Trends and Technology
Covering everything from brand activation to major initiatives, ANA keeps you on top of the latest marketing news and insights with in-depth stories, profiles, infographics, and more.
-
How Marketers Score with 'Forever Fans'
Trends and Technology December 13, 2023Sports programming is a solid marketing vehicle for reaching wide swaths of consumers, of course, but how can brands tap the devotion of so-called "forever fans," who are more likely than other fans to emotionally connect to sponsors?
view -
Is the Patchwork of U.S. State Privacy Laws Untenable?
Trends and Technology December 8, 2023Consumer data privacy in the U.S. is complicated because the country lacks a national data privacy law. But individual state laws that form a patchwork of complexity and sometimes-conflicting regulations are leaving brands — and individuals — confused about their rights.
view -
Citi's Methodical Approach to Experiential Marketing
Trends and Technology December 1, 2023Before brand marketers jump into a new sponsorship, it's crucial that they ask themselves how their involvement will add value to their entire organization, says Jeffrey Quezada of Citi.
view -
How Extended Payment Terms May Affect Agency Relations
Trends and Technology November 24, 2023Saying that they face a seemingly endless threat of a recession along with financial pressures from upper management, client-side marketers continue to ask for extended payment terms, putting the squeeze on creative services firms. But agencies are pushing back, as the 4A's insist on in a recent report that agencies only accept 30-day payment terms.
view -
Appealing to Pet Parents
Trends and Technology November 17, 2023Despite stubbornly high inflation, pet owners haven't slowed down their purchasing. In 2022, American pet owners spent $136.8 billion on their pets, an approximate 10.7 percent increase from the previous year, according to Forbes. What's more, 68 percent of consumers spent more on pet products in February 2023 compared to January 2022, even as they cut back on other items.
view -
Marketing to Generation Alpha
Trends and Technology November 10, 2023When catering to gen Alphas, marketers need to think outside the screen, and create engaging, immersive experiences that blend the digital and physical worlds.
view -
Major Sports Leagues Play the Long Ball
Trends and Technology November 3, 2023With increasing competition for mind and wallet share, the big sports leagues continue to roll out new marketing vehicles to keep fans engaged, broaden their reach, and develop new ad revenue streams.
view -
What Happens When Media Consumption Rates Peak?
Trends and Technology November 1, 2023Media usage may be moving toward a tipping point in which consumer consumption rates for both traditional media and digital channels reach saturation. Marketers will have to alter their engagement strategies to capture more elusive consumers.
view -
A New Perspective On Older Consumers
Trends and Technology October 27, 2023Armed with enormous spending power, Americans aged 50 and over are living longer, more active lives. But, for the most part, marketers choose to ignore rapidly changing demographics and devote the bulk of their budgets to courting the coveted 18 to 49 crowd. A new platform targeting consumer-facing brands wants to change that.
view -
Is the Agency Review Process Broken?
Trends and Technology October 20, 2023Is the agency review process broken? According to a recent study, the typical price tag for agency reviews is on the rise, both for the agencies and the brands they serve. Agency reviews are also getting to be a bigger drain on time. When an incumbent agency participates, the selection process takes 2.5 months, while choosing a new agency takes 3.2 months. Both sides of the table are getting increasingly frustrated, but there are ways to remedy the situation.
view -
Are Marketers Equipped to Build Trust for the Long Term?
Trends and Technology October 16, 2023More than 70 percent of consumers said it is more important to trust the brands they buy from or use today than in the past, according to a recent survey released by Edelman. Companies will need to revisit their strategies for building trust with their customers or face dwindling returns or, even worse, irrelevancy.
view -
What the 'Total Experience' Means for Marketers
Trends and Technology October 13, 2023Companies can no longer approach customer experience (CX) as one person's or department's job, according to Neil Dowling, CMO and global alliances lead at the global experience company Rightpoint. If companies are siloed, true measurement is narrow and makes enhancing the customer experience a bigger challenge.
view -
The Ethical Risks of Generative Artificial Intelligence
Trends and Technology October 11, 2023Intellectual property and copyright concerns are among the thornier issues that marketers and agencies are grappling with as generative artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a force in the ad business. Procurement can play a key role asking vendors about their technology capabilities and how those technologies or models were trained. At the same time, marketers should be encouraged that some generative AI vendors are providing assurances that their products are free of copyright concerns.
view -
Why Are Marketers' Tech Stacks Collecting Dust?
Trends and Technology October 6, 2023Martech utilization rates keep plummeting, according to a recent survey. One reason marketers don't use more of their technology is because marketers and/or their agency partners fail to take charge of the applications within their organizations. Problems with customer data, a complex ecosystem, and rigid governance also contribute to underutilization.
view -
Marketers Need to Have a Frank Discussion About Chatbots
Trends and Technology September 29, 2023While the cost savings and marketing efficiencies chatbots offer are real, they come with potentially severe and growing risks, ranging from copyright infringement to misinformation. Whether marketers deploy generative AI chatbots for advertising campaigns or to improve workflow in-house, they need to understand the legal and ethical sand traps and proceed with a plan.
view -
Reaching People with Disabilities Authentically
Trends and Technology September 26, 2023By ignoring people with disabilities, brands are not only potentially alienating a large swath of the population, they're also leaving money on the table. New research conducted by Morning Consult found that 84 percent of respondents had a more favorable impression of companies that are inclusive of people with disabilities in their marketing and advertising and 80 percent wanted to do more business with such companies.
view -
Marketers Balance the Promise and Peril of Generative AI
Trends and Technology September 22, 2023The promise of AI is tempered by growing concerns regarding the risks the technology presents, leading the Biden administration to pressure the seven leading AI companies to commit to new standards for safety, security, and trust as they aggressively compete to dominate the space. Brands and agencies are diving in.
view -
Marketers Need to Be More Selective With The Data They Use
Trends and Technology September 20, 2023Marketers continue to be overwhelmed by the amount of data they collect. A big part of the problem is that companies tend to acquire technology without thinking about the specific marketing goals and objectives for which the resulting data will be used. To tame the tech stack, CMOs and their teams need to do a better job of planning and figure out what the end game for the data is well before executing.
view -
Do Marketers Go Big for the Holidays?
Trends and Technology September 15, 2023Most people will be watching their wallets during the 2023 holidays, with more than half of consumers (53 percent) saying inflation will have a moderate or significant impact on their spending. To ensure that they are buying wisely, consumers are demanding more from brands and retailers. They want flexible return policies, discounts, loyalty programs, and the capability to buy online and pick up in-store.
view -
What Retail Media Networks Have in Store for Marketers
Trends and Technology September 8, 2023Two-thirds of companies viewed retail media as a sales driver, but only 12 percent used it to build their brand, according to a new survey. Only 31 percent said it was a valuable marketing tool right now. The lack of consistent and industrywide measurement on the effectiveness of retail media investments is one reason brands remain cool to the market.
view