Variety Announces Keynotes for Entertainment Marketing Summit

Ukonwa Ojo, Chief Marketing Officer, Amazon Studios and Prime; Asad Ayaz, President, Marketing, Disney Studios Content; and Joe Earley, EVP Content Curation and Marketing, Disney Plus, will be keynoting Variety‘s virtual Entertainment Marketing Summit presented by Deloitte airing on April 22.

Ojo will be speaking about her branding vision for Amazon’s streaming platform and programming. Ayaz and Earley will be discussing marketing film and TV across platforms, including Disney Plus, which announced on Wednesday that the platform surpassed 100 million subscribers. Both keynote conversations will be moderated by Claudia Eller, Editor-in-Chief, Variety.

Variety’s Entertainment Marketing Summit brings together elite entertainment and consumer brand marketers and their media platform partners to share how they are sharpening their promotion strategies for optimal engagement.

“The Variety Entertainment Marketing Summit is critical to highlighting the marketers and their partners who will be at the forefront of the right way to thoughtfully and substantially connect with audiences and consumers,” said Michelle Sobrino-Stearns, president and group publisher, Variety. “As we continue to work through pandemic challenges, Variety is proud to be a crucial thought-leader for ongoing success of the entertainment and media industry.”

“Deloitte is excited to return as the presenting sponsor of Variety’s Entertainment Marketing Summit and we look forward to engaging with marketers and their partners who are at the forefront of consumer engagement,” said Kevin Westcott, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP and U.S. technology, media and telecom leader. “As our industry continues to navigate a changing world, Deloitte is leading strategic thinking on which entertainment-related behaviors and trends will stick post-pandemic and the implications on the industry.”

Additional event highlights include a brandmakers CMO panel, moderated by Suzanne Kounkel, Chief Marketing Officer, Deloitte, and featuring panelists Marisa Thalberg, CMO, Lowe’s; Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, VP Marketing, DoorDash; Nick Tran, Head of Global Marketing, TikTok; Tim Ellis, Chief Marketing Officer, NFL; and Andrea Zahumensky, Chief Marketing Officer, Kentucky Fried Chicken.

A conversation will also explore “Las Culturistas,” one of the first podcasts produced by Will Ferrell’s Big Money Players for the iHeart Podcast Network. The session will feature actors and “Las Culturistas” co-hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers, and will be moderated by Conal Byrne, CEO iHeartPodcast Network and iHeartMedia Digital Audio.

Another session will focus on the role of marketing in launching a streaming platform, spotlighting speakers Domenic DiMeglio, EVP, Head of Operations & CMO at ViacomCBS Digital, and Seth Goren, Group SVP, Media Strategy & Analytics at Discovery, Inc. It will be moderated by Alexys Ruiz Coronel, Head of Entertainment and Telecommunications, Amazon Advertising.

An entertainment marketers elite roundtable will feature Jennifer Storms, Chief Marketing Officer, NBCUniversal Sports and Entertainment; Danielle Lee, Chief Fan Officer, National Basketball Association; Pamela Lifford, President, Global Brands and Experiences, WarnerMedia; and Veda Partalo, Head of Content Marketing, Spotify.

Register at: variety.com/marketingsummit