2024 Begins On An Upward Note, U.S. Ad Market Posts Best January Ever (mediapost.com)

In today’s competitive marketing landscape, getting noticed isn’t enough—your brand needs to connect on a deeper level. Enter identity marketing: a strategy that moves beyond features and benefits and instead taps into who your customers are—and who they want to become. After exploring Veronica Romney’s work on identity marketing, I saw incredible opportunity for applying these insights to direct mail, one of the most personal and tangible marketing channels we have. At its core, identity marketing is not about your brand—it’s about your consumer. It’s about understanding how your audience sees themselves and aligning your brand with their identity and aspirations. Done right, this approach can turn ordinary marketing into something truly transformational. Rather than saying “buy this,” identity marketing invites customers to “be this.” It positions your brand as a guide helping customers become the best version of themselves.

Phoenix Innovate (PI), a leading marketing communications firm headquartered in Troy, Mich., has acquired Carmel, Ind.-based UN Communications Group, Inc. The leadership and staff at UN will remain on and are thrilled to integrate the strengths of both companies with a focus toward creating a new standard for effective marketing solutions. “Our ability to serve our clients' brand awareness and marketing supply chain needs got a big boost today,” said Denise Purvis, President of UN. “The addition of strategic marketing, application development and data analytics expertise Phoenix Innovate provides will help our clients achieve a new level of integration, automation and increased ROI. The combination of our talented team members will continue to create game-changing marketing solutions for our clients.”

Generative AI has been quickly absorbed by the marketing industry. According to a report from Botco.AI, after a short introduction period, 73% of marketers are now using AI tools. Of those still holding out, 31% expect to use it within a year, and 46% expect to within two years. Two-thirds of respondents who currently use AI say they do so for brainstorming sessions, first drafts and outlines. Forty-nine percent say they use AI to produce final content. The Botco report was based a survey of 1,000 B2B and B2C marketing professionals in March. Three-quarters of them were from companies with more than 100 employees.