's the way the world is going and it's also just fun to always kind of go back to the things you know and the people you know and just work with good people. Brian: Yeah. It also gives you a lot of great perspective when you go back and forth from marketing Vanessa Gilmore: Hundred percent. Brian: to agency. And of course, we work together at on Sony. And you Vanessa Gilmore: Yep. Brian: were just recently working at Initiative. So you said you felt like your career has actually come a little full circle now that you're back at the agency. how what was that like? Like how has the agency world changed? Like what have you kind of what have you seen happen there? Vanessa Gilmore: I mean, it's for starters, obviously, right? There's no longer like here's the traditional planning team and here's the digital planning team, right? It's all integrated planning. but I also feel like the more things change, the more they stay the same. Like it's still very much like your pods, you know, you still have your your planners, your associate directors, your directors. and yeah, and just how do you bring forth insights to clients and pitch programs and pitch plans, whether it's digital direct or programmatic or social or search and obviously, you know, a lot more dollars than it used to than way back in the day, go towards digital and, you know, your lower funnel tactics. But but definitely it's still the like, there's free food in the kitchen, like the rush to go get the food, you know, and and I feel like every agency has like the staples. Like I remember back in the day it was Jones on third at was like the one that you would always have. You know, it was California Chicken Cafe, most recently an initiative. but but yeah, but it's you know, it's it's fun. It's obviously changed because you're reserving desks and you're not necessarily required to go in five days a week, but Brian: Gotcha. Vanessa Gilmore: but you're still, you know, working with super intelligent, really, you know, industry leaders at the top and then people learning their career and figuring out what they want to do on on on the other side of it. So so it was fun. Brian: Yeah. So you feel like the culture is kind of preserved, like the culture is is similar to what you experienced before. Vanessa Gilmore: Yeah, it's definitely a change in the sense where you have to kind of versus I remember it would be like, we have another dinner tonight. my gosh. Where Brian: Ha ha. Vanessa Gilmore: now it's now it's like, no, let's make sure we plan something. Like let's go out of our way and be mindful that we're spending time together outside of the four walls of the office or outside of Zoom or Teams. but but definitely there's still that like let's sit around at or like Let's chat and talk ideas or just, you know, get to know each other more as we're like walking by, passing by in the office. So it's nice if that still exists. Brian: Yeah. That intentional time, I think, is something that's changed since the work from home movement, right? Where it's like you're not with Vanessa Gilmore: Definitely. Brian: people every day, all day, and then you're trying to get away from them. you're actually intentionally trying to make time to be Vanessa Gilmore: Yeah. Brian: with your team and and and get to know each other outside of work, right? Vanessa Gilmore: Exactly. It's like, okay, if we're gonna have a a lunch and learn, like let's make sure it's a day that everyone's in office or Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: let's all plan to be in office on XYZ Wednesday so that we can have that or that we can go do a happy hour or that we can, you know, celebrate someone's birthday or something. So it's definitely being more mindful and intentional with that versus just obviously going in every day and and obviously every agency has their own rules and standards, but definitely a lot more coordination to make sure you're actually seeing the whites the whites of the eyes, right? Is is Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: Of it of everyone. Yes. Brian: See the whites of their eyes. Nice. Well, I was gonna ask you about entertainment. You s you spent Vanessa Gilmore: Yeah. Brian: a career in entertainment. that's kind of where we met and worked together. Vanessa Gilmore: Yep. Brian: and then you've kind of followed that into some some different paths. are there any trends that you're seeing in entertainment right now from a consumer point of view that that, you know, maybe surprise you or maybe didn't surprise you? You saw it coming? Vanessa Gilmore: Yeah, I mean, I feel like the biggest thing in regard to entertainment is just I've sorry the budgets are the budgets, you know, you you're gonna have your sort of standard, your two and a half minute trailer, your spots, obviously, you know, but I feel like it's it's the authenticity of like there aren't necessarily the same thing as movie and there are the movie stars of today, but it's not necessarily how I remember back and be like, Okay, we have this movie with Will Smith and it is Will Smith, he must be featured in everything that is gonna be what we do and what we focus on. Whereas now it's because there's so many, you have to be bifurcated or even, you know, not siloed, but because people receive media now in such different silos, you have to really think about platform first of whether it's social, whether it's TV, Brian: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: even from the publicities aspect of, you know, making sure it's not just like, let's get on the Today show. It's we need to do hot ones. We need to have, you know, make sure we're getting on the podcast or the right places. And so like Speaking of Sony, like I think obviously Spider-Man Brand New Day did an incredible job with