Thousands of marketers will descend on the Penn District in Midtown Manhattan for Advertising Week New York this week to network with peers and hear the latest in thought leadership on trends including generative artificial intelligence (AI), commerce media and sports marketing. The annual confab, which is celebrating 20 years, is again hosted in what was formerly the Manhattan Mall, a sprawling, multi-story venue that last fall saw snaking lines — and some delays — to get into marquee panels.

Organizers have retooled the location to streamline navigation but still caution that attendees will want to come in with a concrete gameplan as attendance is on track to surpass 17,000, up from 15,000 in 2023. Below, Marketing Dive has assembled a guide for tackling the four-day gathering.

“We’ve slightly changed the floor plan. This year we’ve actually zoned it, hopefully, to make it a much easier space for people to navigate because it is so big,” said Ruth Mortimer, global president of Advertising Week.

Navigating the Penn District

The Penn District entrance for Advertising Week can be found at 100 West 33rd Street in New York between 6th and 7th Avenues, right around the corner from Herald Square and a few blocks from Penn Station. Advertising Week greeters and signage are present to point people the right way. Mortimer recommended that guests download the Advertising Week app, review it ahead of arrival and bookmark their desired sessions to attend. The app also has a Slido function for panels that allow for audience Q&As. 

Inside the Penn District, each level is assigned a specific zone reflecting the discussion tracks and lounges that can be found therein. There are 28 content tracks in 2024. The top floor, or second level, of the Penn District is the Leadership Zone carrying the Great Minds and Insights stages, as well as the CMO Lounge for brand marketers. 

“Our Great Minds stage actually doubled in capacity this year in response to feedback that more people wanted to be able to get in,” said Mortimer.

The CMO Lounge, which was trialed last year, has been expanded to better accommodate senior-level marketers who need to keep up with their day jobs while at the conference. The lounge features private meeting rooms, a wellness space and even AI-powered wine tastings. 

“The idea is: If you’re a marketer, you can come to Advertising Week and both be pampered and do your job better,” said Mortimer, who explained that sister conference Advertising Week Europe recently saw a 75% increase in brand marketers.

The ground floor of the Penn District contains a podcast studio and registration area while the first lower level has been made into an Entertainment Zone containing the Creativity Stage and Media Stage. An Excellence! Lounge sponsored by Group Black and Equality Lounge presented by The Female Quotient can also be found on this floor. On Thursday, the final day of Advertising Week, it will have a Podcast Zone for audio marketers and media people. 

On the second lower level, or bottom floor, is the Trends Zone, which features The Marketplace Stage, The Tech Stage and The Innovation Stage, along with a press room that will accommodate news announcements. New this year is a Scale Up Lounge that is all about growing personal brands and businesses.

“This year, we’ve integrated a lot more networking spaces into Advertising Week,” said Mortimer. “There’s a lot of content but the thing we felt people wanted even more from us was a reason to stay and do business.”

What to drop in on in

Chats with celebrities like Drew Barrymore, Terry Crews, Lil Jon, Al Roker and Michael Strahan line the agenda and are sure to draw big crowds. Other than snagging a $1,499 Super Delegate pass, which grants access to reserved seating, the best guarantee to get into a top-billed talk is to arrive early — and be prepared to pivot when something reaches capacity. 

AI, which dominated the 2023 show, is less prominent on the schedule this year, while still occupying talks from brands like Under Armour, Moët Hennessy and Hershey. 

“AI, as a standalone thing, is not quite as prevalent as a trend. It's more coming into reality. Commerce media, I would say, is really big for us this year,” said Mortimer. “Effectively, I would say this is the year where anyone with a high-traffic website realized they could be in advertising.” 

Much of the programming in the Trends Zone centers on media networks from both retailers and other verticals that have ramped up their digital media monetization bets, such as ride-hailing apps (Uber and Lyft) and travel firms (several talks are from United Airlines).

“We stopped terming it ‘retail media’ because there were so many businesses that weren’t in retail,” said Mortimer. “I definitely think there’s going to be a lot of buzz about that one.”

Addressing the upcoming elections will be another hot button issue, according to Mortimer. Advertising Week is publishing research in partnership with Cint that analyzes consumer sentiment around politics and its impact on marketing. 

Specific days will be dedicated to topics such as the business of marketing (think M&A) and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals for college sports. A new NIL+ program on Tuesday, done in conjunction with Group Black, Greenwood Ave and Lockstep Ventures, has a match-making marketplace to connect student athletes with commercial partnership opportunities.

Beyond stage programming, Advertising Week is hosting several special events, including private dinners and a wrap party at Terminal 5 with performances from Eladio Carrión alongside Latin Mafia and Alex Sensation. The Future is Female Awards, for the first time sponsored by Spotify, are Monday evening at the Cutting Room. Advertising Week is also working with the Ad Club of New York to offer two new scholarships for women.  

If all of that sounds exhausting, the show this year is outfitted with what Mortimer said were “more refreshments places than ever before.” Snapchat, Viant, Epsilon and Cint are behind some of the food carts and cafes scattered around the Penn District.

20 years in business

The expanding presence of commerce media, NIL and other emergent tracks at Advertising Week speaks to the gathering’s chameleon-like nature (retail media did not have its own dedicated space until last year). Advertising Week, which was acquired by Emerald Holding two years ago, operates in an events category that has broadened in scope over the past two decades and seen a proliferation of niche offerings in areas like programmatic, social, retail media and AI.  

“There is more in the market than ever before, particularly for marketers,” said Mortimer. “The thing that Advertising Week tries to do, and maybe in slightly different ways than we used to before, is really bring together that idea of entertainment of education.”

Advertising Week also has its heritage to lean on. The organization is publishing a book for its 20th anniversary celebrating the pop icons and mascots that have helped kick off the yearly festivities since 2004. 

“Advertising Week, over the last 20 years, has always been about looking at what’s next,” said Mortimer. “I think that’s quite a useful brand proposition to have because it means you can kind of never be out of touch.”