ANA: Advertisers Struggling With Retail Media Networks (mediapost.com)

The good news is that U.S. ad executives project their second-half ad spending will be up an average of 7% vs. what they originally planned, according to a survey released this morning by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The bad news is that the same sample of ad execs reported their full-year ad spending will be down 31% from what was projected in a similar survey conducted by the bureau in the fall of 2021.

Why are marketing campaigns so effective? What is the secret behind the good ones that people remember and talk about (REI’s “Opt Outside”)? Quite simply, a BIG IDEA. The best marketing and advertising over the decades have always been driven by a singular great idea (“Got Milk?”). A core idea that ties everything together. An idea that resonates with the audience and makes them think about your product or service in a different way. Remove that big idea and all you’re doing is selling products, just like the other brands. Blah. But when you build your marketing efforts around a campaign, and use that “big idea” consistently across all touch points, it’s more likely to get noticed, more likely to be remembered, and more likely to engage people on a human level. In other words, campaigns work. It’s no secret that I’m a huge Beatles fan, so once again, I will use them as a way of illustrating my point. When Paul McCartney was thinking about a different way to go about recording a new album in 1966, he came up with a big idea that would drive the entire creative process. What if the four lads took on a different persona, actually changing the name of the band? What if they reinvented their identity just this one time? much more at: https://www.jschmid.com/blog/campaign-building-blocks-the-big-idea/

Dotdash Meredith (DDM) has launched an ad targeting tool that it says provides intent-based targeting without cookies. The new product, D/Cipher, connects advertisers and consumers in key moments of intent across DDM’s 40+ brands, on all devices and platforms, the company claims. In addition, D/Cipher provides access to Apple (iOS) audiences. This group, which comprises more than 50% of U.S. digital users, has been unreachable by advertising cookies for the past two years.