With restrictions increasingly lifting across many parts of the world, consumer confidence is at a tipping point for returning to levels seen pre-pandemic for the first time in almost two years. Consumers are eager to interact with people outside their household and to get back to life and whatever the new normal is. In anticipation of this restored freedom, many consumers are making plans around their desires for travel, shopping at malls, attending music festivals and concerts, enjoying nights out at the movies, restaurants and so much more. While the world works through varying stages of returning to normal, the challenge marketers face is predicting how the global health crisis influences, and will continue to influence, customers’ mindsets and spending patterns. And with back to ...

After being postponed since 2020, the long-awaited Summer Olympics in Tokyo, is the most anticipated sporting event of the year. This July, the Games will captivate the world for seventeen days. The cultural global audiences will have over 7,000 hours of coverage across 41 sports and 339 medal events–including four new and two returning Olympic sports: surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, karate, baseball and softball–available to watch. Despite COVID restrictions lifting across many parts of the world the Tokyo Games will be unprecedented on many fronts. It marks the first time in history first time in history the Olympic Games were temporarily postponed for a reason other than war and is set to be the first programmatic one. The Tokyo Games are being touted as the most digital, and ...

“The internet has dramatically expanded the modern marketer’s tool kit, in large part because of one simple but transformative development: digital data” (HBR) This evolution of marketing has happened at great speed, and cost—primarily to consumers. The too-often unchecked use of data has resulted in significant changes to browser controls, and privacy regulations that protect the consumer. Of course, marketers have gotten accustomed to the data, so the consumer-driven push for privacy presents challenges for marketers who rely on user data to connect with their audience. The flip side of these challenges is the opportunity they bring. Internet transparency and privacy regulations, along with web browsers blocking cookies ensure legacy audience-based targeting strategies eventually won’t ...

Advertising in 2020 bears little resemblance to advertising just 10 years ago. The options and investment in digital continues to grow, and the rapid consumer adoption of connected TV (CTV) has been closely followed by increased investment from brands. Connected TV is an exciting and growing opportunity for advertisers—the case for venturing into CTV is pretty clear. However, in practice, it comes with a level of complexity that can be challenging to navigate. As people throughout the industry work to make sense of the CTV ecosystem, explanations and definitions of different aspects of CTV have flooded the internet. Of course, it’s a developing space, so there’s no single definitive guide to reference. Knowing what’s out there, we wanted to provide a valuable overview of CTV, the ...

Since the beginning of the new millennium, just 20 years in, we’ve watched massive changes in how we consume entertainment. Pay television (cable/satellite) are no longer the default, video stores are practically non-existent, and yet, the amount of content we have access to today far exceeds our wildest dreams back in the day. The shift to streaming services has run parallel to advances in the technology we use to watch television. And though that experience of watching TV has gone through radical changes, consumers aren’t giving up their TVs. It's vital for digital marketing to adapt to data-driven placements to optimize ad campaigns . The case for advertising on CTV According to a recent report from Conviva, viewing time for streaming in the past year is up 57% globally, though Europe ...

One of the most significant advantages of contextual targeting as a cornerstone of your advertising strategy is the ability to build a more compelling and complete story that resonates with your audience. The challenges of finance marketing With the finance industry slowly growing its digital ad spend, marketers are looking for ways to stand out from competitors and adopt tools, tactics, and systems that are measurable so they can analyze and improve results. In addition to regulatory compliance requirements, finance marketers face some challenges in reaching their audience with a compelling message. There are several reasons for this: Many consumers aren’t knowledgeable about financial products. Content about financial products and services tends to use complex language. The rocky trust ...

One of the most effective ways marketers have to connect with their audience is storytelling. This can be challenging when it comes to advertising because the timeframe for attracting attention, garnering interest, and inspiring action is mere seconds. But what if the content alongside your ad was part of the story? Ads shouldn’t be an island It’s not uncommon for ads to show up beside content that has no particular relevance to the ad. I tested this out by looking at what ads would run next to an article with advice on staying cool at home during a heatwave. None of the ads were precisely relevant, but they were all humorous in their own way given the context – here’s a sample of what I saw ads for: Face masks – so important when working from home, Pods – for a quieter, happier place in ...

In the world of digital advertising, during times of crisis, there’s a predictable pattern where advertisers go into protection mode to preserve brand safety. The response is understandable, especially given the very real human concerns associated with the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. You want to be sensitive to what’s happening, which usually involves a significant shift or reduction in advertising. Recently, our partner MediaMath invited Alex White, COO of Peer39, to have a conversation about the challenges advertisers are facing right now in the face of an active global pandemic. Danny Sepulveda, SVP for Policy & Advocacy at MediaMath, hosted Alex as part of their Digital Dialogues webinar series. Together, Alex and Danny discussed the state of advertising and content ...