Master Class in World-Building - The Force of the Entertainment Franchise - Full Panel
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00:00I'm just going to go quickly through my fellow panelists here.
00:04Josh Silverman from Mattel.
00:07They'll explain more about their roles in a minute.
00:10David O'Connor from NBC Universal Studio Group.
00:14Sarah, who brought his fan club with him.
00:17Sarah Pollack.
00:20We've got to do this all over again.
00:22Yeah, let me go back to Josh.
00:25There we go.
00:27David O'Connor.
00:30Sarah Pollack.
00:33Sarah, you win.
00:35Marion Coltai-Levine from Agbo.
00:40So this session is largely about franchise building.
00:43And so I wanted to give a chance to each of our panelists to talk about their role in identifying areas of growth and opportunities in the current climate that we're in.
00:53This is a marketing endeavor.
00:55So let me give it to Josh.
00:57Josh, can you explain your role and how it interacts with franchises?
01:01Josh Silverman.
01:01Yeah.
01:02Well, thank you.
01:03It's good to see you.
01:04I'm chief franchise officer at Mattel, which essentially means I oversee our non-toy businesses.
01:09So everything from consumer products and publishing, music and audio, live experiences, location-based entertainment, digital games, digital experiences, and television.
01:19And so as we think about through the lens of franchise at Mattel, right, we are a proud toy company.
01:24But we continue to evolve.
01:26We continue to expand and become a multidisciplinary entertainment company.
01:31And our teams oversee that aspect of the journey.
01:35David?
01:36David.
01:37Oh, great.
01:37So hi, everyone.
01:38I oversee franchise management, brand marketing, and partnerships for NBCUniversal.
01:44In my role, my job is really ultimately to prioritize our film slates, our IP, or even our talent, and with the objective ultimately to build global franchises and brands for the company.
01:58Mary Ann?
02:02I'm Mary Ann Koltai-Levine, and I am the CMO at Agbo, which is Anthony and Joe Russo's independent studio with partners with Donald Mustard and also Chris Bearden and Angela Russo-Ottott.
02:19And my job is to really work with the creatives as they develop and bring new franchises to the marketplace.
02:29We work mostly with partners on our distribution, whether it's, you know, Mattel or Universal or Netflix or Amazon.
02:37And so we are a very collaborative company and have the opportunity to work with sort of everybody in the space.
02:45Sarah?
02:46Hi, I'm Sarah Pollack.
02:48I'm the VP of Consumer Marketing at Pinterest.
02:51A little bit different, I think, than the rest of the panel.
02:55But my job is basically to grow usage and brand love for Pinterest.
03:02And that is across our product marketing efforts, our brand marketing, our social media presence, our brand partnerships.
03:09And from a franchise perspective, I think, you know, hopefully what I can share a little bit about today is just sort of how we as a brand, how my team approaches sort of world building and fan engagement where Pinterest is actually the IP.
03:25But also sort of offer a perspective on Pinterest as a platform where fans are extremely leaned in and, you know, really celebrating whether it's musical artists, movies, actors that they love.
03:42And what that sort of fandom looks like on our platform.
03:46Thanks.
03:47I feel like this is a really diverse panel from a perspective of content and creative.
03:52And one of the things that, you know, we're going to talk a little bit about is content.
03:57One of the pieces of research that Deloitte has found is that because of the saturation of content, it becomes much more interesting and much more engaging when you include things like building a franchise, merchandising, the way you distribute different content pieces and the ancillary product.
04:15So I'll start with David, you've established sort of a way or a mechanism of launching both existing franchises, but also IP that is brand new and fresh.
04:32Can you talk about different ways of, you know, building that input mechanism and how you make those decisions on content?
04:39Yeah, I think it kind of depends on the life cycle, but ultimately, you know, you're listening to Consumer Insights, but certainly your fans and the fandom.
04:50You know, I'll just give you an example.
04:52Back in 2015, we brought back Jurassic World, you know, a big franchise from the 90s.
04:59We had huge success at the box office globally.
05:02And I actually think it took a lot of people, a lot of our partners by surprise.
