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00:00Thank you all so much for joining us here tonight.
00:04This is already, it's going to be a very special evening.
00:06It's a great location.
00:08It's New York City.
00:10It's advertising week.
00:11What is not to like here?
00:13Seriously, thank you.
00:14I'm Cynthia Littleton, co-editor-in-chief of Variety,
00:17and we are all, on behalf of Variety and Canva,
00:19we are just deeply grateful that you are spending your time
00:23with us tonight.
00:24We're going to feed you very well and grateful also many
00:27of you were at our studio today or will be on Wednesday
00:31or Thursday, and today was just a terrific first day
00:36of really substantial conversations
00:38about where media is going.
00:41As everyone here knows, advertising in the past year,
00:4418 months, all of a sudden a lot
00:46of people joining the advertising bandwagon,
00:49and there is so much innovation, so much, you know,
00:52just expansion of the overall, what is marketing,
00:56what is brand building and image burnishing, what is that
01:00in this century with so many platforms, and it's something
01:04that we cover endlessly.
01:05We have covered from the first days of Variety back in 1905.
01:10Yes, we are going to be 120 next year.
01:12We're very excited about that.
01:14Woo-hoo!
01:15And we are so proud that this brand,
01:19show me another 120-year-old media brand
01:22that looks this good, right?
01:24Yeah. And we're proud because we are doing so much more
01:28than Variety ever did, whether it's live media,
01:31whether it's digital video podcasting,
01:33we are really excited, and so therefore we're in a lot
01:36of the business of gathering audience that you are,
01:39and so it's just a treat for myself
01:41and our fellow senior editors to have great conversations
01:44with some of the most innovative and fabulous
01:46and successful marketers in the business.
01:49So again, we are grateful.
01:51I'm supposed to pitch you on Variety's incredible audience
01:55growth, and we really are.
01:57I'm happy to do that because we really are so proud.
02:00It took us a long time, but we finally kind of figured out
02:03or got our sea legs on the Internet, and you know,
02:07you might have noticed that a lot of people like to get
02:09on there and talk about movies and TV shows.
02:11We figured that out a few years ago, and now we just,
02:14our growth, we are reaching about 32 million uniques a month,
02:18and that's a whole lot more than we did just a few, you know,
02:21pre-pandemic and post-pandemic.
02:23It's an entirely different audience story.
02:25We are so proud of that.
02:27We are also really just starting to explore the boundaries
02:31of what that can be, and some of you we will be pitching
02:34on the strength of our platform because there is one thing
02:37that we reach better than anybody.
02:39We are the industry's, the world's number one
02:43entertainment news outlet by reach, by sheer scope
02:48of what we cover, and we have, we have just started
02:52to tap what that can really mean for people that are
02:55in the business of seeking audiences
02:57and seeking discrete fandoms.
02:59We have them.
03:00If they're reading Variety, their nose is
03:02up against the glass, and they want to know,
03:04they want to be there the first weekend of the movie.
03:06They want to buy the first streaming service.
03:08They want to check out the podcast and be the evangelist.
03:11We are a great partner for anybody wanting
03:14to reach entertainment.
03:15Okay, that's my pitch.
03:17Again, truly, truly, I want to say too, I have spent,
03:21I personally have spent a lot of time with the Canva team.
03:24They have been so great to us.
03:26We are so grateful for the support.
03:27It allows us to do really cool things.
03:30I have really, I have become to actually use the brand.
03:33It is incredible.
03:34I am, it is built for me because it's easy, intuitive,
03:39super easy to use, and I just really,
03:41the team members have become great partners
03:44and great friends, and we are really, really grateful
03:47to their support for allowing us to do this very cool event.
03:50So, let me introduce now, just for a few words here,
03:55Frank Cortese, Cortese, sorry,
03:59Frank Cortese, Global Head of Media for Canva.
04:07You took the whole pitch for Canva already.
04:08I don't need to take the demos out or anything.
04:11I'm Frank, Global Head of Brain Media at Canva.
04:14Just wanted to say a big thank you to Cynthia
04:15for that introduction, all of our friends at Variety
04:18for the continued collaboration
04:21on the Variety interview studio series,
04:23and especially for this Week in Advertising Week.
04:26We couldn't do all this without you,
04:27and we really appreciate the time.
04:30We really appreciate everyone's time here, too.
04:31We know you guys are all busy today,
04:34this week, all the time, so we really appreciate
04:37you spending the time with us tonight, too.
04:39Advertising Week is such a great time for us
04:41to be thinking about and celebrating the work
04:42that goes into our jobs every day
04:45and the output that comes from all of you
04:47and your platforms and your companies and brands every day,
04:51so we really appreciate you taking the time.
04:53For us at Canva, we spent the first decade
04:56of our existence really trying to empower
04:58the world to design, empower individuals to design.
05:00Our next decade, which we've kicked off maybe a year ago,
05:03was all about trying to empower businesses
05:05and large organizations to design,
05:06so we hope that you guys can have some conversations
05:08about that here today.
05:10We'd like to think of it as doing work the Canva way,
05:13makes work faster, easier, more visual, more fun,
05:15and that's the extent of my full pitch,
05:17so don't worry, there's no more presentations from here.
05:20So I hope everyone has a great night tonight,
05:21and thank you so much for joining us.