ANA Magazine

Nearly 20 years after social media channels emerged amid gleeful predictions that they would help to tackle societal problems and bring people together, parts of the market have turned into toxic stews of conspiracy mongering, name calling, and mean-spiritedness — not the best adjacencies for brand advertisers.

ChatGPT, the large language model chatbot that debuted to great fanfare in 2022, can drive marketing efficiencies and foster creativity, but brand managers need to ensure that humans are the ultimate arbiters for what kind of messaging will resonate with their audiences. Even brand managers who are not in testing mode when it comes to ChatGPT need to understand its widespread implications for marketing and advertising.

As the LGBTQ+ community wields growing purchasing power, brands and organizations need to create marketing and advertising campaigns that are inclusive and acknowledge ongoing and dramatic changes in gender identity. While there's been progress in LGBTQ+ representation in advertising, significant gaps remain.

Both retailers and CPG brands continue to ramp up the use of smart screens, artificial intelligence, and other digital tools to woo people back to brick-and-mortar outlets and enhance the in-store shopping experience as the pandemic starts to fade.

After first gaining popularity in China, livestream shopping is growing fast in the U.S., with the market expected to reach $32 billion this year, nearly double compared to 2022. Conversion rates are also on the upswing. As they ramp up their investments in livestreaming, it's key for brand managers to develop programming that will both entertain viewers and mesh with other marketing channels.

The rise in brand purpose has led to a surge in so-called purpose washing, in which a company claims solidarity with a certain cause — the environment, empowering women, or LGBTQ+ rights, for examples — only to do little to nothing to support. With an ever-discerning public waiting to pounce, marketers have to ensure that before they start touting their purpose they are taking actions that have a real impact on people's lives.

The last year was a whirlwind for marketers and 2023 is expected to be no different. In addition to a potential recession — and consumers being more selective with their spending — brands will have to grapple with the ongoing chaos at Twitter following Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of the beleaguered social network and the political divide in the U.S. that shows few signs of letting up.

Spending on influencer marketing is expected to grow to $6.1 billion in 2023 and $7.1 billion in 2024, per Insider Intelligence. But as the market expands, brand managers are starting to ask tougher questions about the advantages — and drawbacks — of using influencers to help boost engagement efforts and land new customers.

While there were many points of agreement between clients and agency prospects, sharply different views emerged in multiple areas including IP ownership, budget size, and establishing a timeline for success, according to a recent ANA/4A's survey. Industry observers say the solution to many of the issues that pit agencies against their clients often comes down to overcoming the lack of clarity in communication between the two parties.

The key to cultivating brand love in a sluggish economy is not only being reliable but also demonstrating to consumers how their affection for certain products and/or services can make a tangible contribution to improving society.

Despite increasing purchasing power in the past several years, Latin American communities tend to get the most attention from marketers only during Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15–October 15), with too many companies focused on the short-term. To cultivate relationships and build brand loyalty long-term, markers must uncover deeper consumer insights about American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

As companies began to double down on their online marketing efforts due to the pandemic, newly hired CMOs were able to command higher salaries. But the calculus for CMO pay may be changing, as companies face a possible recession.

As brands and organizations gear up for Women's History Month in March, marketers are viewing the celebration though a long lens and delivering ad campaigns showing women succeeding in roles traditionally associated with men.

Marketers continue to be dogged by all the data they collect. Nearly two-thirds of marketers lack confidence in their data analytics and insights systems, a new survey reveals. Building (and sustaining) cross-functional teams encompassing both marketing and technology is key to remedying the situation.

With Black History Month around the corner, a growing number of brands are moving beyond a four-week window tied to the celebration to forge deeper relationships with Black-owned businesses and Black communities. The efforts range from hands-on training to help companies go to market faster to making people aware of rapidly changing demographics in the U.S.

On the road to a streaming universe, linear TV continues to offer advertisers a still-reliable marketing vehicle with broad reach. The next frontier for marketers is how to optimize their ads across both streaming and linear platforms.

A growing number of brands are cutting the CMO role altogether and shifting marketing responsibilities to other members of the C-suite. The churn rate is also accelerating. Kirsten Allegri Williams, CMO at Optimizely, says the overriding challenge for CMOs is closing the gap between the expectations among their customers and what marketers can deliver — and then effectively communicating the process back to the C-suite.

The pandemic jolted many brands into beefing up their digital marketing and some into switching their ad agencies. But while the tumult caused by COVID-19 has subsided, the pace of account reviews has only accelerated.

Christmas in July? Not quite. But the shopping season, previously relegated to the last several weeks of the year, is now in perpetual motion due to online shopping. What's more, amid a creaky economy and the potential for a recession later this year, consumers are gathering up their gifts earlier than ever.

Fraud in digital advertising remains an issue, and while the exact scale of the problem is a matter of dispute, there's widespread agreement that as the market grows, so will the need for brands to take an active role in protecting their investments.