Advertising Week is the annual event for brands and marketers to explore rising trends, share inspiring campaigns, and align strategies that impact today’s landscape. On Monday, October 6th, Carat took the Great Minds stage to uncover how NextGen video and attention are fueling brand growth.
Pictured from left to right: Mike Law, CEO Carat North America; Alejandra Gálvez, Country Media Manager at IKEA; Shawn Johnson East, Olympic Gold Medalist; and Andrew East, Former NFL Long Snapper and Entrepreneur.
Authenticity and Culture Captures Attention
In today’s Algorithmic Era, we believe the way for brands to emerge from the sea of sameness is to do so in culture and to create resonance over reach. This shifts the focus from how many people a brand can reach to how well a brand can resonate with its audiences. Brands that produce breakthrough content and partner with creators who resonate among different audiences can build powerful cultural connections. And powerful connections move brands forward.
Olympic gold medal gymnast Shawn Johnson East joined the session with her husband, former NFL Long Snapper and Entrepreneur Andrew East. Together, the couple has amassed more than 4 million followers across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. What started as a fun family project quickly grew into a loyal following that values connected experiences and relatability. For them, the focus isn’t just on visibility, it’s about building a fanbase through personal connection and consistent storytelling.
Rather than chasing the trendiest or most viral topics, Shawn and Andrew focus on subjects that genuinely interest them, creating authentic connections with their audience.
For brand partnerships, especially new products, they thoroughly test items in their own lives first, ensuring relevance and suitability for their homes and lifestyle. Their approach centers on authentic relationships, with every partnership being intentional and thoughtfully considered. Acting as curators, they aim to provide a positive impact through the products and stories they share.
"Instead of working really hard to optimize our channel for views, conversions and growth, we try … to keep everything very authentic because we have tried … to build trust between our platform and our followers, and our followers know when it’s not authentic." - Shawn Johnson East
Shifting Measurement from Reach to Engagement
Alejandra Gálvez, who leads the media strategy for IKEA, shared how the brand is shifting from a channel mindset to an attention mindset. For IKEA, budgets aren’t unlimited, so every dollar must go where the attention truly is. That means focusing on platforms and formats that foster quality engagement rather than chasing vanity metrics like impressions.
Alejandra says brands need to focus on testing, learning and reapplying insights. In today’s fragmented landscape, brands need to understand what captured audience attention, and what resonated, so that formats and content can be optimized for maximum impact.
“The challenge is to be authentic to get attention. We need to focus more on authenticity as a KPI, moving beyond reach and impressions to metrics that measure deeper impact and real connection.” - Alejandra Galvez, IKEA
How Brands Can Win in Media and Attention
As seen from Carat’s session at Advertising Week and several other industry touchpoints, the ever-changing economy calls for brands to assess the platforms and formats that resonate most with their audiences. While linear is still part of the media mix, it’s clear that NextGen video provides expansive growth, delivers short-term wins, long-term brand value, and everything in between.
At Carat, we have a history of leading the industry in understanding the Attention Economy. In the Algorithmic Era, attention only matters if it compounds. Understanding the compounding impact of attention for brand equity is a white space that we have invested in. This helps clients to break free from the sea of sameness that comes from chasing the same outcomes on the same platforms with the same audiences and, instead, ensures that we have the right media plan that enables brands to grow. The Brand Reset is Carat’s up and coming research study, designed to reshape how brands think about growth in the Attention Economy.
Developed by dentsu, in collaboration with Kantar and Lumen, The Brand Reset sets a new standard for how brands plan, activate, and measure across the evolving video landscape.
Click here to learn more about The Brand Reset and sign up for first access.
