Advertising Week 2027: Imagining What's Possible

Advertising Week and the future of industry conferences get a full rebuild on We Fixed It You're Welcome, recorded live in New York with Erica Boeke, CEO of XP Land.

Aaron sits down with Erica in NYC while Melissa and Chino join remotely to ask why Advertising Week New York now runs out of an old Herald Square mall, why event sponsorship budgets are shrinking, and why the best conference networking happens at fringe events. Erica, who spent years creating brand experiences for Condé Nast titles, lays out an experiential marketing and event marketing strategy playbook for Advertising Week 2027 built around the attendee experience.

In this episode:

- Why Erica last spoke at Advertising Week in a former JC Penney boys department

- The dirty little secret: why she hasn't bought a badge for SXSW, AWNY or Cannes in years

- How 86 devices for the 86th Oscars beat a $250,000 logo-on-a-napkin package

- Why Canva, Sephora and Target no longer need conferences to reach their fans

- The fixes: make New York the campus, program downtime, design moments of awe

What you will learn

Why Advertising Week moved from Broadway theaters to a Herald Square mall, where Erica last spoke inside the old JC Penney boys department

The dirty little secret of big conferences: why Erica hasn't bought a badge for SXSW, AWNY or Cannes in years, and why that should worry organizers

How Erica got Samsung to deliver 86 devices for the 86th Oscars green room, and why that story beats a $250,000 logo-on-a-napkin sponsorship