Earlier this month, Apple previewed its new operating system iOS 15, which included a host of privacy changes designed to give users better control over how their data is accessed, managed and shared. The update followed from iOS 14.5, which many brands and app developers saw as the first step by Apple to limit their…
As a gay woman and a marketer, every June I brace myself for the onslaught of rainbows. They’re in social media logos, storefront window displays, colorful capsule collections, TV spots and packaging as brands signal support for the LGBTQ+ community to sell everything from cars to HR software. Earlier this month, I woke to find…
I don’t know about you, but as we emerge from Covid-19 protocols and gently re-enter offices and in-person meetings, I almost feel the need to greet my 3D colleagues with a super-celebratory greeting. And thanks to recently passed legislation, we are on the brink of being able to say “happy Juneteenth” nationwide. This gives me…
Thanks to Covid-19 lockdowns, more than half of Americans have started playing video games. And that audience is more diverse than ever–Asian and Black people are more likely to identify as gamers than white players, with Hispanic gamers not far behind–and an increasing number of women are also playing video games, comprising nearly 41% of…
It’s important to remember the history of LGBTQ+ marketing only goes back 50 years. From ads that sailed below the radar for straight folks to glitter and rainbows galore, the tone, targeting and imagery of LGBTQ+ representation in advertisements has gone through countless iterations as the community faced pivotal moments like the AIDS epidemic and…
In the 1960s and ’70s, American football–along with the country at large–underwent a period of desegregation. It’s no surprise then that within the sport, racial stacking systematically worked to keep Black players limited to certain positions. The quarterback was considered to be a strategic “thinking” position, and it was believed that Black players weren’t smart…
Attention has never been more expensive for brands to buy, growing by nine-fold over the past 20 years. Meanwhile, ads have never been easier to avoid, with the continued rise of ad-free subscription services and roughly 70 million people in the U.S. using ad blockers last year. Traditional TV is also having its shakiest year…
After a year that tested society and ushered in an intense period of isolation for so many in the LGBTQ+ community, brands would be remiss if they failed to rethink and reframe their outreach to the queer community in light of a newly transformed landscape. Even better than simply “checking the box” for Pride, brands…
Everything most likely has been, or will be, democratized by the internet. The same can be said about status. Pre-internet, the concept of status was more polarized. You either had it or you didn’t. A handful of celebrities, mostly actors, TV stars, musicians, authors and the odd business personality, boasted notoriety. It was incredibly difficult…
As Albert Einstein famously said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I would spend 55 minutes on defining the problem and five minutes on the solution.” This is ever so true when setting up machine-learning (ML) projects. In a recent Accenture report, 75% of C-suite executives believe if they don’t scale artificial…
The moment comes when you realize there’s real money in your crypto wallet, and you start wondering about hackers and ransomware and all kinds of bad stuff. If you’ve set up a digital wallet, bought some crypto, and collected a few NFTs and you’re starting to trade across a range of marketplaces and exchanges, you…
We’re seeing big shifts in the role of the corporation. The “double bottom line” (delivering financial return and social impact) is a cornerstone of direct-to-consumer disruptors. Now, even traditional category leaders are reacting to the call to look beyond shareholder value and address a broader range of constituents. But it’s a challenge for big legacy…
I was not an obvious target for Covid-19. I’m 49. I mountain bike. My family kept to ourselves and wore masks whenever we went outside. But a stray virus in a grocery store led to sniffles that led to the ICU in less than a week. I documented my decline in daily updates on Facebook….
Have you ever wondered why naming generations is a thing? The greatest generation. Baby boomers. Generation X. Those names get me amped. They sound legit. Like if I were in any of their respective age groups, I’d be part of a superhero squad or something. Except, I’m a millennial. I was born in 1985. Throughout…
For crypto speculators, newbies and “get rich quick” thrill-seekers, last week was tough. The Chinese government re-signaled its displeasure with bitcoin and all things crypto, the IRS announced it is going to do what it can to tax every possible crypto transaction, and Elon Musk tweeted, scaring the hell out of people who pay attention…
On May 25, 2020, we watched George Floyd murdered before our eyes. His death, of course, evoked the painful recollection of far too many others: Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and all those before and since. But the moment that video rocketed around the world, our year of “racial reckoning” began. Communities mourned. Protestors marched. And…
Have you ever had that feeling of dread deep down inside that warns you something’s not right, even if you can’t put your finger on it? That’s the Ick–that feeling in your gut when you’re in a creative meeting and wonder if what’s being presented could be perceived as the greatest idea known to (wo)man…
Pent-up demand. Making up for lost time. Return to the “new normal.” There will be revenge spend. Whatever we call the next phase of consumer behavior, we have to consider the interesting and exciting trends forged from the challenges of the past year as we shape our marketing strategies for the future. What changed In…
Nobody likes it when they are stalked across social media by an ex, so is it any surprise that people feel the same way about brands? You would have hoped that most marketers would intuitively understand this. But there can be no avoiding it now as new data has demonstrated that consumers universally reject a…
The pandemic altered the way we think, act and feel about virtually everything, including a pretty seismic shift in how we like to be entertained. The types of screens fans watched started to shift in ways that might not boomerang to the “Before Times” in quite the way we first anticipated. Now, the media and…
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.
