GroupM’s Global Head Of Social Says Marketers Must Practice Non-Linear Storytelling

Given the fragmentation of the video industry today across multiple formats and platforms — from linear TV to mobile screens and everything in between — marketers need to re-think their approach to ads beyond the traditional 15- and 30-second time frames that have been around for more than three quarters of a century.

“How are we thinking about briefing to a six-second spot?” Kieley Taylor, GroupM’s managing partner and global head of social pontificated ahead of the NewFronts in an interview with Tubefilter. “It’s not doing anyone any favors to cut down less than half of a story from a 30 [second ad]. We really have to be inventing in a new way, and practicing some non-linear storytelling.”

GroupM claims to be the world’s largest ad companies — responsible for one in three ads globally — with $45 billion in billings last year.

While that newfangled approach will be top of mind for Taylor during this year’s NewFronts, she adds that the event is a critical moment on the digital advertising calendar in terms of both near-term planning and a bigger-picture perspective. In addition to launching current campaigns and reacting to news that emerges from the event, Taylor said that the NewFronts serve as “a breath of fresh air, [and] the opportunity to shift our gaze and to be looking at the roadmaps from some of our key strategic partners.”

You can hear all of that and more in our conversation with Taylor below:

And you can check out all of Tubefilter’s interviews on the ‘Road To The 2019 NewFronts’ right here.