A Conversation with Tyra Banks

“I feel like I was put on this earth to expand the definition of beauty,” Tyra Banks stated in her conversation with Pattie Sellers, Editor at Large at Fortune Magazine.

“The definition is extremely narrow. There are so many beautiful women in the world that need to be told how exquisite they are.”

Banks’ site, TypeF.com, allows women to personalize their beauty experience by adding profile information to make the experience unique to each user.

And Fa-Fa-Fa-Fashion, a comedic web series that lives on TypeF.com, also personalizes user experience and helps fashion be more palatable all different types of women with an array of tips for all body types.

“TypeF.com is all focused helping women find something about themselves they can love,” Banks said. “But without being afterschool special. I want it to be fun without being preachy.”  

Banks is currently enrolled at Harvard Business School in order to take her business to the next level and scale. To leave a true legacy and reach more people, she says she needs the interaction with professors and the formal education to get there.

“Gut instinct and what I’ve learned from my parents has taken me to where I am today,” Banks said. “I hope my education will help broaden the content and experience users find on TypeF.com.” 

Live! Unstaged

On Demand. Live. Alive! The livestream has grown up and the music industry is being forced to scale to larger engaging experiences for fans. This shift is impacting the artists, as well as the music platforms that host their work, and the way that brands engage.

Rich Lehrfeld, VP of Global Sponsorship and Experiential Marketing for American Express, said that they want provide value, and know that American Express will serve up the music content that their consumers crave.

“We want our customers to believe that we get it. We get their passion, but that means we have to do a lot of listening and a lot of engaging. We don’t blindly guess, but that deepens the relationships with our consumers. That’s why we do these things.”

?uestLove, a musician and social media protagonist, that is pronounced “QuestLove” says that he wants to connect with brands that understand his work and his existing community won’t be surprised by the relationship.

“If I’m going to engage with a brand and bring that message to my audience, it has to feel accessible and real”,?uestLove said. “More than ever before fans are connecting with their favorite artists, and those fans are openly share when they’re upset by something the artist is doing.”

Lehrfeld agreed that the best value comes when they partner with artists that their consumers are asking for, and that when the brand and artist community cross-pollinate it enriches the experience for both parties.

“That’s why we’ve created Unstaged,” Lehrfeld. “It’s about loyalty for the artists’ and the brand’s communities. We want to engage with fans around the world that could be potential cardmembers and deepen the relationship with the current members.”

The Conversation

The Conversation which will live on Lifetime, is part of a multi-project development, with Demi Moore and Amanda de Cadenet will be coming together create 8 episodes based on Amanda’s web series which feature hour long celebrity interviews.

Moore says that she wants to connect high-profile women with other women in their similiar experiences and like-minds.

“We all have areas where we lack confidence,” Moore said. “We hope The Conversation will uncover for women how to work through those issues and help elevate self-esteem.”

 Soleil MoonFrye, who moderated the conversation, said the clips seen for The Conversation are “moving, revolutionary, and provides a totally unique experience for women.”

De Cadenet says she and Moore are striving to make sure that claim stays strong.

“We always think when we’re creating our content, ‘How will this change the lives of women? How will this improve their lives?’”

Which Cord to Cut First? Brands as Publishers

Create. Engage. Enable. Distribute. Pipe reality offers more options for brands and content than ever before, but according to the "Which Cord to Cut? Brands as Publishers" conversation at The NewFront, the two don't always have to be intertwined.

John Batelle (Federated Media), Steven Rosenbaum (Magnify), Susan Popper (SAP), Susan Sobbott (OPEN at American Express), Beth Comstock (GE)

“Not all content needs to be sponsored content,” according to Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer and SVP of General Electric. “But we have to think, is the content good enough for someone to watch it without being forced by a media buy.”

Content strategy is becoming more and more important to brands, and where that content is shared is also critical.

“Distribution strategy is as important as the content strategy,” according to Susan Popper, SVP of Marketing Communications for SAP. “Where your brand is going to live online is just as important as what your brand is going to say online.”

But in addition to the content and the distribution, the real-time need for consumers is important, which can be a bit of a concern for legal.

“We know the guidelines of the real-time web, but sometimes it’s easier to ask for forgiveness later when we see a great opportunity to connect with our consumers,” Comstock said. “We’re all in this learning together and getting much better and hitting more and more ‘ah-hahs’ as go.”

According to Susan Sobbott, President, OPEN at American Express, they've cut back on the processes to get content up more quickly.

"We've learned that fast is not fast enough," Sobbott said. "To gain speed we want our community to become a more active part of our content creation."

Digital Rant: The Social Entertainment Factory

Ashton Kutcher took the stage in what may have surprised a number of marketers and brands in the room.

“I’m repulsed by online ads,” Kutcher said as he kicked off. “I have NEVER purposefully clicked on a banner ad, and whenever I do I’m just irritated. But some marketers break that mold by developing really exceptional content.”

According to Kutcher, there are brands out there that are creating unique content, but he craves more.

"I want to help push brands to market in social media by being disruptive, have thrash, have polarity and wake people up. You've got to wake people up." 

He calls it, "the thrash effect."

Kutcher’s company, Katalyst Media, promises to find great story tellers that can share great experiences on why products and services have relevancy. Brands are built into the content for it to be less obtrusive and become a part of the entertainment.

“In order for brands to be successful online, they need to connect with great story tellers to share their passion for the brand. We want to help find partners to connect with these story tellers and create thrash, because, again, we've got to wake people up."