When the fans speak, brands need to listen–and that includes beloved television game shows. When Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek passed away after 37 seasons, everyone knew there wasn’t a person who could fill his shoes perfectly. He taught us trivia for multiple generations. He made being smart cool. And he did it with effortless flair…
Have you ever been impressed by the long lines at internet-famous restaurants? Believe it or not, there might be a not-so-glamorous factor behind the scenes: a professional, paid workforce known as the “atmosphere group.” Frankly, this tactic is in a grey area, as it may incur fake impressions on customers and disrupt fair competition. Let’s…
Finding ways to grow and innovate during a global health crisis is no easy task. But despite 18 months of social restrictions and limited access to pubs, bars, live music venues and nightclubs, the drinks sector has seen enormous growth in many areas. As people’s lifestyles significantly changed as a result of the pandemic, many…
The mainstreaming of the Black Lives Matter movement was one of the defining events of 2020. Having mobilized citizens all over the world, it sparked a tide of social activism not seen for decades. Now, a little over a year later, many Americans are at a point of reflection. How much has changed when it…
Editor’s note: This piece is part of a weekly Voice series by Rishad Tobaccowala, the author of Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data. There are four questions that most companies and individuals seek answers to: Change Management: How does one navigate change? The Future: How will the future be?…
In an era of technological advancement so rapid that each iPhone upgrade brings a raft of attributes that would, just a few years before, have been viewed as magic, it may sometimes seem as if we have no need for further technological enhancement. That may not matter. Like me, you may have been thinking hard…
The latest Tiffany & Co. campaign dropped earlier this week and, in standard 2021 fashion, the world had a lot to say. The campaign was a first of its kind: It was the first time Beyonce and Jay-Z appeared in an ad together, the first public appearance of American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s painting Equals Pi,…
Games have been part of popular culture long before they became cool. The trope of gamers as basement dwellers has fully fallen by the wayside–gaming is everywhere, on every screen we own, in every genre and format we could imagine. Even consoles that were once tethered to a single television in a household can be…
Amazon has been busy. Between transitioning to a new CEO and engaging in a corporate space race, the business giant also found time to reflect on its corporate values and what it stands for in the world. After unveiling a series of new principles, Amazon wants to “strive to be earth’s best employer” by creating…
Brands, marketers and content creators alike have come to recognize that strolling down memory lane can be a powerful tool when working to form an emotional connection with consumers. While past memories constantly impinge on the present, it’s only natural to question why we’re so obsessed with connecting the two. By definition, nostalgia marketing can…
Editor’s note: This piece is part of a weekly Voice series by Rishad Tobaccowala, the author of Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data. Four questions that most companies and individuals seek answers to: 1. Change Management: How does one navigate change? 2. The Future: What will the future be…
The summer of sports is well underway. Olympic feats have dominated the news and are widely discussed, even by those not all that into sports themselves. I found myself thinking about what lessons can be learned from the Olympics, the Paralympics, the Euros and sports’ ability to reach people. How and why should brands use…
For many years, business-to-business marketing largely operated in the shadow of its higher-profile consumer-facing cousin. Of course, b-to-b marketing mattered. But it typically lacked the scale, glamour and creativity of business-to-consumer marketing. If one is asked to name a cutting-edge campaign, the ones that come to mind are from iconic consumer brands such as Nike,…
Five years ago, after decades of portraying unflattering stereotypes in its ads, FMCG behemoth Unilever committed to “Unstereotype” it’s advertising. One of the apparent successes of this drive for inclusivity was the Knorr “Love at First Taste” campaign which, in Unilever’s words “[Shows] that food and cooking are pleasures everyone can enjoy, regardless of gender.”…
In a video interview with Access Hollywood, comedian Kevin Hart endorses Donald Trump for President in 2024. The clip goes viral, and his fans are up in arms. Meanwhile, WKCU in Phoenix leads with a story that a second coronavirus has hit the mainland … and it’s time to panic. Of course, no real need…
When I was growing up, I didn’t own a single Black or Brown Barbie doll. As a little girl, I never saw myself represented in the dolls. Today, however, my children are having a very different experience with Barbie, which is now one of the most diverse and inclusive doll lines in the market. The…
With all the continued talk by the advertising industry of its intention to become more inclusive over recent years, it would appear to be in danger of actually going backward in many respects instead. That was made all the more disturbing by the poignant recollections and points shared by advertising strategist Zoe Scaman, in her…
America is traveling again… for now. The Fourth of July weekend marked the highest rate of travel since the pandemic began, with just over 10 million people passing through TSA security checkpoints in America’s airports between July 1-5, and just over 40 million hitting the road, according to AAA–despite the national average for a gallon…
Editor’s note: This piece is part of a weekly Voice series by Rishad Tobaccowala, the author of Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data. Four questions that most companies and individuals seek answers to: Change Management: How does one navigate change? The Future: What will the future be like? Modern…
Today, convergent TV–linear plus connected TV and over-the-top services–offers the best of everything: large, captivated audiences, high-quality content, an abundance of inventory and digital-like targeting, with precise measurement and attribution. Given the data accessible to advertisers, combined with advances in targeting, TV is the strongest, most scalable and precise medium. It has also established a…
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