Name: Anthony Brown
Profession: Live Events Manager (Sponsorship)
What is your age? 30
I have contributed/changed the advertising and marketing industry by: Helping brands to strive to take innovative approaches on how they strategically advertise to multi-cultural consumers in a tasteful way without coming off unauthentic or marketing to a “specific market”.
ESSENCE Festival is the largest event celebrating African-American culture and music in the United States. Over the years, ESSENCE Festival has been the highlight of New Orleans summer music scene, and has become a “must” for stars making the rounds on the touring circuit. ESSENCE Festival also gives African American artists, writers, craftsmen, culinary artists, business people and others a chance to show and sell their merchandise at the ESSENCE Marketplace.
Behind the scenes Anthony Brown is working many months in advance to be sure that the main attractions, stellar events, and beautiful people have a once in a lifetime experience. In his current role as a Marketing Manager, (Live Events Sponsorship), Brown manages multiple marketing initiatives for sponsors: Coca-Cola, Proctor & Gamble (My Black is Beautiful) and Walmart helping them strategically integrate their brand messaging throughout all aspect of the ESSENCE Festival taking place in New Orleans.
Prior to ESSENCE Brown was on the advertising sales team at Mass Appeal (Nas’ Media Publishing Company), building a roster of sponsors who allocated their media budget to target and influence the lifestyles of millennial audience through video content, experiential event, and print. But it was his time at VIBE Magazine where he fell in love with advertising and marketing. “Not to get on my Kanye, lol, but what inspires me the most is meeting people, interacting with them and building relationship through learning what this person does best,” Brown tells BE Modern Man. “If you know me, you know I try to take a piece of someone strength and inherent nature and embed it in my own personal style. Whether its creating a marketing concept, closing a sale, or plain ole dressing.” This process of learning and building with others moves the needle for Brown. “There’s always new knowledge to learn through building. Studying human behavior, style and creativity on a one to one basis is refreshing and inspiring.”
In his role at ESSENCE Brown’s ultimate goal is to create a 360 marketing experience leveraging celebrity talent, influencers, digital platform, and traditional advertising outlets that aim to facilitate engagement between the multi-cultural audience which then result in discovering key findings around brand perception and product engagement. Having successfully managed marketing initiatives for the premier summer music festival isn’t enough for Brown. “Honestly speaking, I haven’t even experienced my greatest achievement professionally and or personally because I’m still growing,” says Brown. “Personally, I’m extremely proud to be the first in my family to graduate from (University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business) a well-respected Business School affording me the practical and relationship building skills to experience success in the Finance, Real Estate and now Advertising and Marketing industries.”
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