Agency

BrandMaker announced the final in a series of findings of its independent research study on experiences and attitudes of top marketing executives around marketing operations. The research revealed that marketing executives who plan to increase their spending in marketing operations the most this year want to improve financial management and budgeting.

This multiyear study organized by the Alliance for Board Diversity (ABD), in collaboration with Deloitte for the 2016, 2018, and 2020 censuses, highlights the progress to date that has or has not been made in the equitable representation of women and minorities on corporate boards.

Marketers have always been pressured to deliver measurable ROI for their efforts, but the demand for growth has sharpened as the world looks toward a post-pandemic future. As the learnings of several multinational brands suggest, that growth must be addressed with balanced marketing strategies that re-elevate upper-funnel, brand-building efforts to work in tandem with the mid- and lower-funnel efforts.

Do you want to focus your ad spend on opportunities where you can reach engaged viewers who are actually in the room?

Seven crucial elements of a first-party and data-centric advertising strategy

What’s hot in retail can sometimes be difficult to predict because innovations and adoptions are moving so quickly. The pandemic taught us that new behaviors are always popping up, but we’re still figuring out which ones are here to stay.

WFA is launching the world’s first-ever global census of the marketing and advertising industry, designed to provide hard data on the people who are working in the profession.

With a record number of entries, the Hispanic Marketing Council (HMC) announced the 2021 winners of the HMC Strategic Excellence Awards, the only award of its kind that honors multicultural strategic thinking and cultural competence in marketing. Alma took top honors with a Gold for Best Cultural Insight for its work with McDonald’s and a Gold for Mainstream Impact for its work by Coors. Casanova//McCann, Culture ONE World, d expósito & Partners, Dieste, Inspire Agency, Republica Havas, Visual Latina, and Zubi also received accolades.

Inclusion and Diversity in advertising is a hot topic, and one of the creative devices used by many of Kantar’s Creative Effectiveness Award winners. And we know that demonstrating inclusion and diversity in advertising is no longer optional, it’s an imperative. It isn’t just socially and morally right; progressive and inclusive advertising improves ROI.  So how can you get inclusive portrayal of people right in your ads?

Six-in-ten Americans say they are very familiar with their origins. Black and Hispanic adults feel more connected to roots than White adults

The opportunity for brands is to identify and attract potential shoppers by diverting spend away from competitive brands. Targeting based on real-world purchase behaviours can deliver a measurable improvement in advertising performance.

Last year, the average US adult spent more time per day with most media formats and devices, including TV. Although adults will spend nearly as much time with media this year, their TV viewing time will drop below pre-pandemic levels.

Agencies tend to rely heavily on referrals for new business. And new business consultants often caution against using referrals as the agency’s sole source of new business. Despite appearances, it’s not just out of self-interest.  By Mark Duval / The Duval Partnership

Smartphone ownership and home broadband adoption are up slightly since 2019. And 30% of Americans say they at least sometimes experience problems connecting to internet at home

Major brands are holding themselves accountable and setting the expectations for their agency partners to model similar DEI values

Promotions have always been an important sales driver for consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) companies.

Data-based insights help TV networks make strategic decisions around promo loads, promo saturation, and use of sister networks.

A dizzying array of changes in consumer behavior will touch nearly every industry as the reopening period progresses, vaccination rates rise, more schools and businesses open, and people start to emerge from their homes and re-enter the larger world. Changes to work and school patterns, and the reemergence of dining out and other experiential spending, will affect how consumers reprioritize their spending in the coming months and beyond.

Advertising, PR, creative, digital, and full-service agencies have played a crucial role in the marketer’s toolkit for decades. But the landscape is changing. More than ever, overlap exists between agencies and consultancies, in-house and external agencies, and the roles of humans and automation. ANA Marketing Futures gathered perspectives from marketers and subject matter experts to understand how marketers view the future of agency and how its trajectory impacts marketing decision making.

The current industry conversation around investment inequalities in the media and creative supply chain has been extensive, and rightly so.  For example, there has been tremendous interest in supporting Black-owned businesses and Asian-owned businesses have also garnered interest and support.  By Bill Duggan /  Group EVP, ANA