On January 24^th 2012, five top marketing panelists were invited by the Creative Mind Salon Series at Soho House NY to debate about a central thematic: “The Chill Factor – What Makes a Brand Cool?”. Hosted by The Round Table Creative Media Group (CMG), the panel was moderated by Round Table CMG founding member Glenn Johnson and speakers included Maurice Bernstein, Founder & CEO, Giant Step, Andrew Essex, CEO, Droga5, Josh Rubin, Founder & Editor In Chief, Cool Hunting, Bevy Smith, creator of “Dinner with Bevy,” and Andrew Pollard, President, Project Tradeshow.

Maurice Bernstein particularly insisted on the importance of personalized and authentic partnerships where the brand-band partnership reflects coherence and mutual benefits. Panelists also insisted on the growing role of social media and the importance to build stories around Twitter and Facebook for driving consumer engagement and participation. Jay Z, Rihanna or Lady Gaga and her 18 million followers were mentioned by Maurice Bernstein and Andrew Essex as being key brand partners behind viral advertising. Finally, Brands which were mentioned as cool and successful thanks to social media included Coca Cola, Moet, Virgin Mobile, Louis Vuitton, Hennessy, Puma, and Bing.