Future of Media event to discuss & debate branded content with experts from Digiday, Globe & Mail and /newsrooms
All-star panelists to delve into world of native advertising, brands as publishers, journalism’s role in sponsored content and where digital media is headed. Follow #FOM2013 on Twitter for updates
TORONTO — Digital Journal Inc. announced its next Future of Media event featuring some of the most influential leaders in media and branded content.
The event will take place March 14 in Toronto and will feature executives and leading experts from the Globe & Mail, Digiday, /newsrooms and the Custom Content Council.
Future of Media events are panel discussions that explore how current trends, technologies, business practices and social media innovation affect both the media industry and its audience. At this year’s event the focus will go beyond just media and look at marketing and advertising as well.
The upcoming Future of Media event will take place Thursday, March 14, 2013 at Toronto’s Drake Hotel Underground (1150 Queen Street West) at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. and admission is free and open to the public. Note: Seating is limited so it will be first-come, first-served. Previous events have hit capacity very quickly so early arrival is highly recommended.
On the panel discussing the booming trend of branded content is: Josh Sternberg, reporter at digital media news outlet Digiday; Steve Ladurantaye, media reporter at the Globe & Mail; Sabaa Quao, Chief Marketing Officer of Digital Journal Inc. and co-founder of /newsrooms; and Joseph Barbieri, Founder & President of BESPOKE Group Inc. and Board member of the Custom Content Council. Future of Media discussions are must-see events for anyone interested in the rapidly changing landscape of media, the Web and digital technology. The March 14 event will focus particularly on a trend the digital media world is clamoring to talk about: brands as publishers.
The panel discussion will focus on the following topics:
- What is the role of branded content (aka brand journalism or content marketing) in media?
- How will branded content play a role in the future of media for both brands and media companies?
- What do brands need to know as they make the transition into becoming publishers?
- Should media companies and brands invest in branded content, and what are the pros and cons?
- Does sponsored content create an unholy alliance between brands and media companies?
- What role does everyone play in the branded content industry?
- How will agencies, marketers, journalists, brands and media companies collaborate and compete?
These are just a few of the hot topics to be discussed at the Future of Media event in March. The event will feature a live panel discussion followed by a Q&A session. Future of Media will be covered live on Twitter via the hashtag #FOM2013 and questions will be taken via Facebook and Twitter to pose to panelists.
Future of Media 2013 Speaker Bio: Josh Sternberg
Josh Sternberg is a Media/Publishing reporter for Digiday, covering the industry’s transition from an analog to a digital world.
He’s been published in The Atlantic, The Awl, The Huffington Post, Mashable & Mediaite., among other publications.
He first started his professional life as a professor at two New Jersey universities teaching communications and media courses.
After stepping out of the Ivory Tower, Josh went on into the public relations field, helping clients navigate through the messaging waters.
Following a almost a decade in PR, Josh made the transition to the journalism world to follow his love of words and the never-ending intriguing world of media.
Follow him on Twitter at @joshsternberg
Future of Media 2013 Speaker Bio: Steve Ladurantaye
Steve Ladurantaye is the Globe and Mail’s media reporter. In this role, he spends most of his time talking to the top media minds in the country – broadcast executives, newspaper publishers, start-up entrepreneurs, digital innovators.
His work appears across all of the national newspaper’s sections, and he also stars in a weekly web video produced by the paper that explores Canadian media issues and regularly appears on conventional television programs such as CTV’s Economix Panel and Canada AM.
He also spends a great deal of time tweeting the bits of news that don’t fit into his stories, and is convinced that we are all just one tweet away from being fired (@sladurantaye).
He’s been nominated for two National Newspaper Awards, the highest honour in Canadian journalism. He won once, in the explanatory journalism category for a story he wrote that detailed the costs, personal and financial, associated with a nasty crash on Canada’s busiest highway.
Prior to the Globe he was a city editor at Peterborough Examiner and Kingston Whig-Standard, editor of the Ottawa Business Journal and a cop reporter at the Ottawa Sun. He also used his Commodore 64 to make his own clip-art heavy newspapers, but sadly this was before anyone had thought to invent paywalls. Or the Internet.
Follow him on Twitter at @sladurantaye
Future of Media 2013 Speaker Bio: Jonathan Perelman
Jonathan Perelman is Vice President of Agency Strategy and Development, BuzzFeed.
At BuzzFeed Perelman works closely on all aspects of the business, with a particular focus on educating advertising agencies on the BuzzFeed platform and ad products.
Prior to BuzzFeed, Perelman spent six years at Google, most recently as the Global Lead for Industry Relations. He was responsible for brand identity initiatives and relationship management within the advertising and media industries. This also includes aligning Google’s business and public policy priorities. Google’s Operating Committee awarded the prestigious OC Award to Perelman for his work on mergers and acquisitions.
Prior to Google, Perelman worked at Financial Services firm, Unifund, and also was the Deputy Finance Director on Cory Booker’s 2002 Mayoral run in Newark, NJ. The campaign was captured in an Academy Award nominated film, Street Fight, released in 2005 Perelman is a Sr. Fellow at the Center for the Digital Future, at the USC Annenberg School. In addition, he serves on the board of Advertising Week, Ad:Tech, the International Association of Internet Professionals, along with other industry groups. He’s also an advisor to several start-ups.
Perelman is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in political science. He lives in New York City with his wife, Alexandra, and two sons.
Follow him on Twitter at @JPerelman
Future of Media 2013 Speaker Bio: Sabaa Quao
Sabaa Quao is the Chief Marketing Officer of Digital Journal Inc. and co-founder of /newsrooms.
Quao is a creative director, business strategist, and career entrepreneur who has a passion for emerging platforms in the digital media and marketing space. From cloud-inspired business models, to bending (and sometimes breaking) Facebook, to building social media-driven transactions, Quao has managed teams dedicated to the future of marketing and advertising.
Quao founded and ran XCORPORATION for 10 years, an intense and accomplished communication and design firm in Canada. He eventually moved to London UK and tightened XCORPORATION’s focus around new brand and enterprise development
In addition, FILMINUTE is the International One-Minute Film Festival Quao founded with John Ketchum in 2005, based in London, Bucharest, and Toronto.
In London, Quao ran Capacity Networks, a media and entertainment IP commercialisation company formed from a merger between Helsinki and Oxford-based technology and software development companies.
With degrees in Communication and Design (OCAD), a B.Comm in Marketing (Concordia), and an Executive MBA (Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto), Quao brings a valuable left brain-right brain balance and approach to business problem solving. Creative and strategic discipline, combined with entrepreneurial instinct and activation leads to provocative business and marketing solutions.
Quao’s marketing and consulting portfolio includes the launch of the Toronto Raptors and Playdium Entertainment, the rebranding of the CN Tower and the Directors Guild of Canada, and special projects for Toronto International Film Festival Group, Nortel Networks, Roots, RBC Royal Bank, Levi’s, Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications, The Beer Store, GlaxoSmithKline, McCain Foods, Corona, Coca-Cola, and Jack Daniel’s.
Quao has a passion for building new brands and enterprise business units from scratch and he has done precisely that for a wide range of companies and continue to collaborate on projects of this nature internationally.
Follow him on Twitter at @xsabaa