Billy Cladek

NEW YORK — The Agile Innovation Series focuses on the need for organizations to constantly evolve and innovate with an agile mind-set to remain viable in today’s dynamic world. Throughout the series accelerate360’s Trey Holder explores the current business environment through interviews with leaders in a variety of fields. This month, Holder caught up with Billy Cladek, senior vice president of Global Revenue at Firework, to hear how the company is bringing the physical shopping experience into the digital store with immersive video technology.

Here are some of the highlights from the discussion:

HOLDER: What is Firework doing in the retail media network space?

CLADEK: We’re working to improve the user experience within the digital store by making it much more human and personal through interactive, short, shoppable video experiences on an ultra-lightweight infrastructure within the actual retailer.com property. This includes features like digital showrooms, a longer-format piece of content moderated by a host, where consumers can authentically engage deeply with the brand. This engagement is helping retailers look at retail media in a new life as their content is no longer just a sponsored placement or a banner on the page, but truly a personalized experienced optimizes on true data points that you get in a retail environment.

HOLDER: How can opportunities within Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) drive authenticity in retailer content?

CLADEK: While retailers support digital transformation, content is still a hurdle. This includes sourcing talent, finding talent with the right voice, and trying to find right mix between professionally generated content and user-generated content. We’re helping retailers overcome this hurdle by connecting them with thousands of student athletes across the country who have an authentic, local audience behind them. To date, we’ve seen over 35 NCAA collectives and universities jump on board to have their student athletes earn a salary by generating meaningful content for brands, including sponsored social posts, original content to run alongside ads, shoppable videos, and digital showroom programs.

HOLDER: What’s important to consider when working with these groups?

CLADEK: Remember to stay authentic. This means your ideal partner that will make the best organic content for you may not always be the most-known athlete at the school. Perhaps it’s someone less known from the volleyball team or even a golfer with a unique story — female or male. Firework is building a connected ecosystem to help these students get discovered and paired with brands that make sense.

HOLDER: How is Firework protecting its student partners?

CLADEK: At the end of the day, the most important thing is making sure everyone has a platform and that it’s a really safe environment. Firework has recently launched into the generative AI space to make sure that as we continue to grow as a company, and as interactive video and NIL continues to grow as an ecosystem, we continue do the right thing for every student athlete and brand through a lens of safety. We make sure we are protecting these student athletes and how their image is portrayed by giving them the tools to manage their reputations.

HOLDER: What would you consider to be three traits of a culture that can drive innovation inside of an organization?

CLADEK: I think the first one is having no ego. Being humble drives companies forward. At Firework, our leaders practice humility by listening to the entire community. We receive all feedback and know that there’s not one point of view that’s going to be right 100% of the time.

The second trait is the ability to unlearn and relearn. If you’re going to fail, then fail fast and pivot. Find out why it didn’t work post-mortem, so you don’t make the same mistake twice.

The third trait is the persistence towards the common goal. Your North Star shouldn’t change, but how you get there might. And again, listening to your entire community can help you achieve that common goal, even if you change your tactics along the way.

Watch the full interview here: YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/yQBB2VDvGjc

This transcript was lightly edited for brevity for Chain Drug Review.