Trends and Technology

Marketers and agencies are struggling with how to tackle the issues that have taken on newfound urgency in the past 18 months, ranging from spurring diversity to protecting consumer privacy to cultivating talent. The various challenges are perhaps most vividly represented by the striking number of agency reviews, consolidations, and overall account changes in the past few months.

In thinking about creating a brand identity with a modernized look and feel, it’s important that marketers update their logos without losing the familiarity that sparked a connection with consumers in the first place.

A growing number of states are moving toward legalizing recreational use of marijuana and publishers are getting more accepting of cannabis-themed advertising. Nevertheless, achieving scale will likely be a long slog for brands that want to join the fray. For clues as to how cannabis might eventually emerge as an everyday product, marketers should take a closer look at the CBD space.

As Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar posits in his new book, Quantum Marketing, companies can no longer compete solely based on their product features, pricing, or distribution network. In order to stay viable, they must differentiate their brands through creativity that is relevant to human beings, as opposed to “consumers.”

Brands for humans (B4H), or the humanization of brand persona, is starting to circulate throughout the marketing field. However companies choose to operationalize B4H, there’s a growing onus on marketers to provide clarity to the public about a corporation’s values and beliefs and how it is meaningfully acting on those convictions.

Clubhouse, the invitation-only audio-chat app that launched last year, is attracting a growing number of consumer brands. But will the app end up being a creature of the pandemic and lose its appeal as things start to loosen up and people get back into circulation?

When the pandemic disrupted its ad production, USAA turned to an innovative idea — letting the onscreen talent shoot the entire thing with no director, technician, or crew members on site.

A recent study provides brand managers with a window into how the pandemic has altered consumer behavior, as people take stock of their lives and recalibrate what’s truly important to them. With nearly 40 million Americans on the move and major changes in the workplace due to the crisis, marketers will have to recalculate their communications strategies and avoid “Before Times” thinking.

Political campaigns are chasing a growing number of independent voters, with the ad budgets to show for it. While linear TV still commands top dollar, social media channels are maintaining their share, despite bans on some or all political advertising during the 2020 election.

While diversity has been moving to the forefront in recent years, the reality is that the marketing industry remains mostly white, particularly within the C-suite. To stay viable, a growing number of agencies and brands are taking concrete steps to build more diverse teams and respond to a rapidly changing country demographically.

When lockdowns began in March 2020, they accelerated a change in consumer behavior that gyms and other fitness studios had seen coming at a gradual pace for years. Wearables, health tracking apps, and digital media fitness experiences moved to the forefront, and brands had to adapt digital technology like apps and livestreams quickly to meet customers in a new setting — their living rooms.

The pandemic has had a devastating effect on the country’s health, economy, and psychological well-being. It’s also contributed to a severe lack of trust in major institutions, according to Edelman’s 2021 Trust Barometer. As the U.S. starts to recover from the virus, people are looking to companies to fix problems the government can’t.

Brands may need to assuage any hard feelings among consumers who believe they got stiffed during last year’s holiday buying season amid a wave of deliveries. Being transparent with customers about return policies is a good place to start — and an opportunity to strengthen relationships that many marketers may be missing.

The growing investments in dedicated brand content studios suggest that CMOs believe their futures lie in entertainment rather than killer ad creative. As the trend accelerates, the challenge for marketers will be to produce the kind of organic, emotionally driven content that will resonate with audiences.

More than 300 brands are participating in the Ad Council's COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative, rolling out various advertising campaigns that urge people to get vaccinated and address those who are reluctant to get the shot.

As online sports betting grows popular in the U.S., it’s creating new opportunities for brands. But hesitation around how it might affect a brand’s reputation, along with eyebrow-raising legislation in Europe, may undermine what could be a sure bet.

Having earned the trust of internal stakeholders, in-house agencies at The Hershey Co., Walgreens, and other mega retailers are quickly expanding their roles and responsibilities. Amid the pandemic, new tasks range from producing ads to selling them.

As consumers migrate to streaming services in droves, more and more brands hop on board to supplement their spending on linear TV. But the tide may be turning in favor of streaming services. Product placement may never be the same.

For brands born to a digital world, such as Uber, Twitter, or Airbnb, establishing a detailed set of brand guidelines is a natural course of action. But for more traditional brands forced by the pandemic to adjust to a future online, developing a digital-friendly set of brand guidelines may come with a bout of growing pains.

Theaters and other live performance venues are following changes in consumer behavior closely and creating new media plans that try to anticipate what people will want once they start returning to live theater. While the streaming of Broadway shows has helped keep theater in the public eye amid the pandemic, virtual shows pale in comparison to the real thing.