In Conversation with Advertising Week

A peek into Advertising Week Europe 2023 and insights from the European digital industry.

In this edition of our Partner Profile series, we spoke with Advertising Week to take a closer look at the work they do and outtakes from this year’s Advertising Week Europe.

During the annual conference, our very own Managing Director of The Lovie Awards, Jacqueline Kavanagh, spoke with digital culture shapers in the panel Beyond: Currents Shaping Europe’s Internet Culture & Innovation.

Featuring creatives Namrata Sandhu, CEO & Founder of Vaayu, Ariel Wengroff, Global Marketing and Communications at Ledger, and Holly Fraser, Global EIC at WePresent, it was a spotlight on how their expertise has shaped a new European digital identity and ways we can harness this shift to foster a human-centric Internet.

Dive into Advertising Week’s insights below—from fostering the digital industry for more than 15 years to the impetus that drove this year’s theme, “Step Forward,” and more.

  • What role does Advertising Week play in supporting Europe’s advertising and creative industries?

    The founding ethos of Advertising Week back in New York in 2004 was to create a forum of idea sharing, learning, connection and celebration. Every edition of Advertising Week in now 6 markets aims to deliver on the same vision. With our Europe event in London, we inevitably spotlight much of the UK industry, but we work with businesses across EMEA and beyond to bring the brightest and best ideas to London each spring.

     

  • The theme of this year’s Advertising Week Europe is inspired by the political, social, and economic challenges the continent is facing. How do you hope the advertising industry can tackle these issues with their work?

    Step Forward—our theme for this year’s event—is a call to arms for everyone to be pragmatic, take ownership and action. As a platform for countless businesses, we are challenging everyone to do as they say, whether it’s in the areas of DE&I, sustainability or leadership, both in how they operate and engage with customers and consumers. And we, as Advertising Week, want to be equally accountable.

     

  • Similarly, what do you hope attendees, and the industry at large, walk away with from this year’s programme?

    After the post-pandemic, giddy rush of 2022, the past few months have been challenging across Europe and particularly in the UK. We hope that partners and delegates will walk away from this year’s event with a renewed sense of optimism and conviction, armed with new ideas, contacts and an appreciation of the brilliant industries in which we work.

     

  • What does your team see as the biggest growth opportunities for the advertising industry right now?

    There are many. But undeniably, the hottest topic this year is AI—and the opportunities as well as threats it presents for the advertising industry.

     

  • We’re asking everyone we speak to this question: How do you define the “European Internet,” and what does it mean to you?

    At first pass, European Internet seems almost an Oxymoron; it is the world wide web after all. However, the myriad unique cultural influences across Europe should be recognised and celebrated. Delighted that the Lovies are doing just that.