05:05And we really wanted to understand just how potent that property was.
05:10So we did this big global study and we found that this property, this franchise was as powerful as any of them out there.
05:19And in fact, we were truly four quadrant.
05:22We were truly global.
05:23We had both male and female appeal, but our fans wanted more.
05:27And as we were starting to think about the next film, we did this big global study and we learned that we were underserving our fandom.
05:36They talked about sort of newer entry points and talked about an animated series.
05:41At the time, we were working with a different partner than Mattel.
05:45Good decision.
05:46We hadn't really been servicing great innovative products.
05:53And then our theme parks, they wanted more attractions and rides based on this new series.
05:57And so this resulted in a 10-year plan.
06:01And we worked with our parks to create new rides, attractions, lands all over the world.
06:06We actually greenlit two animated series on Netflix that was hugely popular, Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous and Chaos Theory.
06:13And then we started to work with Mattel and created this incredible innovative toy line then.
06:20And you guys have been partners ever since.
06:22So it's just a good example of not only listening and doing consumer insights, but it's listening to your fans and then making sure that you are servicing those demands.
06:32And since you brought Josh into it, I'll ask him, what does that great studio partnership look like?
06:37And how did that get engaged?
06:39And how do you think about that as it relates to the franchise aspect?
06:43Yeah.
06:44You know, look, this is sort of a core question, right?
06:47How do you sort of relaunch franchises?
06:48And I think, you know, my perspective is there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
06:53You really need to think about developing bespoke, truly sort of authentic to each of the brands, right?
06:59Each of the sort of the pieces of IP and ensuring that you're delivering those authentic, high-quality experiences to your fans that extend the emotional connection that they have to that particular piece of property.
07:09If you're doing that, right, like all the good things will certainly follow.
07:12We leverage insights.
07:13We leverage research.
07:14We really sort of think about our fan.
07:15We don't think about consumers.
07:16We think about fans because it expands our aperture of how do we sort of develop ways to, you mentioned it, develop, you know, worlds.
07:23How do we sort of create an interconnected ecosystem truly on a global basis that allows our fans, whether it's a T-shirt or a toy, whether it's a live or a digital experience, whether it's a film or a piece of content on YouTube, right?
07:35That interconnected ecosystem, that multi-platform approach, the criticality of being where your audience is now more than ever is something that you have to really focus on.
07:45As far as working with, you know, partners as we do with Universal and some others, it really comes down to strong collaboration, right?
07:53Shared strategies, alignment on our sort of core focus and targets, and making sure that we deliver on our toy side, you know, again, innovative and inventive products that can both within the film moment as well as post-film, again, extend that story.
08:08And since you brought Marianne into it, I'll ask her, when you think about marketing and working with people like David or Josh or other of your clients, how does marketing engage and what kind of franchise building do you think that marketing would proliferate?
08:26Well, I think in what both David and Josh said is these are very long process.
08:32And I think for us, coming from the creative standpoint, that we have a very thoughtful academic discussion creatively about what this world could be.
08:44And we start in the, you know, from the very beginning, and marketing is able, I'm able to have a seat at the table right from the beginning.
08:53And I think what that allows is a very organic, authentic way for us to tell these stories and these worlds that become, that they create.
09:01It's different when you do something off a marvel, right?
09:05Because there's a lot of source material.
09:07We're doing a lot of things that are original.
09:10And as a result of it, you need to build these worlds.
09:13And I think what Josh said is we're absolutely looking at it as a 360 approach.
09:19We're looking at it from where the content is, you know, on every size screen, in every form,
09:26and that, and in every experience, because I think our global audience does want it where they want it, how they want it, and they want, you know, pretty fast.
09:38And so that's part, and so you need to do the work very early on to build those worlds so that you can execute them.
09:45And I'll just add, I mean, marketing is essential to it.
09:49I mean, it's that awareness building, that affinity, but ultimately, you know, when you're doing it right,
09:55you're creating those combustible moments that really engage that fanship.
09:59And ultimately, you can be part of culture or be that cultural imperative.
