Trends and Technology

Amy Brothers, brand manager for Pebbles cereal, and Brian Hurley, creative director at Public Works, discuss the kid-centric “Daily Yabba Dabba Doo” series and provide insight into the most effective ways for brands to harness user-generated content.

Brands and organizations need to recognize that consumer patterns and behaviors are now being exclusively shaped by the pandemic, rather than demographics. Brian Solis, global innovation evangelist at Salesforce, discusses the digital transformation companies are now confronting, how the pandemic will fundamentally change marketing, and why it’s time to get to know generation N.

The recent crackdown on hate speech among various social media platforms provide an opportunity for brands to reset their social media strategy (not to mention their budgeting).

The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, among others, reignited a national conversation around racial injustice and systemic inequalities. With consumers increasingly expecting brands to take a stand against racial injustice, keeping silent is not an option for many companies. But to help effect real change, companies need to resolve the problematic practices that exist within their own houses first. Here’s how they can get started.

The term ‘brand safety’ has taken on a more literal meaning during the pandemic, with consumers acutely interested in how the products they buy are manufactured, packaged, and distributed.

The pandemic will require marketers to master a new set of media buying skills, adopt KPIs that transcend return-on-advertising spending, and move e-commerce toward the center of their marketing strategy.

To both keep advertisers in the fold and attract new ones, Facebook has rolled out new tools to bolster brand safety and make it easier for brands to reach their intended audiences.

A crisis may not be the best time for companies to stress test their brand purpose. However, the past few months have forced companies to reexamine why their brand exists, or perhaps more important, what’s needed to better articulate their purpose.

As the internet has matured from a novelty to a mainstream source for news and entertainment, digital content creators have carved out massive audiences who are enormously loyal. Many fans consider this content essential to their lives, and they are willing to support the brands that make it possible.

Brands are cutting back on producing commercials as marketing budgets are curtailed and social distancing measures remain in place. The good news is that scaling back on ad shoots can have broader benefits.

Plant-based food products continue to expand, along with a marketing strategy that goes beyond a green or environmentally correct message and focuses on what consumers crave: taste. Big brands like IKEA and Disney join the fray.

To nurture talent at every level brands need to apply an agile marketing model that holds people accountable for their work and encourages them to step out of their comfort zone.

A number of inspiring brand stories have emerged over the past several months, with companies providing ample resources to both combat the pandemic and make things easier for first responders. Here’s how Budweiser, Crocs, Publix, and Hyundai, among others, have seized on opportunities to help in the fight against COVID-19.

The expectations of millennial and generation Z workers mesh nicely with the underlying need for marketers to be perpetually innovative, flexible, and digitally savvy.

Marketers for smaller brands don’t have the same resources as their counterparts at bigger companies. But there’s still a great deal that smaller brands can learn from their larger competitors when it comes to maximizing their marketing activities.

The advertising, marketing, and media industries are coalescing to fight the coronavirus. PSAs and content designed to educate the public about the disease lead the charge.

Since first appearing on Facebook and Instagram in 2016, shoppable posts have only grown, fully rolling out to 46 nations on both channels in 2018. Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok each began testing shoppables last year. As consumers' online behavior evolves, are they taking the shortcut to the shopping cart, or is the URL path to purchase as long as ever?

Petfluencers spark an instant connection with consumers and attract the kind of audiences that should make most marketers jealous. A growing number of brands are giving it a whirl, building marketing campaigns around these unconventional social media stars.

Once the advertising domain of in-game developers, mobile gaming is starting to attract a growing number of business sectors eager to reach a dedicated audience. New (and non-intrusive) ad formats abound for buyers.

Ongoing changes wrought by AI and machine learning will completely upend client-agency relations, transforming everything from deliverables and metrics to projects and interactions. But the changes could spur much tighter relationships, as well.