How Crocs stepped up during the pandemic and built on fans' trust

The shoemaker listened to loyal customers in March and responded with $40 million worth of free shoes, a move that nurtured brand love and trust, an executive said during an Advertising Week panel.

By Natalie Black (Koltun) • Sept. 30, 2020

Nearly half of consumers will try new brands if the ad is relevant

Context matters more than ever amid the surge in content consumption spurred by the pandemic, according to a new DoubleVerify study.

By Aaron Baar • Sept. 28, 2020

Explore the Trendline➔

Consumer Packaged Goods

If CPGs can adeptly adjust to emerging mandates, they have an opportunity to strengthen their brands.  

By Marketing Dive staff

E-commerce ad spend to surge 18% amid overall decline, WARC says

As the pandemic changes consumer behaviors, Amazon's ad business grew 4.5 times faster than Facebook's and 63 times faster than Alphabet's in the first half of 2020, the report notes.

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Sept. 25, 2020

Consumers and marketers at odds over ad preferences, Kantar study finds

While consumers prefer offline channels overall and TikTok when it comes to digital, marketers remain committed to established digital platforms.

By Robert Williams • Sept. 23, 2020

Some blue-chip brands see loyalty drop precipitously during pandemic, survey finds

As consumers adjust to a "new normal," an annual ranking of brand loyalty adds the most newcomers ever while some previous stalwarts disappear.

By Aaron Baar • Sept. 17, 2020

Magna: Digital platforms like Amazon remain resilient amid overall ad spending declines

While traditional media faces a bigger blow than during the Great Recession, digital heavyweights are notching gains as e-commerce and streaming are enshrined in consumer habits.

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Sept. 16, 2020

Google expands media-buying services as connected TV's importance grows

With the pandemic only compounding media buying's existing troubles, a potential opportunity has opened for digital platforms like Google to gain a stronger foothold.

By Robert Williams • Sept. 16, 2020

Nielsen cuts neuromarketing research amid pandemic

It's unclear whether this is a harbinger of more cutbacks in the neuromarketing space as difficulties recruiting subjects for in-person tests continue.

By Robert Williams • Sept. 15, 2020

Gen Z shows higher ad recall than older age groups, Snap study finds

The cohort's higher rate of brand preference and shorter attention spans suggest both a challenge and opportunity for marketers to connect with this valuable audience.

By Robert Williams • Sept. 10, 2020

Consumers want brands to address systemic racism, survey says

Almost half of respondents said how a brand responds to the protests against racism majorly impacts their likelihood to purchase a product.

By Robert Williams • Sept. 9, 2020

Consumers form loyalties to new brands they bought in quarantine, survey finds

Some of the new shopping habits formed during the pandemic could endure, providing opportunities for marketers, Bazaarvoice found.

By Robert Williams • Sept. 8, 2020

IAB: US digital ad spend will grow 6% this year amid broader slowdown

Paid search and social media are the fastest-growing digital ad categories, while spending on traditional channels like linear TV, OOH and print will plunge.

By Robert Williams • Sept. 3, 2020

75% of people unlikely to use branded hashtags, survey finds

User-generated content is cost-effective but has low participation, with 73% of consumers saying they're unlikely to create branded videos.

By Robert Williams • Sept. 2, 2020

Gen Z remains elusive and cause-driven under pandemic, putting legacy laggards at risk

The generation's brand awareness "bucket is leaking," Morning Consult found, while digitally oriented companies are seeing their favor rise with the cohort.

By Peter Adams • Aug. 31, 2020

Big CPGs struggle to gain market share during COVID-19 despite sales boost

IRI data shows while large manufacturers grabbed shelf space at the height of the pandemic, upstarts are taking advantage of out-of-stocks and demand for variety to win it back. 

By Christopher Doering • Aug. 31, 2020

Kantar: Back-to-school advertising drops 70% on national TV

Only six retailers are advertising this year, compared with 100 in 2019, and the creative's tone has changed to highlight personal safety and logistics.

By Robert Williams • Aug. 28, 2020

Marketers spend $100M on ads as live sports return to TV

However, Microsoft, LVMH, Expedia and Sprint are among the brands that didn't return to advertising during live sports.

By Robert Williams • Aug. 26, 2020

Forrester: Brands must integrate DTC, wholesale retail teams as digital commerce grows

Brands including Mars and Deckers are already taking steps to provide a more consistent customer experience and partner better with retailers.

By Chantal Tode • Aug. 25, 2020

Video impressions rose 40% on CTV platforms in Q2, study says

The findings suggest that inventory previously available only through premium publishers showed up on exchanges as marketing budgets have been cut during the pandemic. 

By Dianna Christie • Aug. 21, 2020

Retailers' back-to-school ads resonate by empathizing with uncertainty, study finds

Ads from Kohl's, Walmart and others address uncertain times with upbeat messages during a markedly different back-to-school season.

By Dianna Christie • Aug. 13, 2020

What COVID-19 did to customer loyalty

As retailers grappled with out-of-stocks, research found that 75% of consumers opted to shop alternative brands.

By Caroline Jansen • Aug. 12, 2020

71% of marketers expect virtual events to continue beyond 2020, survey finds

While many business functions work well virtually, lead generation remains a key challenge for media and marketing executives.

By Dianna Christie • Aug. 6, 2020

Brands continue to lean heavily on programmatic advertising, IAB says

Almost one-fifth of brands moved programmatic buying completely in-house in 2019, while more than half transitioned to doing so partially.

By Dianna Christie • Aug. 4, 2020

When change is the only constant, data access matters more than ever

With the right permissioned information at hand and available for analysis, marketers can make better revenue-driving decisions.

By Alice Stratton • Aug. 4, 2020

Google's ad revenue falls 8% for 1st decline in 26-year history

YouTube eked out a 5.8% gain in ad revenue, while Alphabet's growing cloud computing business helped to offset bigger declines in ad sales.

By Robert Williams • July 31, 2020