Ozy, the controversial media company that started spiraling following a New York Times investigation, is back. Maybe.
Onstage last week during the second day of IPG’s Equity Upfront, Ozy CEO Carlos Watson divulged little about the future of his media business that announced it was shutting down (but then didn’t) in 2021.
While onstage, he hosted the former mayor of San Juan, a correspondent on The Daily Show, and two college students, both recipients of the Ozy “Genius Award,” all while declining to address any of the controversies surrounding the company or the status of reported federal investigations.
And yes, he did walk onstage to “Hustlin’” by Rick Ross.
While his presentation was short on details—read this recap in Semafor if you don’t believe us—Watson shared, in passing, that Ozy Fest would return this summer in Miami.
Marketing Brew has learned how Watson and Ozy are pitching advertisers on the return of the festival, which Watson called “TED meets Coachella” during his upfront presentation.
In an email shared by a media agency staffer with Marketing Brew, Ozy shared sponsorship opportunities at the request of the agency, including for Ozy Fest 2023, a two-day festival taking place in Miami this June that the publisher claimed will attract around 60,000 attendees. The cost of a sponsorship wasn’t shared in the email, which said pricing would be customized based on the offering.
According to the email, the company is pitching potential sponsors on a range of content tied to Ozy Fest, including a series touching on topics from racial justice to…pickleball.
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To commemorate the 50th anniversary of hip hop, Ozy is planning to profile five emerging artists—potentially including Bad Bunny?— and roll out corresponding content, offering sponsorship opps that the email said could lead to 20 million impressions.
Marketing Brew reached out to Watson to ask about how Ozy arrived at 60,000 attendees, whether a festival site had been booked, and if he’s generated any interest from potential advertising partners so far, but he has not responded.
Kathy Doyle, EVP of local investment at Magna, told us that Ozy presented at IPG’s upfront because “they have a lot to pitch, they have some bumps in the road…it’s about giving people chances…Carlos has been really dedicated to getting it right.”
Brian Morrissey, a media analyst and founder of the newsletter The Rebooting, told Marketing Brew that, for Ozy, “it’s gonna be more difficult to close those kinds of partnership deals with all these outstanding questions that I still don’t truly understand,” like whether Ozy has an organic audience or not.
“The guy was obviously able to build relationships with important people, and that’s very valuable,” he said. “The question I would end up having for IPG is, did he take the space of someone more deserving on that stage?”
Currently, there’s a logo for Ozy Fest 2023 on Ozy’s website, but when you click on the link, you’re brought to a page that asks for an email address in order to “get on the waitlist for Ozy Fest Miami 2021.”