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Why Cannes is all about User Experience

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By Kai Henniges

Cannes is all about the experience. If you invite your partners and clients to a yacht party, they’ll have a great time, they’ll feel looked after and leave tipsy and happy. Invite them to an intimate lunch in a nice restaurant, they’ll feel valued, special, and probably also leave tipsy and happy. Some prospects will only experience Cannes remotely, online from their desk in their office.

All of these experiences are valuable, but they work for prospects at different points in the funnel.

For me, Cannes Lions embodies the importance of experience. Experience matters, and it affects the way we feel, and our perception of brands. This year, experience was the common theme underpinning the conversations at Cannes. Beyond events, too often advertisers, publishers and platforms forget about experience and focus on just the numbers.

Another example: two of Cannes Lions’ big 2018 awards winners was Spotify – which won Media Brand of the Year, and ‘Today at Apple’, the tech brand’s programme of in-store events. What links these two winners? Experience.

Spotify has refined its experience so that as a user I no longer need to curate my music choices, the platform has already done it for me. Apple used its large retail presence to deliver customer experiences that surprised and delighted. These are worthy award winners, because they had a vision beyond the immediate conversion, to the value of enjoyment, and longevity. We can learn from this.

Digital advertising ignored user experience for too long. By optimising on abstract metrics, the impact on internet users became too much. People were annoyed at retargeting, they were outraged at their data being treated with neglect. People felt helpless to protect their identities online. The result: GDPR and ePrivacy, a backlash against social platforms, ad blindness, ad blocking, brand safety… all-in-all, a general distaste for online advertising. The fall-out of this dominated the conversations at Cannes this year.

If we had focussed more on delivering advertising as a natural part of the online experience, perhaps we wouldn’t be in this pickle. Video is something users want, that much is clear, but we must be considerate with how we deliver it. The rise of Outstream video advertising embodies this interruptive experience; if you’ve ever had an ad push text apart in front of your eyes you’ll know what I mean. Sound-on auto play video is another example.

This is where context comes in. Delivering video in relevant environments gives users moving image that complements their goals. It adds to their experience. We should create an advertising eco-system that learns from the UX world, where details matter.

In the context of Cannes, a yacht party or fancy lunch works. It fits in with the environment, and people enjoy it. Marketers understand that, but we need to translate that understanding to everything we do – including the way we design online experiences. This is a collective responsibility, advertisers should consider how they buy inventory, and publishers need to think how they integrate advertising into their pages.

The brand activation at Cannes, the award winners, and the conversations were all underpinned by the concept of experience. Whether you took part in Cannes from the bow of a boat or the monitor on your desk, the real takeaway is that experience matters online, just as much an offline. If we can get experience right, we’ll get advertising right.

By Kai Henniges

Kai Henniges, CEO and co-founder, Video Intelligence.

Sourced from The Drum

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How To Evolve Omnichannel Marketing Strategies: 19 Expert Tips

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Sourced from Forbes

Omnichannel marketing was once assessed by how many platforms a brand could show up on and maintain a presence over time. As consumer expectations have evolved, however, so too has the definition of “omnichannel.” Audiences no longer experience different channels as separate touchpoints, but as a single, continuous relationship that carries context, intent and trust from one interaction to the next.

This shift has made a cross-channel marketing strategy less about scale and more about cohesion, requiring brands to connect data, emotion and experience across the moments that increasingly shape loyalty and decision-making. Below, 19 members of Forbes Agency Council share how the meaning of omnichannel marketing has evolved over time along with strategies brands are using to market more effectively in response.

1. Recognize Customers Across Channels

Omnichannel doesn’t mean doing everything, everywhere. A consistent brand experience across all platforms strengthens brand identity and helps customers recognize and trust the brand everywhere they encounter it. People now expect a brand to recognize them across channels, not restart interactions from zero. Competitive differentiation is increasingly based on experience, not presence alone. – Tripp Donnelly, REQ

2. Offer Deep Engagement Throughout The Brand Ecosystem

“Omnichannel” marketing has evolved from a static checklist of disparate channels (traditional media, social platforms, basic advertising) into a dynamic, multi-touch ecosystem designed for seamless brand awareness and education across every customer interaction. There is a need for deeper engagement in a fragmented media landscape, where consumers encounter brands through countless touchpoints. – Jay Deutsch, BDA, Inc.

