Matthew Schwartz

Despite the growing power of the “silver economy” and traditional notions of aging being constantly upended, advertisers continue to give the 50-plus market short shrift. As the size of this market — and its immense wealth — grows, can brands continue to afford to ignore them?

CMOs cite a lack authority when their companies enter foreign markets, and they feel frustrated by the experience, according to a recent study. But chief marketers can play an instrumental role for brands that are expanding their global footprint — if senior management has the will to provide more managerial discretion.

Social media has pulled ahead of email marketing as the top marketing tactic for B2B companies, says a recent study. As social platforms command a growing number of ad dollars, the challenge for marketers will be to tailor their messages so they play into the strengths of each channel, whether text for Twitter, visuals for Instagram, or original video content on YouTube.

Corona Island is taking brand extension to another level. The island, which opens this summer, will offer visitors a slew of environmental lessons that they can apply at home. Felipe Ambra, global VP for Corona at Anheuser-Busch InBev, hopes the destination will also serve as a beacon for other brands eager to accelerate their sustainability efforts.

Brands and organizations can appeal to much more diverse and wider audiences, thanks to a new online platform offered by Microsoft Advertising. The program consists of nearly 40 business attributes based on research showing what is most important to people in building trust with brands.

The traits associated with empathy have been part of the marketing mix for years. But COVID-19 has dramatically, and perhaps permanently, altered the framework when it comes to how brands communicate with their audiences.

Frank Cooper III, CMO at BlackRock, discusses how CMOs can play a key role driving brand purpose and the opportunity for chief marketers as more and more companies hire chief purpose officers.

The proliferation of chief purpose officers provides CMOs with a lot more runway to boost the value of marketing throughout the company. But as they bring their company’s brand purpose to life, marketers must take the long view and be careful not to slip into ad-mode. They also need to collaborate with other business units on the best path forward.

Against the backdrop of seismic changes in customer behavior, B2B companies are taking major steps to optimize their marketing assets and cultivate more collaboration among disparate teams who share the same goals.

Mindy Scheier initially met resistance from fashion brands when she tried to convince them about the benefits of developing adaptive clothing lines. However, in just a few years she’s turned the tide, working with a growing number of companies to design clothing lines catering to people with disabilities. According to the World Bank, one billion people throughout the world have some form of disability.

Back to normal? Not so fast. It was just last month that the country seemed on the verge of delivering a knockdown blow to COVID-19. With millions of Americans getting vaccinated and infection rates falling rapidly, there was a palpable sense that the misery wrought by the pandemic was finally behind us. But it was fleeting.