Advertising Week & Laugh Out Loud Forge New Global Alliance

NEW YORK, March 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Advertising Week (AW), the world's largest annual gathering of advertising, brand, creative, entertainment, marketing, media and technology industry leaders, and Laugh Out Loud (LOL), the comedy brand and entertainment company founded by the world's top comedian Kevin Hart, have forged a new alliance to inject laughter and diverse comedic voices into the global AW platform and deepen LOL'S relationship with the advertising, tech and creative community. The multi-year alliance will expand LOL's Comedy in Color global standup and original content program outside of North America; launch a new B2B podcast focused on comedy and culture; create a new LOL-branded content studio, and deliver LOL talent to AW stages across the globe. LOL Founder Kevin Hart will keynote at Advertising Week in New York City in October, with Steve Harvey keynoting at the inaugural Advertising Week Africa in Johannesburg in May. The AW/LOL alliance will also extend to in London and Sydney in 2020.

"Comedy has always been on our front burner. We're excited to partner with LOL on this global alliance in 2020 to expand our comedy footprint and extend what we are doing to advance the ball on diversity and inclusion from top to bottom across our industry. We can't wait to welcome Kevin Hart and Steve Harvey, two of the biggest comedy superstars on the planet, to the Advertising Week stages," said AW Global CEO, Matt Scheckner.

Steve Harvey will join Jeff Clanagan, President of Laugh Out Loud, on the main-stage in Johannesburg for AW Africa. These leaders of the industry will engage in an exciting conversation around how they're bringing their respective brands to the region and the importance of investing in global markets, including Steve Harvey Global bringing Family Feud to Africa.

Rounding out the partnership between AW and LOL Kevin Hart will take the AW stage in New York City for a special edition of "Hart to Heart" which will serve as the event's main-stage keynote.

"Bringing Comedy in Color to Advertising Week and extending our offerings in the B2B space with this alliance is an exciting and progressive move for LOL.  We will bring an approach that is thoughtful, irreverent and – as always – hilarious. Comedy brings the world together and, more than ever, we all need to laugh. Bottling the power of laughter for brands and the broader creative community is at the heart of what we are doing here, and we're excited about it and the opportunity to further extend our brand worldwide," said Thai Randolph, LOL's EVP & GM.

Additionally Advertising Week and LOL will feature thought leadership content on the global impact of Comedy in Color with a Comedy in Color stand-up event at AWEUROPE in London. Similar programming elements will take place in August later this year at AWAPAC in Sydney.

About Advertising Week:

Advertising Week is the premier global education, engagement and event platform for: advertising, brand, creative, marketing, media and technology professionals. Founded in 2004, Advertising Week has grown into the # 1 business-to-business event in New York City. In addition to New York, Advertising Week's global footprint has expanded to five additional worldwide live events: AWEUROPE (London); AWASIA (Tokyo); AWAPAC (Sydney); AWAfrica (Johannesburg); and AWLATAM (Mexico City). AW has also uniquely elevated the live experience to smartphones and tablets with year-round digital platforms, AW360 and AWLEARN.

About Laugh Out Loud

Laugh Out Loud is a comedy brand and multi-platform entertainment company founded by the world's top comedian Kevin Hart. Through comedy in color, LOL unites a diverse, global audience around an essential connective tissue: LAUGHTER.

From stand-up legends to the next generation of comedic talent, Hart and LOL curate comedy's boldest voices to produce original scripted and unscripted series, stand-up specials, live broadcasts and experiential activations. To Laugh Out Loud, Hart brings the groundbreaking social strategy that earned him 100 million+ followers, sold out 2018's biggest comedy tour in the world, and continues to break box office records.  For more, visit LaughOutLoud.com

PR Contacts

AW:
Aanchal Khurana
Sunshine Sachs
[email protected] 
212 691 2800

LOL:
Laura Michael, Metro Public Relations
[email protected] 
310-601-3211

SOURCE Advertising Week