A marketer’s challenge is to get consumers to pay attention to them without sticking an ad in the middle of their mobile screens that might turn them off. Take a walk in any neighborhood and you’ll see why. People are wandering about, heads down, eyes glued to their phones, earbuds playing Spotify. Even when they’re…
Across continents and generations, research shows that the recommendations of friends are trusted more than any other form of advertising. People love to hear, watch and share stories with the people who matter most to them. The Story feature on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and even Google encourages users to share their choices and experiences more…
First of all, a moment of pause that there are 180 women with C-level titles in advertising. Praise be. Then another nod of affirmation that they joined forces to declare #TimesUp for harassment and inequality in advertising. Those who speak truth to power and attempt to fix things from inside the machine are unspeakably brave….
The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is coming up in a few months–June 4, to be exact–and Facebook’s annual F8 is shortly after that. Have you ever wondered how they select their partners to highlight during their keynotes? If not, you’re likely missing out on one of Silicon Valley’s least-kept secrets. For brands looking to…
Some of the most iconic advertisements of our time have featured celebrities endorsing brands and products. “Mean” Joe Greene was famous for his hall of fame football career, but arguably as well known for his “Hey Kid, Catch” Coca-Cola commercial. In the 1990s, supermodel Cindy Crawford remade Pepsi’s image in a Super Bowl ad. Michael…
As a kid growing up in the ’80s, I was no stranger to the family-friendly casual dining establishment. Both my parents worked, and they rarely felt like cooking after a long, hard day. We often found ourselves in a booth at our local Chi-Chi’s, digging into salty nachos and bland salsa. As I became independent…
Everyone’s talking about the retro trend in television as iconic shows from the ’80s and ’90s are getting 2018 reboots. The latest example is Roseanne, the sitcom that was lauded during its original run for its realistic portrayal of a middle-class American family. The show returns to ABC on March 27, complete with its full…
It’s Women’s History Month, an annual recognition of the many women who have made contributions to history, culture and society, and I find myself thinking about the impact women have had in the marketing space, particularly in recent years with the rise of influencer marketing. This vibrant, growing industry was essentially built by women out…
Ever since “people-based marketing” was introduced at Advertising Week in 2014, it has become a strategic imperative for almost every brand. Fortune 500 companies are investing in and adopting the tech, agency media buyers are mandating it in insertion orders, and DSPs, DMPs and measurement providers are strategizing around how they can implement this into…
Blockchain would be a success story in marketing and advertising if the industry determined how to harness its decentralized and distributed ledger concepts, but that’s something that has yet to happen. Speaking about blockchain in 2018 is similar to speaking about internet routers and switches in 1998. Those technologies were critically important to the development…
Social media is an integral part of media brands’ marketing and promotion. But accurate measurement and analysis remain a significant pain point in these efforts. Social listening and analytics tools abound, but it’s still difficult to answer the question: What’s the ROI of your social media promotion? The difficulty attributing marketing dollars to aspects like…
For as long as social media celebrities have existed, brands have been trying to tap into their star power. The reason is clear: Not only do these new stars have a massive number of loyal fans, but their connection to their audience is authentic and unmitigated by traditional gatekeepers. Considering the intimacy of this connection,…
Talent is leaving the advertising industry in droves, and agencies have no idea how to stem the flow. The average agency annual turnover rate is 30 percent, according to ANA. Instead of prioritizing professional development, the true antidote to advertising’s talent exodus, how have agencies responded? Margarita Mondays. Perks like summer Fridays and in-house yoga…
Whether it’s for a sweepstakes prize, loyalty reward or purchase premium, marketers always want to associate their brand with the next “it” product. And it’s not just emotionally driven. Partnering with the next “it” product is an extremely effective and pragmatic marketing strategy. Brands can generate excitement amongst existing customers while simultaneously extending awareness of…
Digital transformation has reached a tipping point in the creative industry, and the relationship between brands and agencies has shifted in some fundamental ways. Why? Because rising customer expectations are presenting a new set of challenges for everyone involved. Take Adobe, for example. Back in the early 2000s when Adobe sold boxed software with perpetual…
The advertising industry has been talking about the “year of mobile” as the holy grail of interactive television ecommerce for almost as long as they’ve been talking about buying Jennifer’s Aniston’s sweater. And yet mobile advertising has still been dominated to-date more by app-download performance advertising than brand advertising. This article will explore why brand…
When Martin Sorrell made headlines earlier this month for blaming technology and zero-based budgeting for WWP’s worst stock drop since 1999, many marketers were surprised by his failure to communicate what many of us deem the real reasons behind their less than stellar year. Sorrell went so far as to state that his traditional agency…
For women, building strong industry and personal partnerships is a powerful way to build influence and develop professionally. Networks provide cross-pollination of viewpoints and ideas, bring down silos and provide needed exposure for and to underrepresented groups and perspectives. Inside an organization, strong networks make it possible to work collaboratively across different offices, time zones…
I recently got a call from an influential player in the advertising business. She had a simple question: “Are advertising holding companies relevant today? Should they even exist?” At the time I didn’t have an answer. I love advertising and agencies. The industry holds some of the smartest, most thoughtful and creative people I’ve ever…
Over the past five years, programmatic advertising has become one of the most common buzzwords in our industry. Reams of articles, white papers, industry conference panels, et. al., have been devoted to positioning programmatic as the savior of digital advertising. A few years back, it was even dubbed the “Word of the Year” in some…
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.
