Editor's Picks for ANA Magazine

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.

Unlike the campaign-to-campaign mode of traditional brand advertising, content marketing requires brands to constantly refine their storytelling efforts and strategize for the long haul.

The arrival of COVID-19 vaccines will spur additional opportunities in DOOH, as consumers return in droves to shopping in brick-and-mortar stores and eating inside restaurants after being stuck in their homes because of the pandemic.

Brands ranging from P&G to PepsiCo are rolling out various initiatives to tackle issues such as climate change and environmental waste across several touchpoints, including product development, packaging, and raw material sourcing.

The demise of third-party cookies provides marketers with an opportunity to be more transparent with consumers and recalibrate their methods of measurement.

Mailchimp's latest ad campaign draws on classic animation to help its small business customers build big ideas. Michael Mitchell, director of brand marketing at Mailchimp, calls the campaign a "love letter" to entrepreneurs making their way through the pandemic.

Creative, wide-ranging internships from brands like IBM and Verizon must become the rule rather than the exception if marketing is going to win an increasingly fierce battle for entry-level talent.

The recent decline in podcast advertising is merely a pandemic-induced blip on the radar. The longer-term outlook remains quite attractive, with spending projected to reach more than $1 billion in 2021. Marketers are whetting their appetite.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

With as much as one-fifth of the world’s population told to stay inside, effects of the novel coronavirus on the economy have been swift and could be long lasting. Here’s how the virus is affecting marketing.

While an outside perspective can be helpful, fresh ideas readily exist within an organization. The onus is on upper management to encourage those executives who aspire to be the CMO.

Looking to make a bigger-than-life impression on consumers, some brands are tapping big-name directors to produce ad spots with a cinematic flair. While the end result can be a scene stealer, it requires more than just a large budget. Marketers must be willing to cede some creative control to let the director’s vision — and the brand — shine through.

California’s data privacy law is a sea change for brands, enabling consumers to opt out of data sales and compelling marketers to track down any party to whom it has sold that consumer’s data during the preceding 90 days.

Alphas may be little in size, but their influence on their parents’ purchasing behavior is growing by leaps and bounds.