Following a series of ad industry upfronts, newfronts,
equityfronts, healthfronts, and outfronts, Horizon Media will host its second annual "Infronts" Thursday afternoon, which like last year's inaugural event, will take place in front of
screens.
The virtual event organized by Horizon creative services affiliate Blue Hour Studios is designed to connect brand marketers with influential social media creators (see Blue Hour's
Matt Higgins and Madeleine Kyeremateng depicted above in a screenshot from last year's event).
This year's lineup of topics and industry speakers includes:
- ESPN Fireside Chat: "The Future of Fandom"
- Omar Raja: Talent and Social Strategist (ESPN)
- Kaitee Daley: Head of Social and Influencer (ESPN)
- Toni Cowan-Brown: content
creator at the intersection of tech, politics, internet culture and F1 (@tonicowanbrown)
- Panel
Discussion: "Slaying Short Form Video"
- Boye Fajinmi: Co-founder and President of TheFutureParty
- Edith Englard: Global Head of Product, YouTube Shorts
- Neika Colbourne: Creator and Influencer Partnerships
Executive (formerly at IPSY)
- Kevin Noparvar: food reviewer and creator with a social reach of over 3.6MM (@how.kev.eats)
“Creators and influencers are the creative powerhouses behind the rise of
short-form video content. They are the showrunners, directors, writers, and stars of the content people can’t get enough of. Even with the growth we’ve seen, brands are still
significantly underinvested in creators and influencers,” said Blue Hour Head of Growth Monika Ratner, notes, adding: “One of the challenges is that influencer marketing is thought of as a
challenge to measure and can be a labor-intensive process. As marketing teams get smaller and every dollar must be accountable to impact, we see influencer investment slowing even while its importance
with consumers grows.”
This year's event also marks the official rollout of Blue Hour's "Mavin" offering, a "social-first" video production and distribution service that helps creators
and brands craft scalable, short-form video tailored for TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
“Social media audiences tune out media repurposed from other formats like TV," asserts Blue Hour
Head of Creators and Creative Taylor Michelle Gerard, explaining the need for organic, social-first content to ensure "the creative fits the unique expectations for brand storytelling in a social
media context.”