10:04And we really saw that with Wicked, and it was about, you know, working with partners like yourself to really super serve.
10:11And really listening to those fans, what were they engaging on, and then making sure that we were feeding that as we led up to the film release.
10:19And David, just on that note, your Jurassic World example before, there was a specific example that we talked about before
10:28that really kind of drove up some of the branding.
10:32Can you speak a little bit about, I'm talking about the T-Rex mark.
10:35Yeah, I think, again, when we did that research back in 2015, we learned that the T-Rex mark really meant something to fans all around the world.
10:45It was actually second in terms of, to the VAT signal, in terms of affinity.
10:50And so we decided, you know, as a strategy going forward, that that had to be everywhere, on our product, on our marketing collateral, in our theme parks.
11:00And it was really important, because at the time, you know, generic dinosaurs were actually outselling Jurassic dinosaurs at retail at 2015.
11:09So by having that mark, it really signifies that this is a Jurassic product or a Jurassic experience,
11:16which is sort of that authenticity and quality that you know you're going to get.
11:21And then, like I said, working with partners like Mattel and all the retailers,
11:25we no longer have that problem where generic's outselling us.
11:28But it's a part of, like I said, every part of our branded ecosystem uses that mark.
11:35And Sarah, this is a good segue into your experiential sort of fandom approach to Pinterest.
11:43Creative economy is what it is, and it's going to be the future,
11:47based on what you probably have already seen and what's going on in the industry.
11:52Talk a little bit about Pinterest and about how you engage in the fandom and the branding and the franchise concept.
11:58Sure.
11:59So I think, you know, the way that when I was growing up, or many of us were growing up,
12:04we probably had, you know, posters all over our walls of what we were into.
12:08That very much happens on Pinterest now.
12:12And I think to the extent that fandom is about sort of your identity, that's one sort of shape of fandom.
12:18And I think Pinterest is a platform where people really do come to sort of figure out their identity,
12:24express their identity, and who they sort of love is a big part of that.
12:31And so, you know, whether it's like going back to Wicked, you know, people who are either long-time Wicked fans,
12:41Ariana Grande fans, Cynthia Erivo fans, there are thousands of boards where fans for years,
12:47because Pinterest, too, is a very long-term platform.
12:50It's not just sort of a viral moment, but it's a place people come back to year after year,
12:54and they've been building these boards for years around their fandom.
12:58And then when there's sort of a moment in time, that combustible moment in time,
13:03they're coming to figure out what they're going to wear to the Wicked premiere.
13:06They're coming and looking for Wicked-inspired cocktails to serve at their, you know, Wicked viewing party.
13:14The list goes on and on.
13:15And so, you know, I think there's just so much opportunity to tap into that very organic,
13:21very leaned-in kind of fan base.
13:24To your point on experiential, I think I'll just say, you know,
13:27I think what Pinterest shares with sort of a franchise approach to marketing
13:31is a real ability to show up experientially.
13:36I think, you know, much like sort of a franchise, I think the details matter so much, right?
13:41Fans love the details, the Easter eggs, the little things that they get to see.
13:45And I think that's very true of an aesthetic platform like Pinterest, too.
13:49It's very much about the details.
13:51And so, you know, we've found we have, you know, over 500 million monthly active users now,
13:57over 40% of them Gen Z, Gen Z love experiential marketing.
14:01They love the details.
14:02They get delighted in that.
14:04And so, you know, we ourselves do a ton of experiential marketing at this point,
14:08you know, sort of scale digitally.
14:10But those moments, you know, we were just at Coachella a couple of weeks ago
14:13to really, you know, allow fans to sort of live in their Pinterest boards,
14:20to really immerse themselves in that world that they have sort of created online
14:25becomes this world offline for them to engage with.
14:28And that's worked really well for us.
14:30And I think that's something that works really well when marketing a franchise as well.
14:36Josh, I'll just ask you a question based on that.
14:38The ability to monetize older IP, right?
14:42The Barbie example we were talking about backstage comes to mind.
14:46She's 66 years young.
14:47She's not older.
14:48I just said existing IP.
