Why Young Creatives Need CCO Mentorship More Than Ever

No matter how many hours I spend on TikTok and Instagram, or how young I feel compared to my peers, there’s always some word or concept that the algorithm appropriately doesn’t serve me. This is when I realize what the algorithm already knows: I am old AF. (Do people still say AF?) OK, 45 is…

The Best Way to Develop Web3 Savviness Is Cautious Participation

Editor’s note: This is the second in a three-part series on what brands should do before entering Web3. Brands building Web3 strategies understand by now that this new iteration of the internet brings a host of technical challenges. In my experience, the best way to develop tech savviness around Web3 is to participate first and…

Customer Experience Has Been Pretty Bad in Web3. Here’s What You Can Do About It

Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series on what brands should do before entering Web3. The short history of brand marketing in Web3 is not an auspicious one. While some projects have produced immense success, most have been total flops. Take the case of Warner Bros. and Nifty’s, which partnered to launch…

Why Escapism Will Be the Defining Design Trend of 2023 for Brands

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…

An Inflection Point for Marketers—and Adweek

In my first six months as chief content officer at Adweek, I’ve reflected a lot on the role of the marketer in the global economy and the future of our company’s business. Given the state of the world and our industry, it’s easy to explain why. In 2022, chief marketing officers and their organizations have…

Video Games Are Dominating Hollywood and Changing Viewing Habits Forever

Some of the best TV right now has been coming from delightfully and unabashedly nerdy sources. TV adaptations of The Wheel of Time, The Rings of Power, The Sandman and House of the Dragon are streaming beloved storylines from high fantasy and sci-fi literature to living rooms across the world. Leveraging IP with an established…

As Consumers Crave Rebellion, Turn to the Carnivalesque

After three years of pandemic-driven anxiety, societal division and occupational burnout, consumers are eager to buy brands and relish in experiences that offer inclusive escape, freedom and joyful rebellion. Indeed, consumers are embracing irreverent and playful brands like Liquid Death, which promises to “murder your thirst” with its canned water and recruited a porn star…

Empathy-Driven Messaging Is Out. Consumers Need Value-Based Innovation

By now it’s clear that anyone betting on the post-Covid inflationary period being a short-term blip rather than the beginning of a long spate of hardship has resolutely lost. Consumer sentiment is increasingly moving from nervousness to existential fear as the “heat or eat” dilemma looms ever larger this winter. As expected, most early responses…

Dear Swifties: Ticketmaster Doesn’t Care That You Hate Them

On Tuesday, Ticketmaster enjoyed their largest ticket sales day ever, selling over 2 million tickets to Taylor Swift’s upcoming The Eras Tour. This could have been a quiet victory for the company. Instead, it was the beginning of a week filled with mass vitriol as “Swifties” took to the internet against Ticketmaster and its parent…

The Rules of Brand Building Are Being Rewritten—Don’t Get Left Behind

We have reached a tipping point. As the value of Apple approaches $250 billion–roughly the annual revenue of GM and Honda combined–few marketers would argue with the claim that brands focused on customer experience (CX) are more valuable than ever. And while Byron Sharp’s How Brands Grow is a siren song for the storytelling Mad…

Be Honest About Which Causes Your Brand Can—and Can’t—Commit to

It’s relatively easy and cheap to save a life. Around $4,500 per life if you support the Against Malaria Foundation, and even more of a steal at $3,500 per life if you support Helen Keller International’s supplementation program. So in principle, if we all gave as much as we possibly could to the most cost-effective…

Publishers Are Moving Away From Open Auctions. Advertisers Must Follow

Publishers often express concerns about the programmatic open market, but Bloomberg Media took a more decisive step recently. The company said it would stop serving open-market third-party programmatic display advertising on its website and mobile app when the new year begins. Publishers, advertisers and ad-tech players should pay attention to this development because it validates…

The Latinx Experience Is Complex. Sharing Our Stories Is the Best Path to Understanding

This year’s Hispanic Heritage Month inspired some great work, including investment in education, support of artists and creators, limited-edition collections and more–but also several opinion pieces detailing how brands missed the mark on celebrating authentically. It’s not easy to come up with one tagline or capsule collection that encapsulates the entire Latinx experience. Latinx creatives…

With an Intentional Communications Strategy, Cultural Sensitivity Is Built In

With KFC’s recent social media firestorm surrounding an automated promotional message, it’s important for brands and agencies to reflect on how to prevent communication missteps. All across the advertising world, teams are under pressure to always be creating content, whether it’s to satisfy ever-changing and often capricious algorithms on platforms or to juice more engagement…

Automation Can Never Replace Human Ownership of Social Media

If you’ve ever worked in social media or digital marketing for a brand, chances are you’ve had your fair share of moments when panic sunk in as you’ve realized something that should not be live on your channels was published. As someone who has worked in the space for 14 years, I can tell you…

Awareness Isn’t Cutting It for Cannabis Anymore

Today’s cannabis retail landscape–defined by striking consumer brands and increasingly mainstream marketing strategies–is nearly unrecognizable compared to the industry’s earliest innings. However, as more adult-use states reach a point of market saturation, cannabis brands must learn to holistically reach their target audiences to maintain and grow market share. On the surface, industry sales appear to…

For Retailers, Experiential Brings All Parts of the Brand Together

Once reserved for retail experiences at Apple stores and Disney parks, experiential retail is becoming an effective mainstream brand-building activation strategy. Retail is the physical space for brands to connect with consumers in an omnichannel world, creating memorable experiences. Experiential retail considers humans as connected beings, creating spaces for them to gather around a shared…

For Retailers, Experiential Brings All Parts of the Brand Together

Once reserved for retail experiences at Apple stores and Disney parks, experiential retail is becoming an effective mainstream brand-building activation strategy. Retail is the physical space for brands to connect with consumers in an omnichannel world, creating memorable experiences. Experiential retail considers humans as connected beings, creating spaces for them to gather around a shared…

The Future of Access at Twitter Is in Jeopardy

Ever since Elon Musk decided to buy Twitter, accessibility advocates have been preparing for the possibility that the platform’s Accessibility Experience Team would suffer losses. Many were hopeful that someone, literally anyone, with power at Twitter would make a strong enough argument to the new chief twit about the importance of access and save the…

‘The Bird Is Freed,’ but Will Advertisers Stay?

It’s only been a few days since Elon Musk declared that “the bird is freed” upon closing on his acquisition of Twitter–and already he has started to change the company from the inside out. From pending layoffs of a quarter of the staff to the leak that the company is planning to charge $19.99 for…