Lord Matthew Scheckner, Global CEO of Advertising Week
Yes, he is in fact a \u201clord\u201d. But that is a whole conversation for another time.
Lord Matthew Scheckner is the Global CEO of Advertising Week, a platform where businesses and brands are discussing what he calls society\u2019s \u201creal issues\u201d in a collective of conferences, seminars, special events and live entertainment in New York City, Mexico City, London, Tokyo, Sydney and Johannesburg.
But prior to bringing together international professionals for Advertising Week, Matt fostered an entrepreneurial drive and work ethic that spanned from washing dishes, to the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and starting an his first agency during the emergence of sports marketing.
If you\u2019re looking for inspiration, advice and wisdom from a master networker who has created a global community, bringing together many tens-of-thousands to congregate internationally, this is a conversation you\u2019ll want to listen carefully.
In this conversation, we discuss Matt\u2019s super interesting career trajectory to Advertising Week, the surprising reason he focused on advertising, his thoughts on corporate responsibility around data & privacy issues, the importance of opportunities to connect on a human level with other people, and how Advertising Week has become a platform for business and social impact.
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\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Recognitions:Global CEO of Advertising Week
Founder of Stillwell Partners
Graduate of Emory University
Topics discussed in this conversation include:
6 countries, heading into 16 years in NY
Graduating from Emory in 1986 as a professional breeding ground
Originally planning to be a lawyer
First jobs delivering the Penny Saver (for a literal penny!), the New York Post, working at bagel shops and delis, and many other odd jobs
Interning at the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce in the 80\u2019s
The emergence of \u201csports marketing\u201d and treating sports as economic development
\u201cThe Commission on the Year 2000\u201d \u2013 Matt\u2019s first job out of college, under NYC\u2019s Mayor Koch
Maximizing utilization of the waterfront
Tax implications of the Meadowlands
Becoming the first Executive Director of the New York City Sports Commission at age 23
Winning the 1998 Good Will Games
Building the olympic sized pool in Eisenhower Park
The downfall of these programs with Mayor Giuliani
Matt\u2019s first business venture in sports marketing
Dabbling in a multitude of projects
4 A\u2019s \u2013 The American Association of Advertising Agencies
The ideation for Advertising Week
Matt\u2019s business model
Radio City events
A secret apartment in Radio City, The Roxy Suite
Proposing the first Advertising Week event to Mayor Bloomberg in 2004
The first opening gala at Gracie Mansion
Seed money
Changing from non-profit to for-profit
Matt\u2019s partner, Lance Pillersdorf
Expanding to London, Tokyo, Mexico City, Johannesburg, to a global network
Year-round content business
Why Advertising?
The importance of exclusive locations for AW\u2019s special events
Highlighting the social and experiential part of life
How to grow an international network around the globe
Getting quoted in The Wall Street Journal
Matt\u2019s motivation and drive
The challenge to create authenticity in each international location
Leveraging the AW platform to talk about important \u201creal issues\u201d
Emma Stone on mental health and wellness
Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue and the United States Surgeon General discussing the opiod crisis
Social Impact topics: Health & Wellness, Diversity & Inclusion, Sustainability, Responsible Production
Matt\u2019s perspective on how social impact is emerging in businesses
Unilever and sustainability
Brands that are doing good are good for business
Corporate responsibility around advertising and over-consumption of media
Data and privacy issues
How Matt measures success for himself and his business
Valuable advice for entrepreneurs
Matt Scheckner is CEO of Stillwell Partners, a New York City based boutique consultancy. Stillwell is best known as the producer of Advertising Week, the world\u2019s largest advertising / marketing / media industry summit. The Week is conducted in New York City, London, Tokyo, Sydney and Mexico City and launches in Africa in 2019. Under Scheckner\u2019s leadership, which dates back to 2004, the B2B event has evolved into a vibrant, global tent-pole event and is the world\u2019s pre-eminent annual platform uniting the ad tech, brand/client, creative, marketing and media communities. Scheckner\u2019s signature recipe of blending thought leadership with one-of-a-kind evening experiences for the entire industry ecosystem propels Advertising Week. The annual festival-style event is now in year fifteen (15) in the USA, going into year seven (7) in Europe, year three (3) in Tokyo and just a few months ago launched successfully in Mexico City and Sydney. Planning is well underway to launch in Africa in 2019 and Advertising Week\u2019s related year-round content initiatives, notable AW360, continue to grow.
