Until quite recently, the communications industry was a laggard when it came to adopting advanced tech; gut instinct led the way for decades. As such, many agencies have been operating in antiquated fashion for years now. Most agencies use time- and materials-based billing models, which essentially incentivize them to work the long way–the longer a…
In December 2022, I was made redundant. Citing financial challenges, my employer eliminated several roles across the company. I was ten months into leading the Marketing team and about to start my Christmas break. It stung. Additionally, almost six months later, I’m still waiting out my non-compete. It raises the question: When faced with an…
Immersive advertising isn’t just a game anymore. That’s true on several levels since the drive to “immersion” in media intersects with several trends upending the advertising landscape. There’s the slow death of cookies and the rise of artificial intelligence, both of which are poised to reduce search-driven impressions. And as content owners and publishers view…
Over the weekend, Elon Musk announced a major change for Twitter. We all hoped it was a joke, that he wouldn’t actually change the name of such a well-established brand. But as we’ve all come to see, he was quite serious. With the support of CEO Linda Yaccarino, Musk has changed the name of Twitter…
Our world has exploded in pink and Barbiemania has officially taken over. Mattel’s bet that Greta Gerwig’s new film Barbie can help re-energize the 64-year-old brand is paying off: the film sold an estimated $155 million in tickets at U.S. theaters. Barbie also collected an additional $182 million overseas. And the cherry on top: it…
Our shift to a more digital world has allowed sophisticated capturing of personal data as users surf the internet, which has spawned highly personalized content through micro-targeting. On the other side of the same coin, it has never been easier for bad actors to spread disinformation and misinformation narratives at scale. Indeed, the Cambridge Analytica…
The ad industry continues to face seemingly endless challenges when it comes to accurately measuring the performance of digital campaigns. In an age where ad spend has been cut to account for economic uncertainty, it’s more important than ever to understand the pitfalls of the metrics you rely on, including and especially cost per acquisition…
The advertising industry is changing fast. Budgets are dropping while more than half of CMOs are responding to consumer movement and increasing spend on social advertising. There, advertisers face less stable pricing and targeting, and audiences have been primed by highly entertaining feeds to hate disruption. To break through, a higher creative standard is being…
I was never really a Barbie girl, but I find myself living in a very Barbie world. With a paint-the-town-pink approach to marketing the Barbie movie, there’s no mystery about the ambition of making this a blockbuster hit. But it’s more than a blockbuster hit that Mattel is after. If it were just about ticket…
Why would a celebrity with millions of followers want to bare all (quite literally) to work with a formula company? The answer is radically simple: There is nothing more universally humbling than feeding a baby. For those who aren’t familiar, the contentious space of baby formula is a category riddled with parent-shaming opinions on what…
The recent upfronts had lots of big questions swirling around them pertaining to recent mergers, new streaming services and Netflix’s first foray into the annual event. But the loudest questions were about the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike–and the volume has only increased since the upfronts wrapped. We’re at a point in the year…
Eras used to span millions of years, but today they come and go in a swipe. Amid this culture churn, hot takes about what brands should do go stale almost instantly. There is no time to hypothesize when we’re all too busy trying to catch up on whatever-core. Thanks, relentless scrolling, for eviscerating society’s attention…
No CEO wants to lose $100B of market value because of an AI mishap. Is now the right time for brands to jump in and fully invest in ChatGPT and other generative AI experiences? To make that decision, brands should consider the six weaknesses of generative AI and to what extent these disadvantages impact brand…
Brand experiences go through hype cycles like any other marketing strategy. There was the era of the flagship store, when the likes of Nike, Apple and Topshop blazed a trail of destinations that heightened the shopping experience. Then the pop-up merged brand and retail to provide entertaining, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it occasions to wow customers. Now, we have…
Editor’s Note: The following is the college application essay of 18-year-old fashion designer and creator Rush Bogin, best known for his now multimillion-dollar business and success with UGC and fashion designs on Roblox. He leveraged this early success to get accepted to Yale, Harvard and Stanford and has formally accepted his offer to go to…
Healthcare and pharmaceutical companies are not well known for strong enterprise branding, as historically, most of the focus was on branding the products. Only recently have pharma companies increased their focus and spend on their enterprise brands. The industry tends to activate around a product, relying on a consistent format for television commercials, celebrity endorsements…
Burger King, M&M’s and now Pepsi–each dropping the youth-focused identity they adopted in the mid-90s and opting for more definitive, classic identities. Gone are the days of flares, drop shadows, awkward type, faux spritz and claim overloads. Brands are reinterpreting themselves for the world today, receiving applause from not just the nostalgia-ists but the purists,…
You can’t invest in what you can’t measure. And in TV advertising, rarely has there been a more dynamic time for measurement. New currencies–agreed-upon units of value with which media buyers and sellers transact–are gaining traction in the market. On the heels of TV upfront season, here are three key questions marketers should ask to…
The 2023 edition of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity may be remembered as the “disconnect show.” There’s the beer brand whose inclusive, award-winning marketing campaign prompted a devastating boycott. There’s the technology sector, whose pull-back on marketing spend and headcount is being cheered by Wall Street. But the biggest disconnect at Cannes is…
It was the most traumatic and emotional experience of my life. As the rumors swirled last January insinuating Russia could invade Ukraine, I and many others thought they were just that–rumors. Media hype to fulfill global news coverage holes. This wasn’t going to happen. There was no way this could happen. My birthday was in…
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
