How to Unlock Growth Through Underserved Marketing Channels

""Channel strategy has always been pretty hard, but today it's [evolving] fast," says Holden Bale, global chief strategy officer at Merkle. "We project that by the end of this decade, 100 percent of advertising will be addressable, shoppable and accountable to performance outcomes.""

"The sports sponsorship market is projected to grow from $63.1 billion in 2021 to $109.1 billion by 2030, according to PwC. However, ROI on sports sponsorships is highly variable - ranging from 1.2x to 4.1x - offering significant rewards when done right, but risking wasted investment if managed poorly, according to Ekimetrics. "Sponsorship is typically an upper-funnel driving tactic. So, if you're only looking at sales results, you will not be capturing the full impact of what that sponsorship is driving," says Sona Abaryan, partner at Ekimetrics."

"As brands navigate this increasingly complex ecosystem, success hinges on selecting the right mix of channels - each with its own strengths, trade-offs and demands. Sports sponsorships, retail media networks (RMNs), influencer partnerships and community-centric platforms are gaining popularity, but have been underserved due to a lack of quality data and poor measurement practices."

Marketing channel strategy has become more complex as channels proliferate, with many channels still emerging, underutilised or harder to measure. Brands must choose a tailored mix of channels, balancing each channel's strengths, trade-offs and data requirements. Sports sponsorships, retail media networks, influencer partnerships and community-centric platforms offer cultural relevance and new reach but often lack quality data and robust measurement. Sports sponsorships are forecast to grow substantially, yet ROI varies widely from roughly 1.2x to 4.1x, underscoring the need for upper-funnel measurement, sufficient investment and a solid measurement plan. Industry projections foresee a shift to fully addressable, shoppable, performance-accountable advertising by decade's end.

Read at The Business of Fashion