Legendary Sound Engineer Young Guru to Speak at SXSW

AUSTIN, Texas, March 07, 2018 -- The Marketing Arm today announced that Chief Music Strategist Young Guru is speaking at SXSW in a session entitled Music Tech: A Gateway to Awaken America's Youth on March 13 from 11am-12pm CT at the Austin Convention Center, Room 12AB.

GRAMMY award-winning sound engineer Young Guru, whose work is synonymous with the iconic sound of Jay-Z, is widely regarded for his unique ability to communicate complex technical terms to students, creatives and business executives alike. He joined The Marketing Arm in 2016 as Chief Music Strategist to help brands transform how they leverage music to best reach consumers. Guru has become an omnipresent figure at the intersection between music, education, and business. He is also pioneering STEM-related opportunities for brands to support education through his innovative focus on correlating young people’s interactions with music to engineering and higher learning.  

“Music is a catalyst for underserved youth to engineer a better future. Giving them the confidence to navigate high-level programming sparks creativity, as kids start experimenting with how to approach a topic they already relate to – music,” said Guru. “There are also exciting opportunities for brands to get involved and to take a stand for a meaningful cause.”

Guru’s SXSW featured speaking session will focus on how music production can ignite the imaginations of young people at the intersection of education and technological innovation. Young people are unknowingly programming and engineering, by interacting with and creating music on digital platforms on a daily basis. In the economy of the future, 65% of jobs for this demographic have yet to be created, which should be a force for social mobility and economic sustainability for the creative class. With this in mind, brands can position themselves at the forefront of the conversation by driving impact for young people through cause marketing and annual contributions tied to STEM education, especially as it pertains to targeting minorities. Learn more about the session here.

“One of The Marketing Arm’s core capabilities is our deftness for connecting brands with music, and Guru’s work to engage them with America’s youth on a different level adds another layer to the power of music,” said Larry Weintraub, President of Music and Chief Innovation Officer at The Marketing Arm. “Brands are uniquely positioned to be able to make a quantifiable impact on a large section of the population, it’s just about bringing that idea to the forefront.”

The Marketing Arm works with brands like State Farm to bring activations to some of the hottest music festivals across the country, Frito-Lay to write original lyrics for campaigns, and is also the nation’s largest brand-side buyer for music and celebrity talent. With a renewed focus on how brands can push the envelope musically, Guru’s perspective as a performer and engineer helps drive groundbreaking collaborative work between The Marketing Arm and their clients.

About The Marketing Arm
Founded in 1993, The Marketing Arm is a brand engagement agency with deep expertise across 13 disciplines: music, content, digital, entertainment, experiential, influencer, sports, multicultural, health, promotions, shopper, social, and celebrity talent. With a focus on sophisticated planning across all promotional channels, The Marketing Arm develops comprehensive integrated marketing programs for more than 100 blue-chip brands. Recognized for its creative client work, The Marketing Arm has won more than 80 major industry awards and honors over the last three years, including multiple Cannes Lions, Clios, Effies, Reggies, and ONE Show Pencils. As part of the DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc., The Marketing Arm executes global campaigns through our offices in Dallas, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Hong Kong, London, Manchester, and Sao Paulo. For more information, please visit themarketingarm.com or follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @themarketingarm.

About Omnicom Group, Inc.
Omnicom Group (www.omnicomgroup.com) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company.  Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries. Follow us on Twitter for the latest news.

Contact:
Claire Eisenberg
DiGennaro Communications
[email protected]