Christopher Kenna is CEO and Founder at Brand Advance Group, a company whose mission is to “help the worlds largest Brands & Agencies reach underrepresented consumers globally using technology enabled Media (AdTech//CTV) : Creative (CreaTech) & Cultural Insights (InsighTech).” Christopher is an outspoken advocate for diversity — inside the advertising industry (diversity has been a hot-button issue for on Madison Avenue for decades) — and out.
I wanted to catch up with Chris to get his thoughts on how brand managers should think about reaching diverse audiences and the factors that might be holding them back. These factors include inertia and a lack of diversity among brand managers themselves, which can cause them to fail to understand how to message to diverse audiences. Along the way we discuss Brand Advance Group’s origin story, its network of publishers and tech stack, and the urgency for brands desiring to reach diverse audiences to seek out the services of specialists to serve as “wing people” who know today’s channel makeup well enough to act knowledgeably.
We chat about advertising’s evolving handling of influencers, who, once upon a time, worked as mere spokespeople reading from scripts but are now frequently involved in crafting creative messages catering to their particular niche audiences. We touch upon the power of digital out-of-home advertising. Our conversation concludes with a discussion of the mistakes that brands make when they chase “the next cool thing” while overlooking the need to harvest the “low-hanging fruits” within any particular demographic.
Chris is clearly passionate about his company’s mission and I enjoyed our conversation very much.
