Smart Screen Exclusive

Panel to Examine 2nd Screen Brand Strategies at S3 NYC June 27

By Lyndsey Schaefer

At this week’s 2nd Screen Summit on Thursday, June 27 during CE Week in New York, prominent experts spanning the 2nd screen ecosystem will convene for three tracks of conference programming focused on advertising and brand engagement that will highlight not only the fundamentals of preparing a 2nd screen strategy but also delve into the challenges and opportunities facing the emerging 2nd screen market.

The conference’s morning program is highlighted by a panel on “Brand Strategies for 2nd Screen,” which will explore various brands’ tactics for 2nd screen engagement, and features panelists David Jones, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Shazam; George Hammer, Vice President Group Director of Digital Strategy, Digitas; Christie Hartbarger, Vice President, Strategic Alliances & Field Marketing, YuMe and Jeremy Lockhorn, Vice President, Emerging Media, Razorfish and moderated by Jeff Baumgartner, Technology Editor, Multichannel News.

“As consumer attention continues to be diverted away from the primary TV screen to tablets and smartphones, it’s becoming more important for consumer brands to establish second screen strategies and tactics that place themselves where the eyeballs are going through the use of apps that maintain their engagement with viewers,” Baumgartner says. “While the extension of brands to second screens that tie in or sync-up with live, recorded or on-demand video is still a nascent, ancillary concept and there’s still much to be learned, experimenting and establishing these strategies now will become increasingly important as securing a presence on tablets and smartphones evolve into key components of business and marketing plans.”

Shazam’s Jones points out that recent reports show TV viewers increasingly multi-tasking while watching TV.

“As a brand, if you’re not continuing to engaging people via the second screen, chances are that something else — or worse yet, someone else — is engaging those consumers,” says Jones. “For the first time ever, TV ads are essentially ‘clickable’ via Shazam, where 95 million users in the U.S. can tap one button in the Shazam App and in a few seconds, continuing and complementing the journey from the 30-second spot to minutes of engagement within Shazam on the second screen. Shazam can turn passive interest into action immediately via the second screen.”

The panel will also explore the ways for brands to adapt to viewers’ changing consumption habits.

“In a recent tablet-focused research study that YuMe conducted with IPG Media labs, 92 percent of respondents reported the couch as the most enjoyable place to consume video on the device. We also know from this same study that pre-roll unaided ad recall on both tablet and smartphone was higher than commercials on traditional TV,” says Yume’s Hartbarger. “While we understand that TV is still a powerful platform, brands need to take advantage of consumer’s changing consumption habits within the home, where screens and audiences are increasingly fragmented, if they want to make their TV dollars work harder.”

There’s still time to register for the S3 NYC 2013. See the final program here  — or register today by clicking here.