In Conversation is Brief’s occasional series in which Brief checks in with executives from across the industry about their recent work and how they view changes impacting the entertainment marketing landscape.

LA-based Troika recently crafted a fall brand campaign for The CW that promoted the network’s heroes—both big and small. The agency was also instrumental in the complete visual overhaul of the in-stadium look for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. We asked founder and CEO Dan Pappalardo about a recent hiring spree, the expansion of the agency, and where he sees the industry headed in the coming years.

BRIEF: What is the single biggest challenge facing entertainment marketers as the industry kicks off another TV season?

DAN PAPPALARDO: I think it’s this whole idea of how to differentiate in a crowded market. Today, there’s more competition than ever before. I think fall is interesting because it has always been important for broadcasters—the cable guys did their own thing—but over time the broadcasters began breaking away from building their schedule around fall. The idea of fall being a splash started to dissipate. But this year it seems that it’s all eyes on the fall again, and a lot of people are putting a lot of energy and focus in launching their shows this fall. I think it’s the competition—having an event that viewers are rallying around is motivating a lot of folks.

How has your business shifted in recent years?

For us, it’s really about helping our clients understand how to be successful in the marketplace. What we’ve been focusing on as a company is how we can move away from being so internally focused as content creators and brands, rooted in the idea that TV has had a captive audience for so long. The expectation has always been that the audience comes to us. Our job has been to steer people’s attention to certain nights, driving people you already expect to be around to tune in on a specific night. Now the world has changed and the audience is the one who has choice, and the audience is the one who is making decisions as content creators and providers. We need to meet the audience on their terms. I’m focused at getting a better on understanding the marketplace—what drives audiences and why this stuff matters in their lives—understanding that part of it so that the marketing, and the brand building, and the content development is meeting audiences, as opposed to us talking to audiences from our point of view.

And is that what motivated your recent hiring of cultural anthropologist Susan Kresnicka and the creation of a Research and Insights Group at Troika?

Susan is critical to that. Her role is absolutely fascinating. There is a ton of research that happens in our industry, focused on understanding who the audience is and what the demo is—there is a ton of information out there. What’s so interesting for us is it’s not about the information, it’s about the knowledge we’re gaining from that information that informs us on the <why> things are happening. That helps us as marketers uncover opportunities we might not have uncovered. It’s about asking why a show is popular among a certain group. It’s not about what people are doing on social media; it’s asking why did people engage on social media when it comes to a particular show.”

You recently announced another major hire with the arrival of Alejandro Lopez as your Executive Creative Director. Why him? What does he bring to Troika?

Alex’s background is in consumer advertising and he’s worked internationally—that’s what I was after. He’s a guy who understands marketing to consumers, which is an area where our industry lacks the perspective of ‘how are we respecting the audience more, but in a really innovative way?’ He’s an artist and he’s a great creative innovative thinker. He just led a brand workshop with The Sundance Institute at LACMA. Instead of doing all this stuff on white paper, we ran our own docent tour using artwork as a means of a walkabout about the qualities of a brand and what they do for us. The clients loved it—it got people out of the box. That process is typical Alex. He’s constantly inventing new ways for us to think as marketers.

You’ve also settled into new space on La Brea in Los Angeles that also houses a group of partner agencies. Why the new space, and what’s the thinking behind bringing in those outside companies?

We’re recreating Troika under this banner of Troika 2.0. It’s part of a plan to enable us to evolve the company in a specific way. We are offering a high level of specialized expertise and an extremely high level of collaboration. A lot of thought went into how we create optimal spaces for different types of people to come together in new and unique ways to brainstorm ideas for clients. The space was built to encourage lots of crossover between disciplines and nurturing of these disciplines. We brought in some strategic partners and companies—they run their own businesses—and we find opportunities within projects to overlap. We have a group that specializes in augmented reality—they do a lot of work around Occulus Rift. There’s Giant Spoon—they’re focused on pushing innovative marketing opportunities within the digital landscape. We have an editorial group [Fugitives], and a full-service music studio [Syn]. It’s about a spirit of bringing lots of expertise together.

We live in a world where marketing execs are overwhelmed with the amount of information and knowledge they need in order to be effective. My mission is to create an agency that can bring a depth of expertise targeted to this industry like no other. We offer lots of thinking from different perspectives to really build brands in a very multi-faceted world.

What campaigns have you seen recently that have really impressed you?

The ALS ice bucket challenge. Authenticity rules; consumers don’t want to be marketed to. It’s so organic and in touch with the times.

What’s on your DVR? What are you watching?

I’m big on the slow moving dramas. It’s so much about character development and pacing for me. I’m back on Boardwalk Empire, and I love Treme—it’s like reading a novel. I love that kind of stuff.

Where do you see the industry a year from now when we’re launching another round of fall TV series?

I do believe that the fragmentation is going to continue. We’re heading to a place where audiences are having more choice and those who are creating content and providing content are going to need to serve that audience more and more. I think we all have to be very fluid in our thinking, and approach of all of this disruption as opportunity.

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