14:51You said, yeah.
14:53We recently, you came out with the LeBron James Barbie Ken doll, forgive me.
15:01How do you think about, how do you make those decisions on bringing back,
15:06we'll call it legacy IP?
15:09And what's the decision-making process look like for that?
15:12Yeah, I think, you know, at Mattel, we really do have,
15:17we started in a garage.
15:18Eight years ago.
15:20And we maintain this garage sort of entrepreneurial spirit.
15:24We want to challenge convention.
15:25We want to break frames, right?
15:27We want to be progressive, front-footed, ride the wave.
15:31We want to be very thoughtful and maintain the integrity of our IP.
15:36And we have very clear brand parameters and everything you would expect.
15:39But we do recognize that consumers today, you were mentioning, they want personalized experiences.
15:45They want to be surprised and delighted.
15:48And so as we think about sort of in the case of Barbie and LeBron, Ken dolly,
15:53who's our first Ken-bassador with certainly more to come, right?
15:58That took over news cycles, right?
16:00It was pop culture is in the zeitgeist.
16:03And so, you know, that's not necessarily the aim.
16:06We want to have great, high-quality, authentic, you know, products and experiences, as I mentioned before.
16:11But we certainly want to sort of challenge ourselves and make sure that we are looking around corners
16:14and developing those right sort of approaches.
16:18I think when it comes to mining our portfolio, we have an incredible portfolio of brands and franchises, characters, stories.
16:25And we can, you know, of course, you know Barbie, you know Hot Wheels.
16:27But as we sort of continue to mine the portfolio, there's properties that, like Barney, which we just relaunched last year,
16:33and we had a very clear sort of ignition sequence that we put into place.
16:37We wanted to first start with adults, right?
16:39Pop culture, and we did hoodies and a bunch of streetwear partnerships.
16:42We then ultimately had our animated show hit at the back half of last year, and, of course, then the toy line and everything else, right?
16:48So as we mine the portfolio, we think about the audience and we think about what is a brand deposit
16:53and how do we sort of bring this forward in a thoughtful way.
16:56But, again, it's always bespoke.
16:58It's not top-down.
16:59It has to be authentic.
17:01And we want to ensure that in the case of Barbie or Barney,
17:05that the consumers and our fans really sort of have that level of emotional connection to the products.
17:12Yeah, and, Marianne, I'll turn to you based on audience.
17:16We're talking about engagement and fandom.
17:18There's an element of marketing that is about attribution and incrementality, obviously, and lift.
17:24As you work in partnership with these partners, how do you show, A, the advantage of doing it?
17:32Because you have to do a synchronous marketing plan.
17:34How do you show the advantages, and, you know, from an audience insight perspective,
17:39what are you really keying in on as it relates to franchises?
17:42So I think for the audiences, we're keenly aware of them.
17:45And when we work in partnership, because we are on the creative side,
17:50it allows us to have a unique and distinctive opportunity to show audiences
17:55that you would not necessarily get that kind of viewpoint.
17:59And so we look at this from the very beginning,
18:02and I think why the partners are enthusiastic to partner with us
18:06because of, number one, the access.
18:10You know, we're creating it.
18:12It gives you an unusual opportunity for access.
18:15We're extremely collaborative, and I think our fan base is aware of that.
18:21And we're also very much globally oriented.
18:25So when you look at all of our projects throughout the entire Agbo slate,
18:30you'll see we have a lot of regional productions.
18:34We did a film in Arabic.
18:36We've done a film in Italian.
18:38Extraction one was actually very little in English.
18:42It was mostly in Hindi.
18:44And so we're very aware, and so we try, we make a very concerted effort
18:50to be respectful and aware of these regional fan bases
18:54and offer a look that you wouldn't have normally.
18:58Social is an incredibly important part of this,
19:01and also then the brands are incredibly important
19:04because as we build things,
19:05there become opportunities from a consumer product standpoint
19:08that may be authentic to the storytelling,
19:11and it's worthwhile to have those conversations.
19:13And social is clearly incredibly important
19:18for cultural discussions around the world.
