Last week at the J.W. Marriott at L.A. Live, the entertainment marketing industry gathered for Promax Conference 2019, which featured the likes of Common, poet Chloe Wade, Disney+ EVP of Marketing and Operations Joe Earley, Fab’rik founder Dana Spinola, career coach Maureen Falvey, and plenty of information and inspiration.
Here are a few of the biggest takeaways we gleaned from the week:
1) The biggest gifts leaders can give their teams are their focus, communication and trust.
Great leaders sort through complexity to create clarity for their teams, said Maureen Falvey, leadership coach and trainer. And that process starts with themselves through focus, communication and trust.
“When employees feel empowered, magical things happen,” Falvey said.
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2) Dream big, hustle hard, stay inspired, wow everyone and lead with heart.
For Fab’rik Founder and CEO Dana Spinola, the formula to success is simple: What makes your heart beat? That’s your passion. And what makes your heart break? That’s your purpose. Put those two values together and you’ve just created a map for yourself.
“What do you call it when what you love and what the world needs crosses over?” she asks. “It’s a little spot that I’ll call the sweet spot of life. How many of us out there can go out and live in that spot?”
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3) There’s so much more to branding than commerce.
There’s so much more to branding than just commerce, Debbie Millman told the Promax crowd.
Throughout history, people have used branding to establish an identity for themselves and then use that identity to find their tribes.
And while today people are more prone to spend time staring at their smartphones than starting fights against warring tribes, it’s still all about finding your people.
“I contend that we are not addicted to our smartphones. We’re addicted to the feelings that we have to the connections that we have through our smartphones,” she said.
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4) Love, integrity and vulnerability will drive your best work.
“I didn’t know what a brand was when I first started doing music,” said Oscar-winning artist Common on Wednesday. “I was just following my heart, spirit, energy and love for creativity…a lot of my choices were made because they felt like the right thing to do.”
But the one time he stepped outside this principle, he quickly learned that inauthenticity wasn’t for him. He tried creating a song that could instantly be played on the radio, which led to a piece of unpopular—and inauthentic—music.
“It had to come from a place of love, what I’m actually feeling and what I think is dope,” he said.
RELATED: Let Love and Integrity Drive Your Best Work, Says Common
5) Disney+ won’t just be for kids.
Disney+ launches November 12, with series and movies from the likes of such big brands as Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars for the low price of $6.99 per month.
While convincing people that Disney+ is something they might want to subscribe to shouldn’t be too hard, “the biggest challenge is making sure consumers know this isn’t an app for kids,” said Joe Earley, executive vice president, marketing and operations, Disney+, on Thursday. “The Disney name is so powerful, and all of [the Disney+] content is PG-13, TV-14 or below – there’s nothing M, nothing R. A lot of people will assume this is for parents with kids.”
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[Images courtesy of Memoryscape]
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