As you browse your social media feeds or check out billboards on a leisurely drive, you might notice a recent phenomenon: Everything seems quite, well, similar. "If you go to the comment section of any viral post right now, all the brands are commenting and they all sound exactly the same," says Rachel Karten, a social media consultant and author of the popular industry newsletter Link In Bio. If you run a business, it's more important than ever to carve out a distinct brand identity-and your brand's voice, or how you express your brand's values, point of view, and attitudes, is key. "Brand voice can be the differentiator when every brand sounds the same," Karten says.
It's not AI. It's not personalization. It's creativity. More specifically, it's emotional creativity executed consistently over time. The new research, released by digital advertising company System1 and Effie, evaluated over 1,200 campaign outcomes, totaling $139 billion worth of marketing spend, and ad data from over 200,000 people, from challenger brands to massive organizations. And it revealed that many companies have it backwards, ranking targeting as their number one priority when in actuality it only delivers a 1.1x profit multiplier, on average.
One example of this hybrid approach could be found in the company's big marketing and product development pushes of the past year, Milani CMO Jeremy Lowenstein told AdExchanger. Last year, he said, the company launched blurring powders that give a filtered look, similar to in-app filters. The idea was inspired by and lived organically on social channels, but was meant to drive mass-market, in-store shelf sales. With new product launches this year, Milani has expanded on its blurring and blur-out products.
We have come a long way since then-from simple websites to dynamic social and digital marketing ad campaigns powered by artificial intelligence. Aside from being just a new kid on the block (at least, in the mainstream), AI has become a prominent piece of our digital marketing landscape. Now, you might want to know, as many of our clients do, how you can leverage AI for your digital marketing efforts.
There are not many opportunities during the year for business owners to capitalize on consumers' frenetic spending behavior. However, during the holiday season, consumers expect to spend, and if positioned correctly, business owners can generate substantial revenue. Statistics show that business owners can earn a noticeable portion of their annual revenue from holiday spending when they create an executable plan for the holiday season.
No two sales calls are alike. One prospect demands data. Another wants a big-picture vision. The third? Ghosts you after three emails. Without a clear system, even top reps waste time guessing and lose deals they could've won. A great sales playbook gives your team a repeatable game plan: what to say, when to say it, and how to keep deals moving.
As a tree service owner, your business is built on a foundation of skill, safety, and trust. You are the expert that homeowners call in a high-stakes situation, whether it's to remove a massive, dangerous tree looming over their house or to clean up after a major storm. For years, a great reputation was built by word-of-mouth and a logo on the side of your truck. But in today's digital world, that trust-building process starts online.
Being a rebel, to me, essentially means parking the industry playbook. It means not necessarily following the herd. So, when people go that way, perhaps you go the other way or in that direction. It's not about chasing clicks; it's not about chasing short-term wins. I think, at the end of the day, it is about giving your audience credit and not dumbing down,
Smaller, less healthy food (LHF) brands should not fear the forthcoming legislation that will restrict when and where they advertise. Rather than weakening performance, compliant ads can increase comfort and trust and evoke positive emotions with viewers. This is a key finding of a study undertaken by Azerion in the run-up to the three-month voluntary compliance period, which started on 1 October 2025, ahead of the rules coming into force on 5 January 2026.
I got rejected from every single internship I applied to last summer - consulting, finance, tech, and entertainment. At the very end, I settled for a role at a startup called RecruitU as a social media intern. I grew their Instagram from 0 to 100,000 and my own account from 0 to 50,000. I also grew the company's user base by 400%. I was pretty much their only distributor.
The easy button doesn't exist. Tools matter, but they're only about 25% of the solution. The other 75% is expertise, knowing how to apply the right tools to your unique business context. In other words, the difference between good and great measurement is a lot less about the technology you use and a lot more about the framework that guides how you use it.
"As consumer attention shifts more and more towards digital media, we believe that experiential marketing is one of the few traditional marketing channels that brands can still use to create unique and memorable moments that actually reach consumers," says Reed Duchscher, Night's founder & CEO. "Marketing leaders tell us that in today's media landscape it's important that those experiential investments also translate into digital success and drive earned media virality online. That's why we're so excited to welcome Jasen and team to Night."