19:21I'll just say I think your company does such a great job.
19:25You're so disciplined, and you have so much intent
19:27as you think about your content and your IP.
19:30You really do pay attention to what the fans are looking for and asking,
19:35and so it's always refreshing on the studio side
19:38to have a partner like that.
19:40Very thoughtful process that you guys have.
19:42So that's our goal.
19:45So pulling on that thread, Sarah,
19:48Pinterest plays a very unique role
19:50in anticipating fandom and engagement.
19:56What's a recent example you could give
19:58that you kind of saw that and kind of played that through
20:01from instantiation of a campaign,
20:04but it's an important time at the early onset of a franchise?
20:09I mean, maybe I'll actually go to Barbie, I think.
20:13Why not?
20:14Let's do it.
20:14Yeah, yeah.
20:15And, you know, I think probably two plus years
20:19before the film came out, we were already tracking just a ton of enthusiasm
20:26and love for Barbie, Barbie boards, and I think, you know,
20:31by the time the film was getting ready to launch, you all, you know, worked with our sales team
20:35and did a lot of really interesting things, including this sort of 3D Barbie dream house
20:40where fans could actually sort of preview the dream house, and in different rooms it linked to sort of the Spotify playlist
20:48and the trailer, et cetera.
20:50And so, you know, I think Pinterest also just being a platform where home decor is such a huge category.
20:58I think this sort of like really interesting merger of fandom for Barbie, the film coming out,
21:06a platform that is already sort of established in this category,
21:10and all of that sort of came together to create this really engaging experience for fans.
21:17I think even, you know, I'm not as plugged in on the Hollywood front here,
21:20so I don't know what the status of Polly Pocket is,
21:22but I was just looking at Polly Pocket boards.
21:24We can talk later.
21:25Okay, let's do it on Pinterest, and, you know, there are boards.
21:30There was a Polly Pocket board I was looking at that had over 30,000 pins on one board.
21:34This is a fan who over years has been pinning weekly,
21:39and simultaneously actually we do this trend prediction program at the end of every year
21:45called Pinterest Predicts where we predict what the biggest trends for the next year are going to be,
21:49and we share those trends with brands, and brands do a lot,
21:52whether it's around even sort of customizing product lines around trends that we're predicting
21:56or building campaigns based on a certain trend,
21:59but we had a trend last year called Dolled Up,
22:02which is very much about sort of the charms you're seeing on bags everywhere,
22:05barrettes, back in hair, and it ties quite a bit with sort of the Polly Pocket aesthetic,
22:11and so let's talk because I think there's something there.
22:15Yeah, we're making stuff happen.
22:17We should do it right now.
22:18What I find fascinating, Sarah, is that the amount of first-party data,
22:25the amount of interactions that you get is unlike anywhere else.
22:30The amount of heartbeat-level data you will be able to achieve based on interactions with your users.
22:35It's true.
22:36I might just say one thing there, too, which is just Pinterest is a platform where people plan.
22:40They're planning renovations to their homes.
22:43They're planning parties that they're going to host.
22:46They're planning weddings.
22:47They're planning their fall wardrobe, and so they come with a lot of intent in terms of what they're looking for,
22:53and they start saving things that interest them, and that does give us really unique data around sort of what is going to trend
23:02because we can see what those patterns are, and that's how we do these trend predictions for Pinterest Predicts,
23:07and we share a lot of those trends with brands throughout the year to really sort of customize for a given brand.
23:14What is the kind of consumer interest right now that we can see sort of coming on the horizon?
23:21So, yeah, it's unique.
23:23And, David, I have to imagine that some of that, whether or not it's from them or other places,
23:28that engagement probably informs some of your decisions, particularly on extending or new content features
23:35and things like theme parks and how you would potentially develop that.
23:40How do you think about the extensions of content into areas that are not just on screen but are actually experiential,
23:49and particularly, we talked about this backstage, but like Universal Studios and things of that sort.
23:54How do you use that to your advantage?
23:57Well, it's interesting.
23:59I think for us, you know, it oftentimes starts at the pre-Greenlight phase.