their most recent campaign of being, you know, being true to what they had, but also, you know, capitalizing on the World Cup, capitalizing on again, various trends, as well as knowing that they have some of like the hottest movie stars of right now that that that you Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: can really play up. So yeah, I feel like those are the biggest trends. And then just even the experiential side of things, right? Making something tangible, whether it was like the World Cup jerseys that they gave to, you know, the the Kate Verde goal goalie who captured everyone's heart during Brian: Mm-hmm. Vanessa Gilmore: the World Cup, or just even having pop-ups like like we've seen, you know, recently like Warner Brothers did the practical magic pop-up with Pinterest in LA that definitely generated some buzz. So it's like how Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: do you again, it's getting people back together again in Brian: Yes. Vanessa Gilmore: spaces and actually again being in person and having that collective experience. Cause Something in just in more recent career experiences I've had. You could give you can have the greatest technology, the greatest storyline, the greatest thing out there. But what people will always go back to is how they felt, right? How do they ex how do they feel when they Brian: Hmm. Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: left an experience? And if something did if they didn't like something, that's what's gonna be what they stick to. No matter how cool and wonderful everything was, they're gonna always go back to that collective experience. Brian: Hmm. That's interesting. Yeah. Very emotionally driven decisions in this economy right now. Vanessa Gilmore: Yes. Brian: I agree with you. So I think you know, you and I worked together maybe what, 15 years ago, and it was the star power Vanessa Gilmore: Mm-hmm. Brian: that really drove people into the movies, right? And that core movie-going audience at 18 to 34, I see two movies a month. They were making a decision on what movie to see each weekend versus like. What's gonna actually get me to the theater versus all these other entertainment choices I have, all of my at-home entertainment choices? And I think what we've seen recently, like with backrooms, you know, coming out of nowhere, is this behind Vanessa Gilmore: Mm-hmm. Brian: the scenes footage that gets people and consumers interested in the narrative of how the movie was made, even right? That's a way to like kind of pull people out. Did did were you seeing that in your career as well? Vanessa Gilmore: Definitely. You you have especially when you have exciting new filmmakers or just yeah, just anything where people can do a peek behind the curtain or even be like, I could do that, you know, we've got again like people under thirty making, you know, these giant movies and it's awesome. It's great that there's still that creativity that that exists and and just being able to, you know, market it themselves, but then, you know, be picked up by larger studios to that can actually help distribute and get them into theaters, but You know, it's it's also been interesting because even within like my career shifting into s working in streaming, Brian: Mm-hmm. Vanessa Gilmore: what's interesting was that and I d it's not necessarily the case today, but even back, you know, right after sort of we were started starting to come out of COVID, you had it became this like, okay, if it's if there was belief in it, it went to theatrical. If there was questions Brian: Right. Vanessa Gilmore: about it, it went to streaming. And that was kind of, you know, the unknown the the the The not so secret secret. And so it's e Brian: Right. Vanessa Gilmore: you know, and being the person who was marketing everything going to streaming, it's, you know, people don't want to participate. It's, it's, you know, they're not as excited. They feel like something's been kind of dumped. And so it's, it's like Brian: Mm-hmm. Vanessa Gilmore: on the flip side, now you've got people that start with YouTube, right? Like back rooms, Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: and you know, create this whole world. And that's what gets them picked up to then go the other way to push out to to theaters. And so it's just how do you think about it? And how do you, again, you know. look at it from the different lens of different generations of like what's motivating people, what's getting people out. It's not necessarily like like back rooms wasn't gonna be explosions and big, you know, big stunty things. But again, to your point, it's the narrative. It's Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: it it it's people are and then it's just that word of mouth that's, you know, the the virality of it, which I remember it was always like, well, how do we make this go viral and in so many meetings and conversations? And it's part of virality is You you know, you can start to feel things happening, but it's then just taking chances. Brian: Yeah. All these years later we still don't have a calculation for how does it go viral? Vanessa Gilmore: Exactly, exactly. You know, but just make it go viral. Brian: You said it before. You brought up authenticity, which has been one of my buzzwords for this year. And I think it also speaks to that authenticity of right, if I can Vanessa Gilmore: Mm-hmm. Brian: learn about how this movie was made, now I'm more invested in it from a standpoint of I I know I'm at least gonna get something out of it. I can follow that story from I know how it was built, I know its inception, and now let's see what the execution is. And I think it also intersects with another buzzword of mine, value for this year. Because that's how consumers are making