David Ward

As the pandemic ebbs and consumers return to physical retail outlets, brands are looking to give consumers the best of both worlds: A better in-store experience combined with conveniences typically found only online. How do brands strike the right balance?

A growing number of states are moving toward legalizing recreational use of marijuana and publishers are getting more accepting of cannabis-themed advertising. Nevertheless, achieving scale will likely be a long slog for brands that want to join the fray. For clues as to how cannabis might eventually emerge as an everyday product, marketers should take a closer look at the CBD space.

Political campaigns are chasing a growing number of independent voters, with the ad budgets to show for it. While linear TV still commands top dollar, social media channels are maintaining their share, despite bans on some or all political advertising during the 2020 election.

The arrival of COVID-19 vaccines will spur additional opportunities in DOOH, as consumers return in droves to shopping in brick-and-mortar stores and eating inside restaurants after being stuck in their homes because of the pandemic.

Despite growing privacy concerns among consumers and a lurch toward the ‘dark web,’ brands can still drive actionable insights from social listening.

A crisis may not be the best time for companies to stress test their brand purpose. However, the past few months have forced companies to reexamine why their brand exists, or perhaps more important, what’s needed to better articulate their purpose.

Plant-based food products continue to expand, along with a marketing strategy that goes beyond a green or environmentally correct message and focuses on what consumers crave: taste. Big brands like IKEA and Disney join the fray.

Marketers for smaller brands don’t have the same resources as their counterparts at bigger companies. But there’s still a great deal that smaller brands can learn from their larger competitors when it comes to maximizing their marketing activities.

While an outside perspective can be helpful, fresh ideas readily exist within an organization. The onus is on upper management to encourage those executives who aspire to be the CMO.

Fueled in part by a lack of transparency in the media buying process, the marketing industry faces a troubling rise in the number of fraudulent websites and bots that convert illegitimate traffic into ill-gotten revenue. The problem is so pervasive that it’s begun to skew data and give an inaccurate view of the digital marketplace. For brands, it means keeping an eye on where the money goes is more important than ever.

Ad-skipping technology and a sea of content options are creating multiple opportunities for product placement.