24:04We're kind of lucky, and it's unique at our company where production and marketing and franchise management
24:10all have a seat at the table, and then you look at what is inherent, whether it's the content, the characters, the iconography.
24:18I think Wicked's a perfect example where I think early on we knew we had something that was special.
24:28And, you know, our filmmakers had such a vision for it.
24:31The talent both in front of and behind the camera was just so impressive.
24:36And then we were building sort of these practical sets.
24:40We weren't using much blue screen.
24:42And so that was a moment where we said we have to invite our partners into this process.
24:47And so we actually held a Wicked fair while we were shooting in London.
24:52We had over 200 partners, licensees, promotional partners, media partners, digital platforms, exhibitors,
25:01and really invited them into the process as we were building out both our short-term plan
25:06to basically invite audiences to see that on the big screen,
25:11but also a long-term plan that would ultimately allow us to engage with long-term experiences,
25:19theme park attractions, immersive retail.
25:22So, again, I think it starts with the DNA of the property.
25:26And if you really have passion for it and you really believe in it,
25:30you ultimately, like I said, start to think about it in the short term.
25:34For us, it's always to succeed at the box office.
25:38But certainly, if you can build a brand off of it, you start to think about that in the long term as well.
25:44We talked a lot about meeting fans where they are and engaging them.
25:49So, Marianne, I'll turn this to you first from a marketing standpoint.
25:53What does meeting the fans where they are actually mean in practice?
25:56Like how do you enable or activate against that?
26:00We've talked about data, we've talked about experiences, but there's a host of other things.
26:04I just wanted you to comment on that.
26:06And for us, being on the creative side, we have always, Anthony and Joe and our entire filmmakers teams,
26:18we go around the world.
26:20And so we do a lot of fan engagement where we go to India, we go to Brazil, we go to Korea.
26:27And along with Europe.
26:31And so I think part of that is showing up and creating experiences when you show up.
26:38The other part of that is your casting.
26:41And I think having global casts make a big difference.
26:46And I think that people then see themselves in these productions.
26:49And I think that that's important.
26:51And then we've even gone further in that we have done these productions in different regions around the world.
26:59And when we've done that, we've done with not only local creatives, local producers, directors, and everybody in those markets.
27:06But, you know, storytelling in different parts of the world are different.
27:10It is not the same story.
27:12And we're very respectful of that audience and that territory.
27:17And so that's part of also what we've done.
27:19And, again, it is the foundation of what the company is based on, which is collaboration and innovation and creativity and fundamental storytelling.
27:30And in whatever execution we're involved with, it's about the storytelling.
27:35And storytelling around the world is sometimes different.
27:38And we love learning and being a part of it and bringing that to audiences.
27:43This wasn't something I was going to bring up.
27:47But since you brought it up, the international narratives or international storytelling for all of you, this is sort of off script, so forgive me.
27:54But I am interested in how that works into all of your strategies, right?
27:59And it's a broad question.
28:01But I guess I'll turn it, you know, Josh, let's start with you.
28:04When you think about, you know, international versus domestic or even just encompassing both together, how does Mattel think about that both for existing IP, legacy IP, new things?
28:17And how does it tie into the franchise that you're trying to create globally?
28:22Yeah.
28:22And look, I think, as I mentioned before, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, right?
28:27The world is smaller now than ever before, whether it's through technology and anything else.
28:31And so it's so incumbent, and I agree with you completely, recognizing that, you know, to be able to localize and really understand your fans in every country is, again, it's critical to developing the strategies and the approaches that you're going to ultimately deploy in order to provide them that experience, right?
28:50Whatever that experience may be.
28:51And so, you know, we look at some of our portfolio.
28:55The fans that we have in Japan for Barbie, right, the things that ultimately they want and how they want to engage, it's an autonomous consumer.
29:03It's a young adult male, young adult female consumer.
29:05It's Zaka product, right?
29:06It's very different than what you might find in the U.K., for instance, right, where it may be more fashion and beauty products.
29:12So the ability for you to really understand your audience and then imbue that into ultimately your strategies, that for sure, and it goes back again to the need to be personal, to have that connection, right?