The definition of TV has never been broader. From video on demand to subscription services to platforms like YouTube on connected TVs, audiences are watching more and in more places than ever - but with shifting viewership behaviors, achieving your brand's reach goals requires a new approach to planning and measuring media effectiveness. Instead of treating each streaming service as a silo, a unified CTV
Sharing his thoughts on the social media platform X on Saturday, the investor outlined Tesla's need for better marketing. "TSLA has the best product, but the product won't just sell itself," Black said in the post. He also highlighted that "influencers" sharing videos of Teslas on social media wasn't an example of "great marketing since it reaches audiences who already own Teslas."
A backlink is a vote of confidence. When other sites link to yours, it signals that your content is worth referencing. The more credible those links are, the stronger your site's reputation becomes in the eyes of search engines. But there's a catch: not all links carry the same value. Some can push your rankings up fast, while others are nothing more than digital clutter.
If you haven't seen them yet, OpenAI's launched new ad campaign of short 30 seconds videos that embed AI into an idealised, warmly analog, version of the past. They're quite visually pleasing, to be honest, with a slight VHS grain and muted colours, and depict very relatable everyday scenarios like wanting to impress a girl or getting fitter. They lean hard on 80s soundtracks and cheesy movie vibes.
Debuted during NFL Primetime, the ads are slated to run in the US and UK on traditional media - TV, streaming platforms, paid social, outdoor and influencer partnerships through the end of 2025. But underscoring the AI industry's formidable struggles with public perception, Adweek reports that themarketingresearch company System1 tested both theabove ads witha panel of US consumers - and the results were absolutelydismal.
Have we, as a society, reached peak customer satisfaction survey? It's not unexpected to be asked to submit feedback, either on an internal system or on a public-facing website like Tripadvisor, for everything from a hotel stay to a technology helpline. It isn't hard to understand why companies ask for this, or even why they would incentivize filling them out. But there's also a big question: at what point do efforts to get feedback go too far?
The 'madferits' showed exactly how powerful nostalgia can be. It takes us back to (perceived) happier, simpler times, igniting sentimentality, joy and yearning. There is an instant comfort in fond memories and rose-tinted perspectives, and brands attaching themselves to this emotional response can thrive from this association. An emotional connection to a brand holds significant power, it has the potential to turn a one-time customer into a lifelong fan.
For years, brands tried to split the difference by hiring a PR agency for visibility, an affiliate manager for commerce coverage and affiliate partnerships, and a media buyer for paid social scale. Seven years ago, I, in fact, was one of them as the former VP of Marketing and Founding Team at Ritual. On paper, it made sense. In practice, I found it created silos, competing agendas, and a lack of shared accountability and synergy across agencies and partners.
Because they land in an inbox already flooded with hundreds of other requests and are immediately deleted. This is usually because they are written as announcements, not as compelling stories. They scream "look at us" instead of offering genuine value to the journalist and their readers. The brutal reality is that you only have seconds to prove you're different, and you can do that by being strategic.
Zachary Jarvinen is vice president of marketing for Exact Payments, a leader in embedded payment solutions for SaaS businesses. Customer lifetime value (CLV) is among the most critical metrics for businesses, reflecting the total revenue a company can expect from a customer throughout their relationship. Strategic advertising plays a key role in maximizing CLV-not only by identifying and acquiring high-value customers, but also by driving long-term loyalty and engagement when executed effectively.
I'll never forget the first time I saw the power of a group gasp. Years ago, at a Baltimore Ravens game, a film I'd helped create played across the stadium's newly installed LED screens. In the climactic moment (a close-up shot as the kicker's foot struck the ball) the entire crowd seemed to freeze, breath held, before erupting in a wave of energy that swept the stands. That's because the shot was perfectly timed with the real kick-off that started the game.
Executives from , Panera and Digitas, plus creator Nicky Campbell will take the Advertising Week stage on Oct. 9 for the "Leveraging Moments to Create Moments" panel. The group will share the strategy behind Variety's partnership with Panera, as the two worked to create an organic, influencer-driven campaign promoting the restaurant chain's new Croissant Toast Sandwich and limited-edition Croissant Clutch. The campaign was tied to fashion's biggest night of the year: the Met Gala, which was held in May.
