Rapidly evolving digital innovation and social media have changed the way that consumers, particularly Millennials, engage with brands. Smart brands acknowledge they need to make a change to be relevant to this highly coveted, yet elusive target.
To accomplish this, major forward-thinking brands have created entirely new business functions focused on finding emerging technologies and secure young, innovative companies to help them advance their relevancy and engagement with Millennials.
The small number of startups capitalizing on this trend are the ones who truly understand big brands' needs, build the right relationships, are willing to let brands influence their product road map, and deliver on that need through fast growth and adaptation.
It's these startups who will be an indispensable pillar of the brands' infrastructure and gain credibility, market demand, and revenue growth.
So what's the secret sauce to startup + brand partnerships?
On Tuesday, July 14th, we bring together Tina Wung (Digital Strategy at Anheuser-Busch) & Ben Hindman (CEO at Splash) to chat about how they successfully helped each other grow their respective companies.
Tina heads Digital Strategy in Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Digital Center of Excellence in Palo Alto, CA, aka the “Beer Garage.” She champions the integration of startup technology to enhance AB's digital capabilities - specifically, to increase penetration, customization, measurement sophistication, and actionable intelligence for ABI’s iconic brands. She has led several game-changing initiatives, including the recent launch of the world’s first branded beer delivery app, intended to unlock the potential of mobile e-commerce. Among other pillars, Tina focuses on optimizing social platform usage and measurement, building revolutionary corporate digital infrastructure, leveraging big data, and maximizing return for local initiatives.
Splash is the country's fastest growing event planning platform, powering events for top brands such as Hennessy, Anheuser Busch, Nike and Oakley, tech giants such as Facebook, Vevo and Spotify, and publishers such as Daily Mail, and Thrillist. Prior to co-founding Splash, Hindman was the Director of Events at Thrillist, where he produced large-scale events from concerts to hotel takeovers to mystery fly-aways. He was recruited to Thrillist after co-founding the Summit Series, an event for the world's leading entrepreneurs. And prior to that, Hindman started and sold DC By Foot, Washington DC's only free walking tour company.
Ben can speak first hand about what it takes to secure and grow accounts with large brands.
"Unlock the Big Ones" is a series of workshops focused on educating the three groups of start-up teams who are most critical to landing the big brands.
From the perspective of Fortune 500 brands, Tina Wung of Anheuser-Busch InBev, Kraft, Mondelez, and MillerCoors will be providing key insights from the client's point-of-view, focusing on how to win and grow everlasting relationships with the world's biggest brands. Tina is responsible for driving her company's major partnerships with the best emerging start-ups and has successfully integrated several startups as indispensible partners to her organization.
Attendees should expect to leave the day armed with fresh, actionable insights from the client perspective that will enable them to more effectively and efficiently unlock, land, and grow the major brand partnerships that will catapult their successes to the next level.
StrategyHack teaches marketers to be leaders in problem-solving and strategy development through live-action, hands-on workshops with real startups.
By collaborating with smart, seasoned marketers, startups get answers to their toughest barriers to scale and walk away with a roadmap to help them get across the startup marketing gap.
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