Oct 13, 2026 · 59 min
Advertising Week needs a city, not another convention center
Advertising Week 2027: Imagining What's Possible
The episode asks whether major industry gatherings can regain relevance by designing around attendee needs, place, community, and memorable shared experiences.
- 1Conferences lose value when inherited programming and sponsorship packages overshadow the reasons people attend.
- 2New York could become an active event campus, connecting curated sessions, fringe gatherings, neighborhoods, and intentional downtime.
- 3The proposed standard for Advertising Week 2027 is collective awe: a moment attendees remember and instinctively share.
Don't miss
Erica Boeke defines collective awe as the standard for a successful event: a moment so powerful attendees instinctively share it.
The brief
At a live New York conversation, Erica Boeke joins the hosts to examine why major advertising conferences feel less compelling—and what attendees should take home instead.
The argument is not simply that venues look tired; generic programming and sponsorships can miss the actual goals of attending: networking, learning, energy, and connection.
Their alternative treats New York as a campus, with fringe events, curated programming, neighborhood experiences, and enough downtime for informal encounters to happen.
Erica points to collective awe as the test for a successful live experience: a moment powerful enough that people instinctively share it with others.
The proposed Advertising Week 2027 is therefore a scratch-and-rebuild project, prioritizing curation and attendee needs over scale, habit, and inherited conference playbooks.