Stillwell\u2019s origin is derived from Coney Island. For 20+ years, on the historic corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues, Stillwell has produced the annual Nathan\u2019s 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest and ESPN broadcast.
Scheckner has served on the Board of Governors of the Friars Club and stands alongside such luminaries as Milton Berle, Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan, and Henny Youngman, as winner of the \u201cFriar of the Year\u201d - - a distinction he was awarded by his fellow Friars in 2011. He is active with many causes, including the launch of War Child in the United States, Comic Relief UK, London\u2019s Roundhouse and Tuesday\u2019s Children, which honored Scheckner as their 2013 Gala Honoree. Scheckner also served as Chairman of the World Trade Center Memorial Communications Advisory Council and led a public campaign that generated $300 million towards construction and completion of the World Trade Center Memorial.
From 2006-2008, Scheckner served as Consigliere at Yahoo!, where he produced the industry\u2019s first digital Upfront, \u201cBroadband on Broadway\u201d in 2007 and managed the corporation\u2019s relationships with Madison Avenue. He also conceived and produced major corporate experiential programs around the world - - from Cannes to Pebble Beach - - and led the company\u2019s support of the Tribeca Film Festival, an early harbinger of the modern-day explosion of creative content streaming on the web.
For more than a decade (1995-2006), Scheckner owned and ran Empire Sports & Entertainment, a New York City-based marketing and strategic consulting firm. One of Empire\u2019s largest clients was Radio City Productions. Under Scheckner\u2019s direction, Empire produced major events outside the Music Hall including the 1997 opening of Arthur Ashe Stadium, Pepsi\u2019s 1999 Centennial Celebration, which featured Ray Charles, Riverdance and the Rolling Stones and several Super Bowl Halftimes.
Scheckner also played a central role in shaping the Music Hall\u2019s overall strategic plan including its acquisition by Madison Square Garden and landmark renovation in the year 2000.
Empire also served as SFX\u2019s marketing agency developing strategies to secure more than $200 million in sponsorship across SFX\u2019s live sports and entertainment properties. The company also partnered with Ken Sunshine and the Nashville-based Opryland to produce \u201cAlways . . . Patsy Cline\u201d Off-Broadway. The show ran for a year at the Variety Arts Theater.
Prior to incorporating Empire in 1995, Scheckner served as Counsel on Sports Marketing for the flagship office of Hill & Knowlton, a global public relations firm where he founded the firm\u2019s sports and entertainment practice.
From 1987 through 1994, Scheckner served as Executive Director of the New York City Sports Commission, a not-for-profit organization founded during the Koch administration. During his tenure with the Commission, Scheckner was directly responsible for successful bids for the 1993 Olympic Congress of the USA and the 1998 Goodwill Games. He saved the Jerome Boxing Club in the South Bronx from eviction and secured City funds to renovate the Club; fulfilled New York City Marathon founder Fred Lebow\u2019s request to secure the entire Verrazano Bridge as the Marathon\u2019s starting point; closed Central Park for the Tour de Trump cycling race; stopped City government in it\u2019s tracks by bringing Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and Larry Holmes to City Hall; led New York City\u2019s bid to host 1994 World Cup matches; and successfully secured City and Community Board approval to stage an Indy Car Race in lower Manhattan.
Prior to assuming his post with the Sports Commission, Scheckner served as a Policy Analyst with the Mayor\u2019s Commission on the Year 2000, a blue-ribbon planning group, where he was responsible for the Commission's work on demographics, economic development, education, transportation and water front development.
Among Scheckner's other professional honors, he was selected as a member of Crain's New York Business "Forty Under Forty" at the age of 28. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at the New York University Management Institute, and was appointed coordinator of NYU's annual Summer Institute on Sports and Event Marketing in 1995. In 1998, Scheckner was appointed to a similar post as an Adjunct Professor of the Columbia Graduate School of Business. Globally, Scheckner has lectured in Sao Paolo with Pele on sports marketing, among other venues.
Scheckner resides in Port Washington, NY with his wife Ila and their children, Benny and Eliza. Sadly, his dog Lambeau passed in 2010 but lives on in memory. He is a graduate of Emory University with a Bachelor of Arts. Regarding personal pursuits, Scheckner has the distinction of having been one of two severely injured softball-playing Friars during a 2009 outfield crash in Central Park; he is an avid golfer; and competes with pride in the Friars Pool tournaments, having finished as high as 6thplace.