29:26You want to be able to – we're all fans of something, right?
29:28And you want to be able to feel that it's not just the same thing that I could buy here that I could get there or that experience is the same one here it is there.
29:34You want to customize it.
29:36You want to have it be a little bit unique.
29:38And that's where the world is today, and I think it's going to continue to be more profound as we move forward.
29:42Sarah, would you – you know, the Pinterest story, both domestically and globally, I imagine, but how do you think about that from meeting the fans where they are and both internationally as well?
29:55Yeah, I'll just share sort of an interesting anecdote, I think, and it centers on K-pop, which is obviously sort of – you know, it's a globally – a massive global music genre.
30:09And, you know, we sort of observed a lot of K-pop fandom on Pinterest over the past couple of years, and so we've really been leaning in and engaging different groups in that.
30:22And, you know, at Coachella, again, I'll just keep on mentioning it, but a couple weeks ago, there was a K-pop band called Enhypen.
30:30I had not heard of them prior to Coachella, but I learned a ton while we were there, and they partnered with us, and we had – they dropped – they basically created a Pinterest profile right at the start of the festival and dropped a board that had this entire sort of denim aesthetic.
30:48And within hours of that board being live, they performed at Coachella, and the entire audience – and it was a massive audience for them – was wearing denim.
31:00Everybody had literally gone home, back to their, you know, hotels, wherever they were, changed into denim because they had sort of picked up on the signal from the band that denim was the thing,
31:11and they wanted to show up, you know, as, like, the best fans that they possibly could.
31:17And so, you know, from my perspective, it's just sort of these fandoms absolutely transcend kind of, you know, international lines, and I think that was a great example of, you know, this group sort of meeting their fans where they are,
31:31but also of us, quite honestly, sort of recognizing that opportunity and leaning into it.
31:36And so, you know, I think that's something just to think about, too, is sort of where there are global fandoms.
31:41You know, there are often sort of rabid fan bases, and, you know, tapping in in those sort of IRL moments can definitely sort of pay dividends from a marketing perspective.
31:52And, David, finally, for you on this topic, you know, I think you can drive fandom internationally with your content, but also with the merchandising and other things.
32:04How have you kind of incorporated that into your strategy from a lifetime value perspective or from a real longevity of that value?
32:14Well, first of all, I think it's such a great question because what I would say is very few films or IP really translate globally.
32:23It doesn't mean they can't succeed on a global level.
32:25So as we develop global strategies or creative strategies that you hope can get leveraged in as many markets as possible,
32:35you do have to think and build local strategies.
32:39Wicked's a perfect example where Broadway play definitely had awareness and affinity here,
32:45and I would say in English-speaking territories it did.
32:48But outside of English-speaking territories, it wasn't known IP.
32:55Musicals didn't necessarily do well.
32:58So we really had to build different strategies going into each and every market.
33:03And what I would say is, you know, what we had was fantastical worlds.
33:09We talk about Ariana Grande and her fandom.
33:11So we leaned into different things and ultimately different strategies creatively,
33:19whether from a media publicity standpoint or just creatively, but also working with our partners.
33:25We found different ways to sort of build branded ecosystem in Japan that was very different than what we did domestically.
33:34And we leveraged a lot of our partners in unique and refreshing ways.
33:38So I do think as much as we like to develop global strategies, you still have to think locally,
33:46and you still have to activate locally and evolve some of those creative or some of those, you know,
33:52consumer touch points and strategies that you might have had in place.
33:55So we've talked a little bit about content and green lighting and merchandising.
33:59I guess with the few minutes we have left, I just wanted to give everyone a chance to talk about the future of this
34:04in your own sort of part of this ecosystem.
34:09And, you know, think about it from a perspective of what challenges you see,
34:12but also what opportunities are you exploring.
34:16We've talked a little bit about Gen.AI today and data, but conceptually, just and organically,
34:21how are you thinking about it?
34:23And, Josh, I'll start with you.
34:24What challenges do you see?
34:25And what do you see the future in, you know, in your own words?
