Life of the Brand

Cookie and Cream? How about Cookies in wine? We’ve noticed some pretty insane brand collaborations lately as companies attempt to mass-produce viral wow-factor. In what situations do moves like this pay off? Are there some larger implications here for the future of brand positioning? This is Life of the Brand.

It’s a week until Christmas and all over the world,

Brands have their holiday campaigns unfurled,

Promising the very best price of the year,

And special one time offerings sure to bring cheer.

But undoubtedly those that set themselves apart,

Are the ones that show they have our interests at heart,

With messaging shining the spotlight on you,

Their ethics and empathy well within view,

How can we learn from what these brands represent,

And connect to our audience with joyous intent?

So to enter the new year with this knowledge in hand.

Let’s jump right in. This is Life of the Brand.

12 Consumer Experience Figures You Need To Know - https://griffinwink.com/12-customer-experience-figures-you-need-to-know/

Research, budget, brainstorm, plan, pitch, and hit the ground running all before the first of the year! So much goes into building out strategies and campaigns for our clients that it's easy to lose sight of the client relationship altogether. Whether putting together a full campaign or presenting a single new idea, how do we step out of the chaos to develop purposeful strategies that build trust and reach our client’s goals?

Welcome to the Metaverse… It’s Facebook’s world, we’ll just be living in it, but probably not for another decade..ish. How seriously should we be taking the recent rebrand and the flashy, fantasy world painted by their latest keynote, and will the Social Media giant be able to break away from the current issues plaguing the platform to actually make this all a reality? This is Life of The Brand.

Has anyone else felt like all this remote work is making it hard to feel inspired? What about inspiring others? Clients, coworkers, business partners. How do we encourage collaboration, creativity, and excitement in the evolving workplace? How do we practice Inspired Marketing? 

It’s part three of our series on Google’s recent updates, and this week we finally chat about the platform that helped give rise to the modern Digital Agency. Google Ads continues to expand and refine its suite of offerings, and we’ve got some thoughts on how to effectively navigate these new opportunities.

In part two of our series on Google’s recent updates, we bring analytics front and center where they should be. How is Google changing the way interactions are recorded and categorized? Is Google slowly building a closed system of compatibility, and who ultimately will that benefit?

In a move that shocks… well… no one, Google has recently released a slew of updates to its platforms. We’ll unpack it all with you over the next few weeks, but to begin, let’s talk about the bigger picture and how these updates fit into the ongoing narrative of internet privacy, and how big-tech handles accountability.

The advent of podcasting breathed new life into the broadcast audio format. Now the medium has been adopted by professionals and hobbyists alike. As a podcast ourselves, we think it might be important to talk about where the medium stands, where it’s going, and what other platforms are adopting the audio-first format, keeping the art of conversation relevant for a new generation.

Main resource for portions on the history of the Podcast - https://www.voices.com/blog/history-of-podcasts/

Come along for the ride as we recap Big Game Advertising while trying not to call The Big Game by its actual trademarked name! Which ads hit the mark, which left us wanting, and how many times do we have to censor ourselves? 

Looking beyond just what’s legal to determine what’s right. Major companies are coming together to develop a tool to help agencies tow that line between cool and creepy. What will this mean for how agencies build campaigns in the future? How long will it be before a program like this is more widely available? What implications does this have for advertisers without global backing and influence? Let's talk it out! 

Budweiser is the latest major brand to announce they will not advertise in the super bowl. February's big game is understandably suffering from a year full of what-ifs and an advertising landscape that is more dedicated than ever to presenting the right message in the right place at the right time. 

We'll talk about these brands' justifications and the actions they plan to take moving forward, and what we can expect from the advertising world in 2021 based on the precedent being set by these important marketing decisions. 

This week we talk about the major trends of 2020, and how last year's challenges are creating big-time opportunities in 2021 if you know where to look. One online content giant is making major moves in the realms of privacy and internet ethics, and we'll make a hefty bet you'd never guess who it is.  

Is Adobe trying to become the Disney of Creative Digital Tools? our guest this week tells us what he means by that. 

Finally, Facebook released an end of year report sharing lessons from the Entertainment industry to help Marketers succeed in the coming year. Read the AdWeek feature and entire report here. https://www.adweek.com/partner-articles/lessons-from-the-entertainment-industry-to-help-marketers-succeed-in-2021/?mvt=o&mvn=e22647419db741519954001bf3a3bbc3&mvp=NA-ADWESOCI-11239301&mvl=%20%5BHomepage%20Grid%20Placement%20Large%5D

Welcome to Life of The Brand, where we keep you up to date on the latest news and trends in the world of advertising and promotion! On today’s episode, we talk Monopolies. In the midst of an already crazy year, a lot has been happening in the world of Big Tech that has direct implications for our industry and the way the public is fed information online. Two of the world’s largest technology groups have been in the news along with those seeking to hold them accountable. We bring in an expert to discuss how this accountability might play out and what it could mean for the way we advertise.