Entrepreneurs Convene in NYC For Curated Data, Marketing & Media Industry Tour

Endeavor hosted its first Data, Marketing & Media tour in New York City on October 3-4, 2017, connecting 18 entrepreneurs from 10 countries with a diverse group of business leaders in the space. Session topics ranged from the power of data and how to use it creatively, to viral content and trends in digital media. View a recap and photos from the two-day tour below.

Tuesday, October 3rd began with a visit to Foursquare, a leader in geolocation data, where the group meet with CEO, Jeffrey Glueck. They learned that the data gathered from over 12 billion check-ins and 93 million mapped public places is used to power companies like Uber, The Wall Street Journal, and Zagat.

The entrepreneurs then spoke with the Marketing Director of Twitter’s Mopub, Kristiina Kansen, who emphasized the importance of both hard and soft KPIs in B2B sales.

Next, the group headed to Chelsea Market where an unmarked elevator took them up to the YouTube Space New York, a 20,000 square foot facility where content creators of all experience levels have access to high-tech sound stages, recording rooms, and editing bays. There they met Adam Relis, who heads the space, to take a tour and learn about the strategy behind the initiative. Buzzfeed was the last stop of the day, where Scott Lamb, VP of International, discussed the challenges of scaling a viral media company internationally and mentioned that Buzzfeed focuses on translation and adaption when expanding into a new markets.

Wednesday morning kicked off early with a visit to Ogilvy & Mather, a WPP-owned advertising, marketing and PR firm, to meet with Alberto Brea, the Executive Director of Strategy & Planning. With engaging enthusiasm, he showed the group cases studies that emphasized how data is being used to inform advertising and brand positioning.

The group then met with Samantha Skey the President and Chief Revenue Officer of SheKnows Media, a leading digital media company focused on women’s lifestyle (women represent over US$7 billion in spending power!). She explained the evolution of the company under her watch (two acquisitions and 3x revenue) and pulled in subject matter experts from her team to comment on trends in digital media today, including the acceleration of the funnel to purchase, leveraging influencers, and the best ways to capitalize on each social platform.  

In the afternoon, the group sat down with a true veteran of the media and gaming space. Strauss Zelnick, the founder of Zelnick Media Capital and Chairman and CEO of Take-Two Interactive, was an open book and shared his biggest business mistakes and how they inform his decisions today. The entrepreneurs ended the day at The New York Times where they walked through Pulitzer Hall which showcases every award won by the newspaper beginning in 1918.. Dan Wakin, Deputy Editorial Director of the NYT Global then shared his thoughts on the newspaper’s evolution into a digital first publication and its global aspirations.