“My rally cry for the marketing unit of LG Ads for the company is I want us to win the thought leadership war. I want us, by the time December 31 ticks over this year, to have helped the industry figure out how to do this better.”
— Tony Marlow

Tony Marlow, Chief Marketing Officer at LG Ad Solutions, joins Suzy Founder and CEO Matt Britton on the latest episode of The Speed of Culture podcast in collaboration with Adweek. Together, they discuss the "Big Shift" in television from traditional to connected TV as well as from subscription to ad-supportive models.

Tony is a well-rounded marketing professional, thought leader, and digital nerd who uses data-driven insights to lead all aspects of marketing and communications. Before LG Ad Solutions, he held various marketing leadership positions, including CMO at Integral Ad Science and Data Axle and VP and Head of B2B Marketing Insights at Yahoo. Tony is also the Co-founder of Appy Dragon, a mobile app development organization that made the popular RacerTracer.

• The Art and Science of Advertising - Creativity and data science are equally significant for advertising. But it seems that most marketers prefer to focus more on the data side. Historically, at a macro level, marketers had to choose between performance and brand marketing. Now, a new breed of marketers—performance storytellers—use science to drive creativity, connect with their audience more meaningfully, and convey relevant messaging. Marketers don't have to choose anymore. In fact, they need both creativity and data science to be successful.

• The Big Shift - With the onset of the pandemic, television consumer behavior changed significantly and rapidly. Tony calls this "The Big Shift," which consists of two phases. The first phase was the shift from traditional to connected television (CTV). Now, we are in the second phase—moving from subscription models toward ad-supportive models. LG Ad Solutions recently ran a study and found that 70% of US-connected TV viewers prefer ad-supported models.

• Direct to Glass  - Phase one of the Big Shift meant the death of the dongles. It also made consumers go “direct to glass”—or directly to the OEM TV—to experience personalized content on TV. Going direct to glass helps marketers shape consumers’ advertising experiences within connected television and make those marketing connections in a privacy-friendly way.

• The CTV Experience - Connected TV offers marketers the possibility to do things they can’t do on traditional television, like shoppable ads, creative units that integrate into the UI, or QR codes, which help unify the experience between mobile and TV. It's all about creating a seamless, personalized, and engaging experience for the consumer.

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