3. Carry Emotional Intent Across Platforms

Omnichannel has shifted from being everywhere to delivering the same emotional impact and experience everywhere. Brands invest millions to create a feeling in major ad moments, then abandon it in their loyalty efforts, promotions and everyday interactions. That gap breaks trust. The evolution is about carrying emotional intent from the media into experiences that actually sustain loyalty. – Andrew Mitchell, Brandmovers Inc

4. Use Data To Craft Seamless Cross-Channel Experiences

Omnichannel strategy has evolved from simply being present across various platforms to emphasizing the importance of delivering a unified, seamless audience experience across the channels where your audience is. This shift highlights the significance of data in achieving effective continuity in marketing across multiple channels, rather than just the quantity or variety of media channels used. – Jeff Kaplan, TARA Media

5. Show Up On The Right Channels, Earn Trust And Guide

Omnichannel has evolved from simply being on every channel to actually connecting those moments in a meaningful way. Today, it’s about showing up where your audience is, earning their trust over repeated interactions and quietly guiding them toward a decision throughout their entire buying journey. – Ajay Prasad, GMR Web Team

6. Leverage Identity-Based Targeting And Attributions

The most significant evolution is the shift to identity-based targeting and attributions. It moves past simply being on multiple channels. Today’s strategy must link every touchpoint back to a single persistent customer identity using identity graphs. This is critical because it allows brands to reach the right person with personalized messages and accurately attribute revenue to the right channels. – Ajay Gupta, Stirista

7. Connect Channels Into A Single Unified Journey

The term omnichannel is becoming obsolete. While it emphasizes the need for multiple touchpoints, it also signals a siloed approach. In 2026, brands need a strategy that connects their channels into one, unified experience for their audiences. Today’s consumers want to move simply and seamlessly across touchpoints, and research shows Gen Z and Gen Alpha will demand it. – Dani Mariano, Razorfish

8. Plan More Integrated, Flexible Strategies

With omnichannel marketing now extending to different outlets that range from digital to terrestrial radio to sponsorships, the evolution is significant. This evolution is due to brands that must plan more integrated, flexible strategies that meet consumers at multiple touchpoints rather than relying on a single channel approach. – Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Hawthorne Advertising

9. Unify Identities Across Touchpoints To Personalize Content

Omnichannel with personalization wins. This means connecting data, unifying identity, then using that to adapt content, offers and experiences across every touchpoint—store, site, app, email, social, marketplaces and even packaging. The hard part is knowing your customers inside and out. Then, mastering the channels becomes the easy part of omnichannel marketing. – Stephen Rosa, (add)ventures

10. Move From Siloed Presence To Data-Driven Integration

“Omnichannel” has shifted from multi-channel presence to identity-driven continuity—delivering a connected experience powered by unified customer data. It matters because brands can no longer think in silos; audiences expect relevance and consistency across every touchpoint, making data quality and integration the real foundation of success. – Paula Chiocchi, Outward Media, Inc.

11. Deliver A Consistent Narrative At Every Touchpoint

Omnichannel has evolved from being channel-centric to experience-centric. It’s no longer about being everywhere, but about delivering a consistent narrative across paid, earned, owned and AI-driven touchpoints. This matters because trust and recognition now depend on message continuity, not channel volume. – Boris Dzhingarov, ESBO Ltd

12. Recognize Omnichannel As The Baseline, Not Extra

I’ve not heard the term “omnichannel” for some time. Not because it’s not relevant, but simply because the best marketing campaigns are all omnichannel. Thinking with a siloed mentality is outdated and ineffective, and omnichannel shouldn’t be something extra; it should be everyday marketing thinking. – Mike Maynard, Napier Partnership Limited

13. Prioritize Consistency Over Breadth Of Coverage

Omnichannel has shifted from being everywhere to creating a seamless brand experience. Today, consistency across platforms matters more than coverage. Brands win when their story feels connected, not scattered. – Manuel Machado, CCOMGROUP Inc.

