Editor's Picks for ANA Magazine

Search engines fueled by artificial intelligence, or zero-click search, are starting to eclipse traditional search. That's leading marketers to reevaluate their search engine optimization strategy from keyword-stuffing to context-crafting.

Generative engine optimization (GEO), a digital marketing strategy centered on ensuring a brand's name is featured in the top answers provided by platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, and other large language models, is starting to accelerate throughout the marketing and ad sector.

A micro-analytics approach, or single "tree" view, to marketing and advertising is valuable, but it risks missing the broader perspective of the "forest." Macro analytics — an aggregated look across all brands, agencies, and regions — can reveal strategic opportunities that individual scope reviews simply cannot.

It was just a few years ago that brand purpose — what a company stands for other than making money — was trumpeted as a transformative force in marketing and advertising. However, brand purpose seems to have lost its way lately. Thomas Kolster, founder and creative director of Copenhagen-based Goodvertising Agency, and author of The Hero Trap, says brands often struggle because they "tiptoe" around areas that don't align with their company.

Some marketers may be quick to dismiss direct mail, believing it's an outdated mass-blast relic that's too complicated to track, too difficult to optimize, and too expensive to be worth it. But today's direct mail is as measurable as digital, offering real-time customer insights and clear attribution metrics.

The growing complexity of the marketing data landscape only increases the risk of misalignment. Customer journeys span dozens of touchpoints across digital, offline, and partner channels. When the data and its interpretations don't align, organizations lose the clarity they need to act decisively.

Marketing managers often hesitate to provide feedback on a creative project. They want to be helpful, of course, but don't want to clog the creative flow. The ultimate solution for marketers is to shift their focus from telling creative teams that something needs to be fixed to pointing out the problem(s).

Social media continues to be a critical marketing channel for SMBs, yet many companies struggle with creating enough content to feed the maw and measure ROI effectively. To close the gap, SMBs are increasingly deploying artificial intelligence (AI), which can spur content creation and personalize messaging, new surveys reveal.

While connected TV (CTV) remains the center of gravity for live sports, it's no longer the only screen in town, as fans engage with games in multiple layers. What used to be a single broadcast has evolved into a cross-platform narrative that stretches across myriad channels and continues long after the match ends.

Marketers love to talk about creativity, but their confidence is another story. A recent survey shows that 41 percent of marketers still see creativity as a risk, which holds brands back from making bold, emotionally driven work that can boost engagement and expand their audiences. To reverse course, marketers need a new toolkit.

Sports partnerships are drawing more advertisers looking to highlight their brand purpose and connect with fans and audiences in ways that are beyond transactional and reflect shared values.

Justin Thomas-Copeland, who was recently named CEO of the 4As, says the ad agencies best positioned to thrive in the current climate are flexible, fast, and have a large window into their clients' business.

For brands that consistently use TV advertising to boost revenue and grow engagement, it's clear that such spending is effective at driving sustainable business outcomes. The task now at hand is improving the offerings and measurement capabilities so that it's much smoother for advertisers of every size.

Kraft Heinz is partnering with award-winning music producer Mustard for a limited-edition Heinz MUSTAAAAAARD. The product marks the first new mustard released by Kraft Heinz in nearly a decade and was brought to market in four months to coincide with the start of grilling season.

Account-based marketing (ABM) has been a tough sell in the past few years. But the tide may be turning, with 87 percent of marketers saying they expect their organization's ABM budget to increase in the next 12 months, with an average bump of 9 percent, per a recent study.

The dizzying number of influencers, creators, and media channels now available to marketers — combined with the rise of generative artificial intelligence — is altering not only how branded ads are produced, but also how many.

Less than three years after AI-based ChatGPT launched, spurring dramatic change throughout the marketing and advertising field, large language models (LLMs) are taking marketing operations to yet another level.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banning red dye No. 3 and recommending more detailed food and alcohol labeling underscores several questions for marketers. Namely, should brands be more proactive and opt for greater transparency about health concerns associated with their products?

Regardless of its fate in the U.S., TikTok has spawned the "TikTokification" of digital content, in which advertisers are on the hook to produce short, punchy, and often irreverent content to appeal to gen Zers and other younger demos.

Brand spokescharacters are having a renaissance as companies scramble to fuel engagement in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Whether it's enduring spokescharacters, such as the Green Giant and the Kool-Aid Man, or edgier mascots, including the Duolingo owl, brand mascots not only fuel engagement but provide some levity to consumers and additional opportunities for integrated marketing.