iHeartMedia Highlights from Cannes 2022 (pics)

Monday 6/20: AdColor: Conversation About The Black Effect, Diversity, Representation on iHeart Yacht

Description: A happy hour and conversation about the impact of the Black Effect: Diversity & Representation in Media & Marketing.

Special Guests: 

●      Charlamagne tha God (host of the Breakfast Club, Founder of the Black Effect Podcast Network)

●      Dollie S. Bishop (President of the Black Effect Podcast Network)

●      Gayle Troberman (CMO, iHeartMedia)

●      Conal Byrne (CEO, iHeartMedia Digital)

Discussion Highlights:

●      “I’m a radio guy first and foremost and I’ve always wanted to be in control of an actual audio platform, and help amplify voices like myself. So I wanted to be in a position to do that. So that’s why we launched the podcast network. Two years in, we are two years in with The Black Effect. And since the successful launch, you have amplified and empowered a list of black voices, some new creators, some famous people we may or may not have heard of before.” – Charlamagne tha God

●      “Storytelling is everything — everybody has learned something from a good story — a great book, great radio show, great podcast. And so that’s why it’s so important on The Black Effect to have so many diverse voices, because there’s so many different people telling so many different stories.” – Charlamagne tha God

●      “It’s simply a bridge for others to understand others. Brands have begun to understand the importance of connecting with diverse audiences and investing accordingly.” – Dollie Bishop

Tuesday 6/21: Conversation about the Importance of LGBTQ+ Visibility in Media on iHeart Yacht

Description: A lunch and conversation about the importance of LGBTQ+ Visibility in Media.

Special Guests: 

●      Sam Smith (Global Music Superstar)

●      Sarah Kate Ellis (President & CEO, GLAAD)

●      Brent Miller (Senior Director Global LGBTQ+ Equality, Procter & Gamble)

●      Gayle Troberman (CMO, iHeartMedia)

Discussion Highlights:

●      “We have to do the homework. You can’t just show up one day and expect to make the connection. You can’t expect to do it right, you really have to dig in. And I think that’s probably what the ad industry has largely missed, the resources and the effect of data. Like Nielsen now has household data information on the LGBTQ market, so we now can at least understand where we are from a business perspective. And once you start getting the data behind it, that leads you to a conversation that we haven’t been in before.”  – Brent Miller

●      “We did a study with GLAAD to figure out what were the number one barriers for companies entering into the LGBTQ marketing ecosystem. It’s no longer the fear of people being anti-LGBTQ. It’s fear of backlash from the community for not getting it right. You have to figure out your right way into it, and the fact that you enter into the conversation actually will change somebody’s life. And you can’t wait too long to do that.” – Brent Miller

●      “We want to make change and we want people to feel represented. But we also are trying to sell music, trying to sell products, and at the end of the day, connecting that doing good is good for growth does that. I think we’ve got data after data that’s showing that.” – Gayle Troberman

●      “I encourage you all: Let’s talk about what we can do together next year, because these platforms matter. They matter for the community. They matter for equality. They matter for acceptance and they matter for those consumers out there who we can help save and feel represented and connected.” – Gayle Troberman

●      “Don’t just keep these values inside. You need to use your platform, your access, your economic power. You’re seeing in the United States, very few companies speak up against these anti-LGBTQ bills. And we’re not gonna accept that anymore.” – Sarah Kate Ellis

Tuesday 6/21: iHeartMedia + MediaLink Annual Cannes Lions Party at Hotel du Cap

Description: Sam Smith performs at a VIP dinner party hosted by iHeartMedia and MediaLink at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Rock in Antibes, France during the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

Wednesday 6/22: iHeartMedia + Vatom Innovation Lunch on iHeart Yacht

Description: A conversation about NFTs, Metaverse & Media.

Special Guests: 

●      Paris Hilton

●      Conal Byrne (CEO, iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group)

●      Gayle Troberman (CMO, iHeartMedia)

●      Eric Pulier (Founder & CEO, Vatom)

Discussion Highlights:

●      “It’s the evolution of the World Wide Web. It’s the next stage of what it means to connect with digital technology right now. The evolution started with static pages, dynamic pages, eCommerce enabled page and eventually we got to social media. We’re now adding a social and an ownership layer on the internet.” – Eric Pulier

●      “I just love how you can really build a community around it. I love how it gives the power back to the creator. For me, “Stars Are Blind” is my iconic song. It’s about to be the 20th year anniversary of it. I just re-recorded it a couple weeks ago, and now we’re redoing the music video in the metaverse, Web3 sort of way and releasing the music through Web3. Now I will own that song, which is something that’s really important to me.” – Paris Hilton

●      “Let’s get into the metaverse and build experiences together. Let’s give value – we all know that value exchange is the idea, so let’s build things together that people want to do instead of getting in the way.” – Gayle Troberman

●      While speaking about NFTs on the panel Conal Byrne added – “We saw NFTs getting dropped into the world as collectibles and collections. We were fascinated that so many of these NFTs were PFP character based icons, Bored Apes, Mutant Apes, crypto punks, Quirkies, etc. So we bought about 15 NFTs, all the names and built back stories to these characters. We brought in voice actors and we’re launching today, the first NFT hosted podcast. So our new slate of podcasters are our NFT characters.”

●      Paris Hilton’s Board Ape will be one of iHeartMedia’s first guests on this new NFT Podcast “Prop Culture” which was announced today.