Women’s sports are breaking through age-old barriers. In the past few years, we’ve witnessed significant progress, notably highlighted by the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which saw women’s sports take center stage. That momentum gained further traction when EA Sports included women’s teams and players in their video game for the first time with EA FC…
Organizations nationwide, especially ad agencies, say offering balance is key to attracting and retaining women talent. From unlimited PTO and job-sharing opportunities to remote work and childcare allowances, we’ve received many undeniably excellent benefits to support caregiving responsibilities and promote well-being. But the fact is, women still can’t have it all. Promoting work/life balance as…
Have you ever thought about what your brand sounds like? If you close your eyes and listen to your comms, do you sound consistent? Do you sound familiar? Or are you currently taking your consumers on an audio-emotional rollercoaster, unsure of the ride they’re on? A sonic strategy isn’t a “nice to have” or optional…
For all of the talk about the jobs AI is expected to replace (that’s 85 million, according to the World Economic Forum), it’s also expected to create some 97 million new roles by 2025. And the buzziest of these new roles is the position overseeing it all: the Chief AI Officer (CAIO). Major brands like…
Some of the biggest personal and professional achievements of my life have come out of a period that was uncomfortable or tough, teaching me valuable lessons through a moment for self-reflection and maturation. To understand, advocate for, represent and amplify diverse voices and communities globally, I have learned that something to remain adamant about is…
Marketing has never been easy, but inflation has challenged the majority of CMOs to do more with less and stretch their constrained budgets without compromising results. Now more than ever, marketers must spend smartly and hit their KPIs in the most cost-effective way possible. And yet, over one-third of CPG marketers are unsure if they’ve…
Both men and women think about health a lot. Not surprisingly, though, how they think about it and how they think about health for the other gender, is completely different. As a result, women are taking on the unofficial role of “chief medical officer” within their families. This year, our agency conducted an independent study…
Retail media is having a moment. Global spending in the category is expected to hit $140 billion in 2024, per eMarketer. That’s a 22% increase versus 2023, and it’s predicted to jump another 18% to nearly $166 billion in 2025. To give those numbers some context, retail media now makes up roughly one-fifth of global…
Every marketer dreads bad reviews of their brand. Now with the rise of AI-powered chat programs like ChatGPT, Meta’s Llama 2 and Microsoft’s Copilot, marketers must prepare for the worst words about their brand to be repeated as answers to search queries. Since large language models (LLMs) will soon answer billions of search queries each…
‘Conscious consumerism,’ the commitment to making purchasing decisions based on social, economic and environmental impact, is on the rise. 63% of Gen Z say they will only purchase brands that stand with them on issues, and 90% expect brands to be involved in causes that improve the world. Gen Z is the fastest-growing and most…
In-store retail media is ready for primetime. Expect 2024 to be the year that digital screens propagate across brick-and-mortar retail. Currently estimated at less than $300 million in the U.S., in-store advertising is finally ready to accelerate, with Walmart, Kroger and Tesco announcing the expansion of their in-store media networks this year. A recent Merkle…
The influencer marketing recipe is well-established. Select influencers who attract a certain audience and fly them out to a tropical location for sun, fun and product placement. Organic reach across social, particularly TikTok, Instagram and YouTube are off the charts. Marketing = sorted. Except, that doesn’t work anymore. What once was aspirational is now exclusionary,…
B2B advertising is boring. That’s what nearly half of business buyers told PR Web in a 2018 survey. And it seems to have gotten worse since then. In 2023, The Power of Provocation discovered that a staggering 82% of business decision-makers considered B2B marketing monotonous and repetitive, while a mere 1% believed it demonstrated a…
Given that Women’s History Month and International Day of the Girl take place every year, I often doubt the DEI commitment of companies that start asking about events and solutions that “engage women” a month or two before those moments. True DEI champions are currently talking about plans with clear repercussions for 2034; true leaders…
How do you turn a ship when thousands of tons of water are pressing on the rudder creating a force far greater than the ship’s engines can withstand? This was the seemingly impossible challenge solved by the wonderful engineer, Buckminster Fuller, in the 1940s. The answer was something surprisingly small. A six-inch piece of metal,…
Today’s marketing so often fixates on the latest trends, chasing the next novel concept–I can’t be the only one fatigued by endless conversations and articles about AI and its impact on our work. While machine learning undeniably accelerates mechanical processes and provides quicker access to enhanced consumer data, marketers should pay equal attention to the…
Picture this: I’m a business affairs executive working at one of the most well-known creative agencies in the world. I’m in the office, and I look up as one of my co-workers gives me a familiar “good morning” head nod. I notice he is wearing an untied durag draped around his shoulders. Just then, another…
As personal AI assistants become commonplace, they will usher in an era where a product’s appeal will be more closely linked to its objective substance, the experience it offers and its legitimacy as evidenced by AI-crawlable digital sources. In response, brands must evolve their approach to connecting with consumers; they must now appeal to AI…
As an industry, we have recently made a concerted effort to begin placing more ethical media with brands and agencies exploring ways to reduce our carbon footprint and increase investments in BIPOC-owned media partners. While all progress is progress, we are still largely turning a blind eye to the digital and social media partners that…
Let’s talk about consent. It’s a critically important subject for marketers. How we get it, how long it’s valid for, and how we maintain it. Typically referred to as permission-based marketing, consent is needed to allow us to land in a user’s email or messaging inbox with marketing offers and announcements. Because consent is a…
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