Much like management consultants lean on tried-and-true project frameworks to solve problems, so does the IPG Mediabrands agency Initiative. For several years, agency leaders called the agency’s go-to approach Cultural Velocity. Last year, after elevating performance media expert Dimitri Maex to the global CEO role, Initiative rolled out a new, modified framework that replaced Cultural…
Ten years ago, Gale did not exist. Five years ago, the Stagwell-owned agency did not have a media practice. And last year, it delivered a billion dollars in media billings and scored nine-figure revenue, growing at an astonishing 133% year over year. While Gale was shortlisted for Adweek’s 2022 U.S. Agency of the Year award–which…
For decades, heritage media agencies grew in power by managing clients’ buys on television, radio and print. But to stay on top of 2023’s omnichannel world, a media agency must be able to see the entire media map, locate every consumer on it and navigate it like a trailblazer. Starcom comes from heritage–it traces its…
People shopping for everything from shampoo to furniture to life insurance look different today than they did a decade ago. Between 2010 and 2020, the percentage of U.S. residents who identify as white fell from 63.7% of the total population to 57.8%, according to the Census Bureau. With more of everybody else, marketers have an…
The executive behind global campaigns for hit shows such as House of the Dragon, The White Lotus and The Last of Us didn’t even plan on a career in marketing. Pia Barlow, evp of originals marketing at HBO Max, has been in the business for 18 years. But long before that, she first began her…
Any company can launch programs and blast out marketing and social media messages for February’s Black History Month–as well as Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month or other similar periods of DEI recognition. But if the brand isn’t creating change within its workforce, policies, customer interaction or overall culture, it’s “writing a fiction story,” according to…
For more than a decade, performance marketers distinguished themselves with their skill in stringing together the perfect set of keywords for Google or picking the right attributes for a likely-to-purchase audience on Facebook. But as both platforms lean more heavily into automation, marketers say these skills are becoming less relevant, in favor of chops in…
If there’s a single Italian recipe that generations of cooks fuss and disagree over with equal relish, it’s tomato sauce. Do you use fresh tomatoes or canned? Olive oil or butter? Let it simmer for an hour or a day? It always depends. If there’s any agreement among foodies about marinara sauce, it’s probably this:…
Serena Williams exited professional tennis last September, following one final U.S. Open run, in a blaze of branding glory–with a pair of powerful ads from longtime partners Nike and Gatorade honoring and cementing her legacy as the sport’s GOAT. But while Williams has long been one of the industry’s most coveted spokespeople and brand partners–after…
It’s a reasonable bet that most senior-level marketers would like–even if it’s just once–to lead the creation of a Super Bowl ad. After all, who wouldn’t want to work with a budget that lets them drop $7 million on the most prime TV time there is? What CMO doesn’t dream of having 100 million-plus consumers…
The Consumer Electronics Show, the tech industry’s premier trade event, is famous for its sampling of flashy gadgets and glimpses into a far-flung future, but marketers in Las Vegas last month for CES 2023 had little appetite for flying cars or robot butlers. With budgets pared down to brave a looming economic downturn, brand leaders…
For decades, b-to-b brands have formed their visual identity and logos based on “professional” tones and styles. We’ve all seen them: blue or red text splashed on a plain white background with minimal additional color, often devoid of any personality or flair. Appropriate for a corporate audience? Sure. Effective in attracting today’s social-first audience? Not…
The events business came roaring back in 2022, led by developments in hybrid and virtual programs, especially smaller, repeatable events. And the outlook for 2023 remains bright, according to a survey of marketing professionals across the U.S., EU and U.K. by event marketing technology firm Splash. In-person events in particular will continue to drive growth,…
After a difficult few years, our world still isn’t short of challenges. Amid global economic pressures, an escalating climate crisis, a war in Europe and increasing austerity, brands are meeting consumers where they’re at when it comes to design: in need of escape. Creatives are embracing visual styles that reflect both our chaotic social climate…
Music wasn’t something Steve Keller thought he could make a career out of. The self-proclaimed audio alchemist (official title: sonic strategy director) at SXM Media’s in-house creative agency Studio Resonate built up an encyclopedic knowledge of music as a young man, but was using it only as “a fairly effective dating tool.” “The plan was…
When it comes to the changing TV landscape, marketers are crying ad tiers of joy. The days of streamers shunning marketers and gatekeeping massive subscriber audiences are over. Instead, SVOD subscriptions are declining, according to a Q3 analysis by Kantar, and growth is coming from platforms that have a combination of both SVOD and AVOD/FAST…
Last October, Marc Pritchard, P&G’s chief brand officer and one of the most influential people in marketing, delivered a message that some marketers have embraced for years. At the ANA Masters of Marketing Conference, Pritchard explained two things to the several thousand attendees. First, marketers need to see multicultural marketing as mainstream marketing. No longer…
Bloomberg Media, entering its ninth consecutive quarter of ad revenue growth and nearing half a million subscribers, is one publisher aggressively pushing what it calls its audience-first strategy for 2023. The company is kicking off the year by cutting ties with the programmatic open marketplace, believing that a “healthier consumer subscription business will provide fertile…
It’s still uncertain how the current economic uncertainty will shake out and whether there will be any parallels to the 2008 recession. Leaders are hesitant to draw comparisons to 2008 for a variety of reasons, the largest being the extent the industry has changed since then. But they agreed there are indeed some parallels–namely, a…
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