With the holiday season comes gatherings, gifting, and new holiday campaigns. In late October, the National Retail Federation (NRF) projected that holiday spending in 2021 would rise between 8.5% and 10.5%, an all-time high for holiday sales growth. In early December, economist Jack Kleinhenz announced that spending growth could exceed NRF’s previous expectations, reaching 11.5%.
As more businesses embrace social media to market their brand, they also struggle to market to Gen Z – which is tied with Millennials as the top users of social media. A recent Pew Research Survey found that TikTok and Instagram are among the most popular with younger audiences, so it is crucial that businesses correctly approach this market segment in order to best engage them… and sell them their products. Being a member of Gen Z myself, I’ve witnessed which brands are skilled at marketing to Gen Z and which ones fall a little short of getting the eye of my peers as they fail to showcase their brand in the most effective ways.
Halloween spending is expected to reach an all-time high this year, and brands are reacting accordingly. An estimated 65% of Americans intend to celebrate Halloween or participate in Halloween activities this year, an increase from the 58% in 2020. With the increase in spooky activities, there's also been an increase in Halloween ad spending.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Last week on Instagram several of us from Team Sweeney shared ways that we continue to hone our professional skills. While September has been deemed “Self-Improvement Month,” I think we can all agree that it’s an ongoing endeavor.
With new artists constantly emerging, marketing plays a prominent role in the success of their new projects. Finding creative ways to stand out amongst the masses is a necessity. Album release campaigns must be comprehensive, and engaging for the artist's target audience, similar to campaigns for a product or service.
When it launched in 2010, Instagram was a leader in the social media space. That is, until they started making updates to add features that users didn’t like. With all the changes over the years, the app has morphed into a completely different platform.
Kevin Sneader, global managing partner of McKinsey & Company, recently discussed the eight trends he believes will shape the post-COVID-19 economy. First on his list? Innovation… the act of conceiving new ideas and putting them into application.
My first in-restaurant dining experience since the start of the pandemic probably looked a lot like yours. Tables were spaced extra far apart, and partitions were added between booths as an extra layer of protection. Anyone waiting to be seated had to do so outside, and once in, everyone was masked, unless of course you were eating.
Recent conversations with new college grads revealed a specific, common challenge – how to best expand digital marketing skills without in-person conferences or industry events to go to. While in-person networking and events are ideal for learning and networking, there are still some great alternatives for learning and growing.
They grew up with Cabbage Patch Kids, graduated to Caboodles, and now those kids-turned-adult consumers are the focus of brands hoping a boomerang effect brings the nostalgia-seekers back to buy again. Nostalgia marketing is having a real moment in 2020, and it’s not hard to understand why. During times of unrest and uncertainty, we tend to fall back on what’s familiar -- in this case, products and brands that once brought us joy and take us us back to a simpler time. And we’re seeing this trend in a number of industries.
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