http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/business/media/irreverence-and-youth-reign-at-celebrity-studded-ad-week.html 2014-10-02 02:49:32 Irreverence, and Youth, Reign at Celebrity-Studded Ad Week Organizers are using celebrities, improvisational comedy and other elements intended to engage those attending the annual Advertising Week in New York. === JUST as Madison Avenue is increasingly infusing product pitches with entertainment value — the better to connect with consumers and encourage the sharing of content on social media — the organizers of the annual Take, for instance, a panel on Wednesday devoted to online video, titled “Living in a Short-Form World.” The obligatory senior executives from companies in the field were onstage: Alexandra Cameron, chief executive of How young are the Janoskians? One, James Yammouni, began an anecdote about starting their careers by mentioning when he was in the 10th grade, in 2011; he is 18. The others on hand were Jai Brooks, 19, and Beau Brooks, 21. (Missing were, in the parlance of their homeland, their “mates” Luke Brooks, 19, and Daniel Sahyounie, 19.) The trio riffed and riposted during the panel in a breezy, cheeky manner that reminded at least one older audience member of the The Janoskians tweaked Mr. Sykes for not asking them to perform at the recent The young men also enjoyed mocking Mr. Hilton’s behavior — he snapped a selfie as Ms. Cameron asked Mr. Sykes a question — and grandiose pronouncements. For example, after Mr. Hilton spoke earnestly about reinvention, Mr. Yammouni interjected, “What about your hairstyle, Perez, that hasn’t changed in a while.” After the panel ended, Mr. Yammouni said the japes had all been in good fun. “Getting to Yes: Inside the Creative Process,” a presentation sponsored by Five comedians with improv skills performed skits based on audience suggestions of locations (restaurant, closet), relationships (prostitute and customer, chef and food critic) and phrases that begin with the letters “t” and “k” (“talking kangaroo,” “total knockout”). Among the energetic participants were the actor and comedian Scott Adsit of “30 Rock”; the actress and comedian Rachel Dratch of “Saturday Night Live”; and Sue Gillan, a Second City alumna who is a creative director at O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul. The audience members were invited to take part in an exercise in creativity and cooperation that asked them to break into groups of three and talk to one another while the comedians paused in their onstage high jinks. The groups were told to respond to suggestions from one another in three ways: “No, I think...,” “Yes, but...” and “Yes, and...” The consensus after the lively interaction among the audience members, guided by Ms. Gillan, was that “Yes, and...” was most conducive to collaborating creatively. Of course, plenty of Advertising Week sessions have retained traditional formats like panel discussions and one-on-one interviews. An instance of the latter was a conversation between Teressa Iezzi, an editor at Fast Company magazine, and Yannick Bolloré, global chairman and chief executive of Havas, the French agency holding group that is the sixth-largest in the world after WPP, the Omnicom Group, the Publicis Groupe, the Interpublic Group of Companies and Dentsu. If, as the Still, Mr. Bolloré acknowledged, “an algorithm will never replace the creative director,” because the more difficult it becomes to capture the attention of the consumer, “the more we have a need for highly creative content.” Asked by Ms. Iezzi about the larger agency groups that Havas competes against, Mr. Bolloré replied, “When you look at the industry, I’m not sure the biggest company will win the race.” He likened a firm to a person, describing how he had lost some weight — “four or five kilos,” about nine to 11 pounds — in the last couple of months while training for the “I’m feeling in much better shape,” he said. “I think we should look to be the fittest company, the most agile, to adapt to the new paradigm.” In another light note, Ms. Iezzi asked Mr. Bolloré about a remark she said he had made in another interview to the effect that Havas had hired so many mathematicians that it changed the firm’s dress code. She set up the question by declaring that when it comes to a “French dress code, it’s not what you should or shouldn’t wear — it’s that you have to be insanely stylish.” Advertising Week is to conclude on Thursday.