14. Showcase Value By Teaching Instead Of Selling

Omnichannel used to be about being everywhere. Now, it’s about showing up with value. As consumers tune out marketing noise, they gravitate toward channels where they learn and feel more in control of decisions. That shift makes it essential for brands to turn to integrated, education-led strategies that immerse buyers by teaching, rather than selling. In turn, your brand builds trust and stands out. – Kim Lawton, Enthuse Marketing

15. Guide Decisions By Removing Friction In Buying

Omnichannel has evolved from coordinating channels to guiding decisions. It is no longer about being everywhere or even being consistent; it is about removing friction as customers move from awareness to confidence. Brands that win today design omnichannel strategies around decision moments, not media plans, so every touchpoint answers the next question a customer has. – Robert Burko, Elite Digital Inc.

16. Build Credibility In The Right Places With Strong Content

The big shift? AI is now infused into every app, search tool and platform your buyers use. That means brands no longer need to address every channel individually. Focus on building credibility and creating solid content in strategic places. AI handles the proliferation. You get true omnichannel reach without the omnichannel headache. – Christine Wetzler, Pietryla PR & Marketing

17. Reinforce The Same Story To Inspire The Same Action

Omnichannel has shifted from “be everywhere” to “be consistent and useful everywhere your audience actually is.” It is no longer about channel count. It is about connected signals, shared data and one clear experience across touchpoints. That matters because brands cannot afford scattershot efforts now. You win when every channel reinforces the same story and moves people toward the same action. – Lars Voedisch, PRecious Communications

18. Bolster Internal Operational Capacity; Deliver Consistently

Omnichannel shifted from channel coverage to experience alignment. The real challenge isn’t reaching customers everywhere. It’s keeping your internal systems stable enough to deliver consistently across those channels. Brands fail when back-end workflows can’t support front-end promises. Strategy now starts with operational capacity, not channel expansion. – Meeky Hwang, Ndevr, Inc

19. Engage Sales Teams To Work In Concert With Marketing

Omnichannel is still as relevant as ever. Omnichannel is a content engagement strategy used to reinforce or support a customer journey; they are not one and the same. The biggest gap in successfully deploying omnichannel strategies is the lack of sales engagement. If the sales team is not engaged and working in concert for a holistic customer experience, then marketing is just yelling into the void. – Tyler Back, Mitosis

Feature image credit: Getty

Sourced from Forbes

 

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Marketing Teams Got Smaller In 2025 Even As Hiring Expanded, New Study Shows

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By Allwork.Space News Team

A new analysis of job postings shows marketing listings dropped 8.2% in 2025 — even as the number of hiring employers rose more than 5%.

After a strong start early in the year, the U.S. in-house marketing job market cooled over the course of 2025. Hiring did not disappear, but it became more selective: more employers posted roles, while overall job volume declined, signalling a move toward smaller, more senior-leaning marketing teams.

The findings are based on an analysis of more than 240,000 active in-house marketing job listings posted between January and December 2025, conducted by Taligence in collaboration with Aspen Technology Labs. The data covers full-time, in-house marketing roles only.

More Companies Hiring, Fewer Roles Per Team

Total active marketing job listings reached 241,749 in 2025, down 8.2% from the prior year. New postings fell even further, declining 10.2% year over year.

At the same time, the number of employers posting marketing jobs rose to nearly 39,000, an increase of more than 5%.

This divergence points to a clear pattern: companies continued to hire marketing talent, but did so with fewer openings per organization. Hiring momentum peaked in the first quarter, dropped sharply in Q2, stabilized in Q3, and softened again toward year-end, in part due to seasonal pauses around the holidays.

By late December, active marketing job listings stood just under 32,000, slightly higher than the same time in 2024 but down from the end of the third quarter.

Senior Roles Prove More Durable

While overall job volume declined, senior-level marketing roles showed greater resilience. Director-level and above postings increased modestly year over year, reaching nearly 30,000 roles in 2025. The number of employers seeking senior marketing talent also grew, even as the creation of entirely new senior roles remained relatively flat.

In the fourth quarter, senior postings rose compared with Q3, and year-end active senior roles were more than 12% higher than a year earlier.

Demand for experienced leaders fluctuated less than the broader market, reinforcing a transition toward “player-coach” profiles capable of leading leaner teams.

Entry-Level Hiring Remains Under Pressure

Job openings for entry-level through manager roles peaked early in the year and steadily declined thereafter. These roles struggled to recover following a sharp contraction in Q2 and ended 2025 well below their January baseline.

