This year has the makings for a major year in advertising, with big events like the Olympics and the presidential election on the calendar. But don’t expect 2024 to follow the same patterns as 2020 or 2016. Following duel strikes and in the midst of streamer consolidation, this year media planners need to be agile aware of changes in consumer sentiment and content. Here are five trends media experts think you should watch.
Knowing how price-sensitive consumers are at this moment, brands need to be extra cautious how they position themselves and their messaging. Otherwise, they could risk angering or alienating consumers, as evidenced by the reaction to recent comments from executives at the WK Kellogg Co and Wendy’s.
Lawsuit challenges OpenAI’s nonprofit roots in light of billion-dollar investments and the rush to reach AGI. It could be a defining moment for AI’s biggest player.
OpenAI joins forces with Figure to develop humanoid robots: AI is a robotics catalyst and Google knows it. OpenAI’s partnership could give it an early sector lead.
Are chatbots the next digital billboards? Startup Adzedek is providing a pay-per-click ad system to AI providers. It’s a revenue lifeline that comes with PR baggage due to AI’s mouthiness.
Brands pivot towards genuine engagement with Black consumers: It’s move prompted by past performative marketing—oh, and a $1.8 trillion market opportunity.
Amazon looks to step into the post-cookie market: Job listings show the company is testing ad solutions for an “identity-restricted world” as Google preps its solution.
Consumers want more AI transparency from brands: AI content isn’t easily discernible, and there are no disclosure rules. How should brands adapt?
Last week, Arc, a web browser from startup The Browser Company, released a new AI-powered feature called pinch-to-summarize, which provides an instant summary of full web pages. That follows Arc’s release of “Arc Search,” a mobile app that will search the internet based on a user’s query and deliver an AI-generated page summarizing the breadth of information it searched. It’s not the only AI tool targeting search. Perplexity is seeing increased attention for its ability to summarize data sets, including searching in Reddit posts or YouTube videos. This month also saw the rebranding of Google’s Bard chatbot to Gemini as the company doubles down on AI search.
Media giants from 17 European countries sue Google for €2.1 billion, claiming ad market manipulation and revenue loss. Intensifying litigation could topple Google’s long-standing practices.
Best Buy expects this will be a “year of increasing industry sales stabilization”: That would be welcome news after a tough few years for consumer electronics.
Apple shareholders vote down AI ethics standards: They’re getting impatient with Apple over its generative AI hesitation. The tech giant is focusing on quality over quantity to uphold its reputation.
Honda fuses its personal mobility venture with VR: Its full-body device could provide novel immersive experiences at commercial venues, but the vision for VR is smaller, lighter devices.
Alibaba’s EMO genAI tool can produce convincing short videos from a photo and an audio track. It brings massive potential for content creation but could also accelerate misinformation
On today's podcast episode, we discuss the unofficial list of the most interesting retailers for the month of February. Each month, our analysts Arielle Feger, Becky Schilling, and Sara Lebow (aka The Committee) put together a very unofficial list of the top eight retailers they're watching based on which are making the most interesting moves: Who's launching new initiatives? Which partnerships are moving the needle? Which standout marketing campaigns are being created? In this month's episode, Committee members Arielle Feger and Sara Lebow will defend their list against analysts Sky Canaves and Blake Droesch, who will dispute the power rankings by attempting to move retailers up, down, on, or off the list.
It shifts 2,000 workers to generative AI projects amid slowing EV sales and heightened interest in AI. The abrupt move signals a necessary and strategic pivot.
More retailers are turning to self-checkout: While the technology reduces labor costs, it also creates a host of other problems.
CEO Sundar Pichai admits Gemini’s racial misrepresentations and vows to fix them. Google’s reputation is at stake as it races to polish AI amid increasing competition.
OpenAI slams NYT while Google invests in AI news: Tech companies need news outlets, but questions over fair compensation and journalistic integrity loom large.
Starbucks softens its anti-union stance: That could help rebuild the company’s tarnished reputation.