34:31Look, I think one of the areas that we're particularly focused on right now,
34:34and we didn't really touch on it too much today, is digital experiences, gaming, right,
34:39which we talked about a little bit, you know, behind.
34:43That's an area that is, we believe, just tremendous potential
34:46and an area that we are as a company spending a lot of time developing
34:51and executing against our strategies.
34:53Again, it fits so well into your ecosystem.
34:57As you mentioned, anytime, anywhere, any way you want to connect to the IP,
35:02we want to be able to offer that to our fans.
35:04I think, you know, I think technology is an enabler,
35:07so we certainly lean in there as a friend.
35:10You know, I think the challenges are, you know, like we live in a complicated world,
35:14and we have to sort of really be thoughtful about that.
35:15But, you know, people want to engage and have and sort of hear stories.
35:22I mean, people, you know, you think about stories being written on cave walls
35:26thousands of years ago, right, and today you're watching it on your phone.
35:30I think as long as you're creating great content, great creative,
35:34challenging, you know, dogma respectfully and engaging with an audience,
35:38you're going to prevail, right?
35:40You're going to do well, and your fans are going to be happy,
35:42and you're going to create new fans.
35:43So for us, again, as I said, we want to be front-footed and continue to evolve
35:48and make sure that we're delivering those experiences to the fans around the world.
35:53Marianne?
35:54You know, I think for us, it's very similar to what we probably would all say.
36:00You know, it's fundamental.
36:01It's like the storytelling and how we are telling those stories.
36:05Donald Mustard joined Agbo as a partner about a year and a half ago,
36:09and he's the creator of Fortnite, and so gaming is certainly a vertical
36:13that is part of our overall content agenda.
36:20I think that what I've learned, and I think my challenge,
36:24and I've really realized, is how connected we actually are.
36:28And I think Pinterest is a perfect example.
36:31And, you know, everyone is very connected.
36:33So our job as marketers is how do we cut through the clutter
36:37and make ourselves distinctive and unique so that you can, an audience can experience it.
36:44And I think the technology is only enhancing it.
36:48You know, it's still grassroots marketing.
36:50It's just no longer someone standing on the corner.
36:54And so for us, I think that those are the opportunities.
36:58For us as creators, it's still about the fundamental storytelling.
37:01And as long as we can create really good stories, really good worlds,
37:06and then create it consistently in this 360 experience, I think that will be our success.
37:13I would say, you know, in terms of what I think would be most interesting to this topic,
37:18thinking about merchandising more in terms of Pinterest.
37:22Pinterest has become, I think, over the past two years, a highly sort of shoppable platform,
37:26which not everybody recognizes.
37:29And a lot of our technological investments in visual search and new forms of curation
37:34and better personalization are all making the platform more and more shoppable.
37:39And that's how, you know, many of our users are increasingly using us.
37:42And so I think to the extent that, you know, we're talking about sort of franchises
37:48that lend themselves towards, you know, brand partnerships around new merch
37:53and just that whole extended line of business,
37:57I think Pinterest is actually a really interesting platform in that regard.
38:02And there's a lot of, you know, improvements coming to the shopping experience
38:06that I think make that stronger and stronger.
38:11Yeah, I mean, I'll probably echo a little bit what Josh and Marianne said.
38:15But, I mean, I'm excited about the future.
38:17I think, you know, people love storytelling.
38:20They want to experience worlds and characters,
38:23whether it's through video games, film, or television or streaming.
38:27And I think that fandom can be individual.
38:31It can be shared.
38:33And I think, you know, when I look to the future,
38:36I just think fandom is a thing to celebrate and to lean into.
38:39And I think it's the power of what we all do.
38:42And I don't think that's going anywhere, so.
38:46A few seconds left.
38:47I just want to say thank you to the panelists
38:49and thank you to Variety and to Deloitte for putting this on.
38:53To my colleagues on the stage, David, Sarah, Marianne, Josh,
38:58I appreciate the time and look forward to hearing more about storytelling
39:02and the connected ecosystem moving forward.
39:04So thank you very much.