decisions now. It's like, okay, I have I have this twenty dollars, right? And like how Vanessa Gilmore: Yeah. Brian: can I get the most entertainment out of this twenty dollars? Is it gonna be something that I'm taking a chance on? Or is it something that I've read into, I've heard about, I know a little bit about it, and now I wanna see the execution, right? Vanessa Gilmore: Exactly, exactly. And and is especially right, like the dollar is a dollar wherever you're spending Brian: Mm-hmm. Vanessa Gilmore: it. And so and obviously we know things are not cheap. And so it's how do you have to what's gonna again, what are you going to get the most value from your perspective and then come away again with that feeling of like that was worth my time and my money. Brian: Yeah, absolutely. what any predictions for what's gonna happen in the entertainment business? Any trends that you've seen that you think, well, this is gonna continue. This is something that that people have been really into. Vanessa Gilmore: I mean, I feel like especially now with obsession and backrooms, you you're definitely it's gonna be trying to find those not underground filmmakers, but like what are unique or different things that are being created, whether and you know, and and pushed out on platforms, whether it's YouTube or elsewhere. Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: You know, obviously there's you know, we still see blockbusters are still exist and are still a thing, but it's also about the star power and you know, to a certain of today's stars I should say. versus, you know, it'll be interesting to see how things like, you know, Digger is coming out, with obviously Brian: Mm-hmm. Vanessa Gilmore: Tom Cruise not necessarily looking like Tom Cruise. You've also Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: got, you know, you'll have Dune three, which will be massive at the end of the year. But then on the flip side, you've got, you know, Robert Pattinson and Lance Oppenheim's Primetime coming out this weekend, which might be a you know, not necessarily big three hundred million dollar movie, but will be something that people are are buzzy and and talking about. And it's just I I think it's just gonna be more of again, what are the things that less of the like this made two hundred million dollars opening weekend outside of those sort of one offs. and more of like what are people seeing? What's a unique story that needs to be told? Again, what's the behind the scenes where people can Brian: Yeah. Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: dig in more and learn more about it, as well as have like stars that they like that are maybe trying different things or people love, you know, Tom Holland and Zadea together. So whatever, you know. Whatever they're doing that that you know, people wanna wanna be part of. So it's Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: it's in it'll be interesting to see that. And then obviously all of the larger, you know, studio conversations happening as we speak right now with Warner Brothers and Paramount and and kind Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: of everything else that's happening. Brian: Yeah, consolidation definitely plays a factor. Well, Vanessa Gilmore: Yes. Brian: I've been asking all of my guests a question here in season three of what are you hopeful for? I think the world needs some hope right now. So we're concentrating on what what you're hopeful for. Is there anything you're hopeful for either in your professional life or your personal life? Vanessa Gilmore: hopeful, I I feel like the the generation like Gen Z or I guess Gen Alpha is what our kids are. they Brian: Mm-hmm. Vanessa Gilmore: want to do things in person again, like the fact that people are going to malls again. Like it's kind of what Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: what goes around comes around a little bit. And so I'm hopeful that that trend is only going to continue and people are going to want to continue to be in person and kind of back away from you know being keyboard warriors all the time. And and have more of that in person connection. And then, you know, I'm I'm hopeful that we continue to still, you know, that people still continue to see the value of marketing of like literally of the full funnel of like you need brand. You also need, you know, you need to tell people who you are and why you're important again and why you're worth their money and why you matter. And then Brian: Yeah. Vanessa Gilmore: get them into, you know, the specifics of of you know, pushing them down the funnel to making a purchase, whether it's a movie ticket or or a camera or, you know, or you know, a streaming subscription, what have you. Brian: I'm I'm with you on that hope as a fellow marketer. Vanessa Gilmore: Yes. Brian: yeah, I mean, consumers make emotional decisions, right? Every decision has emotion in it, and they need to be led there. And, you know, you can't do it by just flash. Here's here's here's a here's a sizzle, go buy Vanessa Gilmore: Exactly. Brian: our product. So doing the hard work of actually connecting on an emotional level with consumers, and as you said, giving them the why, you know, why is this purchase worth? Why why is why is this purchase worth my money in this economy, Vanessa Gilmore: Exactly. Brian: right? That's the hard work that that that we need to do. So I'm hopeful with you. Vanessa Gilmore: Exactly. Yes, yes, yes. Brian: Well, thank you so much for being a guest on the Marketing Vanessa Gilmore: Of course. Brian: Brief podcast, Vanessa. It was great to reconnect. Vanessa Gilmore: It's my pleasure, Brian. This has been wonderful. Brian: That's awesome. Well, thank you for being a guest to all the listeners out there. Stay curious.