Industry Insights
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Doing AI Right: Building Ethical Guardrails for Innovation
Leading Edge November 21, 2025At the recent ANA webinar, Doing AI Right: Reshaping the Ethical Mindset in Modern Marketing, we explored this crucial issue through a practical corporate lens. Carol Van Den Hende, global responsible AI Chair at Mars, offered a look at what it takes to build effective guardrails around AI implementation, and how clear guidelines can foster and accelerate innovation.
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Report Finds Email, AI, Video Create More Confident Marketers
Leading Edge November 21, 2025Constant Contact’s latest Small Business Now report shares how small businesses are doubling down on tech like AI and video — yet many still struggle with confidence, clarity, and cost in their marketing efforts.
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The Hidden Growth Opportunities in Aligning Creative and Media Teams
Leading Edge November 20, 2025Many organizations are not prioritizing creative measurement while modernizing. Throwing in influencers, retail media, and generative AI only amplifies the risk as content volume continues its exponential growth, turning a fast-moving process into an increasingly high-stakes gamble.
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Three Reasons These Holiday Campaigns Succeeded
Leading Edge November 20, 2025Below are ways brands, such as Citi, Northwell Health, and Pepsi made the holiday season a brighter and more joyful time of year for consumers (and, as a result, increased brand growth through areas like awareness, favorability, and purchase).
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Four Science-Backed and Evidence-Based Growth Drivers for Brands
Leading Edge November 19, 2025Ulli Appelbaum, founder of First The Trousers Then The Shoes Inc., outlines four science-backed and evidence-based growth drivers that, if applied consistently, can dramatically improve the impact of your brand building activities.
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SMBs See Higher ROI with Multichannel Strategies
Leading Edge November 19, 2025Taradel’s 2025 Small Business Marketing Survey reveals small businesses are embracing multichannel strategies, integrating digital and direct mail, increasing ad spend, and using DIY tools to drive growth.
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7 Triggers That Spark True Marketing Innovation
Leading Edge November 18, 2025To address this challenge, the ANA’s Technology practice has released the Innovation Management Playbook for Marketers: Moving at the Speed of AI, created in close collaboration with Greg Verdino, founder and COO of Cognitive Path. We spoke with Greg about key insights from the playbook, including the challenge of knowing when innovation is truly needed – and why.
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Carhartt’s Joel Kile on Redefining Recognition via B2B Holiday Gifting
Pulse November 18, 2025Denise McDevitt, SVP of award programs at ANA connects with Joel Kile, CCG D2B marketing manager at Carhartt, to spotlight Carhartt’s “For Crews Who Make the Holidays” campaign, a B2 Award-winning effort that redefined what seasonal gifting can mean for hardworking teams across industries.
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Here's How to Write Better Social RFPs
Leading Edge November 17, 2025Today, too many social RFPs read like a Costco receipt: a long checklist and not a recipe in sight. If you want a partner who can think with you, lead with you, and help you build a sustainable, scalable, agile social practice at scale, the RFP must change. Here’s what clients are getting wrong and how to fix it.
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Intuit Study Reveals Average Small Business Marketing Budget
Leading Edge November 17, 2025Intuit SMB MediaLabs’ 2025 Small Business Advertising Trends Report reveals how small businesses are prioritizing advertising, embracing social media dominance, and leveraging martech for measurable ROI.
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Why Earned Media Is the New Growth Engine for Challenger Brands
Leading Edge November 17, 2025With rising ad costs and declining ROI, more brands are shifting efforts toward earned media channels such as influencers, reviews, and affiliate partnerships. Supported by data from recent influencer marketing reports, this article explores how brands can harness these channels to drive growth, build trust, and sustain long-term engagement.
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Product Placement in Television and Film Is Becoming Too Obvious
Leading Edge November 14, 2025The increased rate of product placement in television and film has adverse effects on consumers.
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The Secret Bottleneck Holding Back Generative AI
Leading Edge November 13, 2025Are we really ready to embrace AI? 2025 has been a breakout year for AI in marketing — new models, new tools, new promises of transformation. But beneath the surface, most organizations are confronting a less glamorous reality: They’re not ready. Joe Luchs, CEO and co-founder of Datalinx AI, shares recommendations for marketers.
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Words of Wisdom from the 2025 ANA Masters of Marketing Conference
Leading Edge November 13, 2025Below are some of the rich insights and recommendations from the industry leaders who presented at ANA's 2025 Masters of Marketing Conference.
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Insights from the Masters Main Stage
Leading Edge November 12, 2025Discover key takeaways from the 2025 ANA Masters of Marketing Conference — from AI-driven transformation and brand fundamentals to creativity, trust, and cultural relevance. Learn how top CMOs and brand leaders are driving growth and staying relevant in a fast-changing landscape.
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Study: AI Integration Surges Among SMBs, Email Regains Importance
Leading Edge November 12, 2025Seventy-two percent of new SMB owners plan to adopt AI in 2025, Constant Contact reports. Despite heavy reliance on social media, email marketing is regaining traction for ROI, retention, and conversions.
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Kellanova’s Jenny Lindquist on Harnessing Absurd and Bold Creative
Pulse November 11, 2025Denise McDevitt, SVP of award programs at ANA connects with Jenny Lindquist, senior director of full funnel marketing at Kellanova to discuss their award winning work, “The First Edible Mascot,” a campaign that turned heads, stirred laughs, and proved that absurdity, when done right, can be genius.
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Relatable and Ready: The New Rules of Social in Travel Marketing
Leading Edge November 11, 2025Matt Brown, strategy director, We Are Social, discusses the latest trends with gen Z travelers.
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These Employee-Focused Campaigns Got It Right
Pulse November 10, 2025Below are campaigns that prioritized fostering employee morale and celebrated the often-invisible labor behind the ads and products.
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Three New Opportunities That Synthetic Data Can Generate for Your Auto Brand
Leading Edge November 10, 2025Ray Kong, CMO at Arima, discusses why auto companies need to leverage synthetic data to drive growth.
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