Priming Audiences for a Truly Social Olympic Games
The Olympic Games in London promises to be the first truly social Olympic Games in history. Significant digital and social advancements now allow consumers to personally engage with thousands of U.S. Olympic Team athletes and events, enhancing their experience even beyond traditional media coverage and inspiring them to have a greater vested interest in the games. All industry players, including sponsors, have shifted resources to develop programming and content that fuels this transition. In addition to ongoing event broadcast virtually around the clock, we now see the rise of continuous real-time coverage from analysts, check in opportunities at real life events and at home and direct updates from the competing U.S. Olympic Team athletes themselves. This panel pays particular attention to the impact of digital innovation on the Olympic Games and how convergence technology is shaping audience’s connection to Team USA and events.
Presenters
Alex Iskold is the founder & CEO of GetGlue, the social network for entertainment. Alex has established GetGlue as the fast-growing leader in the space through partnerships with top networks, movie studios and other entertainment brands. Previously he worked as chief architect for Data Synapse and for IBM, which acquired his first start-up, Information Laboratory, in 2003. Alex holds an M.S. from New York University.
Lauren Pasquale began her career in sports digital media in 1995, creating and posting content for NFL.com, NFLMedia.com and SuperBowl.com. With the National Football League, she served PR and content roles in Communications & Government Affairs, NFL Films and finally, New Media. After leading functional integration of the 32 NFL club websites into the NFL Network in 2000, she joined USA Hockey as the Director of Internet Communications and launched the most comprehensive membership services website among National Governing Bodies, offering members online registration, coach and referee clinic registration, event management registration, results tracking and free websites on the USA Hockey Internet Network for over 1,000 registered programs.
At the U. S. Olympic Committee, Pasquale is responsible for Team USA digital content, development and sponsorship activation. She established a cross-functional working group to set the USOC digital media strategy and implemented the first ever search engine marketing and social media campaigns, resulting in a 67% increase in daily visitors over Beijing during the Vancouver Games.
In 2011, Pasquale directed social media growth which resulted in a 333% increase in Facebook audience. In preparation for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Pasquale is leading digital media efforts to socialize Team USA for fans, producing extensive video series and Facebook application development as well as a mobile and tablet application to connect fans with athletes on the Road to London.
Digital brand engagement strategist for Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest technology company. Over 15 years of experience marketing directly to consumers. Instrumental in creating and executing holistic strategies around digital channels including social media optimization, e-CRM, web analytics, web design and SEO. MBA earned in 2001.
Shira Lazar is the Host and Executive Producer of the weekly live interactive show and 24/7 news hub, “What’s Trending”. She is also the Host and Creator of the talk show of YouTube, “Partners Project”, interviewing the biggest YouTube stars. Named one of Fast Company’s 2011 Most Influential Women in Technology and Huffington Post’s “Women in Tech to follow on Twitter”, Shira has been the face of the biggest live-streams on the web including, The Oscars and The Grammys among many others. Lazar is a Webby Awards Honoree and IAWTV Winner For Best Web Series Live Host. A digital trailblazer, she speaks at conferences around the world, is a regular contributor on The Huffington Post and appears frequently on networks like Bloomberg TV, CNN and Fox News Channel discussing Internet culture and digital trends. You can ready Shira’s weekly posts covering the intersection of business and social media on Entrepreneur.com.
A pacesetter in digital media for nearly 15 years, Stephanie Agresta is EVP, Managing Director of Social Media for the global public relations firm Weber Shandwick, where she focuses on social media strategy and partnerships in addition to consulting with key accounts.
In the course of her career, Stephanie has been instrumental to developing digital media initiatives for major brands such as Microsoft, Windows Phone, PepsiCo, Hewlett Packard and P&G.
Prior to joining Weber Shandwick, Stephanie served as EVP, Digital Strategy and Social Media for Porter Novelli. Her accomplishments in this role included leading the effort to become Digital Agency of Record for Bel Brands. She also secured AOR relationships with Blog World and New Media Expo, as well as partnerships with Twestival, Internet Week and Social Media Week, for which she serves on the Global Advisory Board.
In 2004 Stephanie founded Stephanie Agresta Consulting, a digital media and marketing firm that forged partnerships with noted digital thought leaders and emerging technology companies. In 2008 she launched “Bloggers Lounge,” a networking hub for digital media influencers at the SXSW Music and Media Conference. She also partnered with Brian Solis, author of P.R. 2.0, to found the social media event brand The TechSet.
Stephanie began her career with iVillage.com, one of the first sites to build an online community. She went on to hold prominent sales, marketing and business development roles with Internet powerhouses such as Barnes & Noble, Register.com and SpaFinder.
A popular speaker at industry events, Stephanie has sat on panels at Web2Expo, Blog World, BlogHer, SXSW and Mashable conferences. She was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Social Media Advertising Consortium (SMAC), where she serves alongside executives from Ford, IBM, Intel, Pepsico and Razorfish.
Stephanie was named to PR Week’s “40 Under 40” for 2010. Her first book, Perspectives on Social Media Marketing, co-authored with B. Bonin Bough of Pepsico, was released in October 2010.
Saturday, March 10
