SXSW Interactive is a pay-to-play experience for marketers making the trip. But not all attendees are there to play. They’re there, forking over significant time and money, because they expect a return: personal and brand exposure, industry insights, new connections and a glimpse of tomorrow’s technology. But capturing those returns can be tricky. Amid the…
Cannabidiol–CBD for short–products aren’t just the latest fad. There’s baked goods (at By Chloe), a trendy sparkling water brand (Recess) and a beauty brand (Milk Makeup), but it’s not just small marketers stepping into the space. Late last year, rumors surfaced that The Coca-Cola Company was getting into the hemp-CBD industry, which analysts at the…
In the weeks leading up to the national bicentennial of July 4, 1976, communities across America joined in the craze for shoving time capsules into the ground. Among them was the town of Lima, Ohio. But while Lima buried the usual payload of comic books and bumper stickers, local officials tossed in another item to…
Just as brands have long been able to target consumers online with cookies, retailers are now experimenting with their own form of tracking technology–mostly smart shelves and cameras–that allow them to determine consumer characteristics and deliver more personalized messaging as they shop. These in-store placements enable retailers to sell real estate to brands that want…
While smartphones have revolutionized the way we do most everything, from buying groceries to doing laundry, fewer people use apps to handle their finances than one might think, according to new research from software company Clarabridge. While 64 percent of consumers have downloaded their bank’s mobile app, only about a third (37 percent) have sent…
Growing up in Utah, Eryk Rich’s interest in rappers like Eminem and Dr. Dre fueled his determination to study audio engineering and seek a career in the record industry. Little did he know then that he’d end up teaming with Interscope Records, the label those performers helped grow, to discover up-and-coming artists for a Volkswagen…
It takes a special kind of agency, one year after its founding, to win business for a mega tech company like Google and retain that partnership for 13 years. It takes that same kind of agency to then branch out from its largest and longest-standing client–while still maintaining a strong alliance as its current global…
PlayStation. Walgreens. Lowe’s. Carlsberg. Coach. Sony. Groupe PSA. From 2016 through late 2017, several of OMD’s most valuable accounts fell like dominos as the industry-wide string of big-budget reviews continued apace. The Omnicom Media Group hub remains, by most estimates, the world’s largest media network–but after a decade-long run atop the heap, it ranked dead…
Gibbs Haljun estimates it’s only been about two years since connected television and over-the-top streaming devices reached a scale big enough to attract serious attention from marketers. That rapid growth has left agencies scrambling to capitalize on the estimated seven in 10 U.S. internet users who will use OTT services this year, or the nearly…
Today’s media agencies face a new slew of challenges, as more clients slash budgets, issue RFPs and take everything in-house, from planning to programmatic. But clients aren’t the only ones making big changes. Both OMD and Initiative bounced back from challenging years with strategic pivots, picking up new business from brands like Daimler Mercedes, Liberty…
In 2016, Initiative was on the ropes, and global CEO Mat Baxter knew it. “It was a basket case,” he admits, with “a dysfunctional culture, not much of a product, if any, in terms of a defined product or a proposition, no real brand or reputation to speak of” and a “relatively dry new-business pipeline”…
The 2018-19 broadcast season got off to an unexpectedly turbulent start last fall when a whopping three network chief jobs turned over in the space of just two months. In September, George Cheeks and Paul Telegdy jointly stepped in as NBC Entertainment co-chairmen, replacing the departing Robert Greenblatt. A month later, Charlie Collier was named…
Marketing is an industry that constantly evolves due to the ever-changing ways in which people engage with content and campaigns. From the invention of the television to the frequent changes in social media algorithms, marketers have to stay up-to-date not only on the latest media and ways to market but also regarding who we’re marketing…
In 2014, Neil Parikh, Gabe Flateman and Luke Sherwin were living in Brooklyn with a roommate named Kasper, a lanky German man who had a tendency for tiredness and was so tall his feet dangled off his bed. At the time, the three men were working with two others–Philip Krim and Jeff Chapin–on the launch…
Do you remember your first major purchase? Mine was a queen-size pillow-top mattress in a silvery brocade, and the experience of buying it was so soul-crushingly bad that it’s stayed with me for 16 years. I walked into a major mattress store fresh out of college and full of excitement about furnishing my first apartment,…
Orangetheory and Mirror are two of the buzziest brands working to shake up the roughly $32 billion U.S. fitness industry, per Statista. Ahead of our inaugural Brandweek: Challenger Brands summit in New York, we asked Eric Mandell, vp of marketing for Mirror (a futuristic, interactive workout experience using, you guessed it, a mirror that you…
The California Consumer Protection Act doesn’t go into effect until 2020, but that doesn’t mean the 10,000-word law–passed in just five days last summer–won’t be a big issue this year. Last month, the California attorney general’s office–which is in charge of creating rules for the CCPA–began holding a series of hearings to gather feedback that…
Every year, Fox Sports temporarily installs 39 miles of fiber optic cable throughout the golf course hosting the U.S. Open Championship. The expensive rigging is the only way for the network to transmit live, high-definition video from far-flung holes to its central production trucks in a timely enough manner. Or it was, until last year,…
Before she became a creative force in the advertising industry, Lisa Topol–now co-chief creative officer at DDB New York–was dead set on becoming a professor of religion and 19th century Victorian literature. But while the topic was fascinating to her, it became unfulfilling. “I just felt like I’d never be doing anything that engaged with…
Advertiser spend for NFL games has been strong this season, though last year’s Super Bowl was the lowest-rated Big Game telecast since 2009. And according to a new survey from consumer intelligence research platform CivicScience, fewer people are planning on tuning in this year than in years past as well. Just 33 percent of Americans…
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