By contrast, higher-level titles such as Group Director, Senior Director, and Vice President recorded year-over-year growth and regained momentum in the second half of the year. The widening gap suggests employers prioritized decision-making and execution over junior headcount.

Hiring Timelines Lengthen, but Stabilize

By year-end, the average marketing job posting remained open for 39 days. That was longer than in 2024, indicating more deliberate hiring processes, but slightly shorter than at the end of the third quarter. The data suggests hiring slowed compared with last year, without further deterioration late in 2025.

Pay Transparency Improves as Salaries Rise

More than half of marketing job listings disclosed salary ranges in 2025, continuing a steady improvement in transparency. The median advertised salary reached $88,400 by late December, representing a 7.1% increase year over year.

Compensation gains were strongest in specialized and revenue-aligned disciplines. Product Marketing posted the highest median pay, while Field Marketing, Growth Marketing, and Brand Marketing saw the largest year-over-year salary increases.

Demand Shifts Toward Growth and Product Functions

Growth-oriented roles led hiring gains, with Growth Marketing, Partner and Channel Marketing, Field Marketing, and Product Marketing all posting double-digit growth. Brand and Content Marketing also expanded, though at a slower pace.

In contrast, Communications and PR, Analytical Marketing, and generalist marketing roles declined year over year, underscoring a move away from broad marketing functions toward roles tied more directly to revenue and customer acquisition.

Remote Hiring Holds Steady

Remote roles accounted for roughly 14.5% of all marketing job listings at year-end, a modest increase from the prior year. The data suggests remote work has stabilized as a structural feature of marketing hiring rather than an expanding trend.

Geography: New York Gains, Seattle Slips

California, New York, and Texas continued to lead the country in overall marketing job volume, followed by Florida, Illinois, and Georgia. New York posted the strongest year-over-year growth among large states and also saw notable salary increases.

At the city level, New York City and San Francisco recorded sharp job growth, alongside Austin, Atlanta, and Miami. Seattle dropped out of the top ten markets after a significant contraction, highlighting uneven recovery across major metros.

What the Data Signals Going Into 2026

By the end of 2025, the marketing job market was still active, but more restrained. Employers hired with intent rather than scale, favouring experienced talent and specialized skill sets while keeping teams lean.

Senior roles, growth-focused disciplines, and higher pay transparency defined the year, while entry-level hiring lagged behind. As 2026 begins, marketing hiring appears less about rebuilding headcount and more about maximizing impact within tighter organizational structures.

By Allwork.Space News Team

The Allwork.Space News Team is a collective of experienced journalists, editors, and industry analysts dedicated to covering the ever-evolving world of work. We’re committed to delivering trusted, independent reporting on the topics that matter most to professionals navigating today’s changing workplace — including remote work, flexible offices, coworking, workplace wellness, sustainability, commercial real estate, technology, and more.

Sourced from Future of Work

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The generation advertising can’t sweet-talk

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Sourced from CREATIVE BOOM

As the UK’s HFSS restrictions take hold, food brands are losing their oldest emotional shortcuts. In this opinion piece, Loren Aylott of Manchester creative agency Dinosaur explores how the end of sugar-coated storytelling could reshape creativity, culture, and trust.

New year, new laws. It’s the week the industry has been preparing for: the official ban on junk food advertising before 9pm takes effect. The new HFSS regulations aren’t just a line in government policy; they mark a cultural reset. For the first time in modern advertising, a generation will grow up without being targeted by the seductive storytelling of sugary, salty, fatty foods.

The UK’s new HFSS advertising restrictions fully take effect, with a 9pm watershed on TV ads and a total ban on paid-for online promotions for “less healthy” food and drink, the impact won’t be loud or immediate. Kids won’t notice fewer cartoon mascots or glossy food-porn spots, but eventually their emotional and behavioural patterns will quietly shift.

And that shift changes everything for marketers.

The end of indulgence as a shortcut

For decades, food marketing has traded in fantasy, nostalgia, indulgence, and the comfort of “you’ve earned it.” We’ve sold sweetness as self-care and sugar as celebration, wrapped in slow-motion drips, glossy burger close-ups, and impossible perfection. But the old emotional shortcuts are disappearing, and what replaces them will define how the next generation connects with food. This festive season did feel a little quieter, more ‘demure’.

For years, festive advertising has wrapped indulgence in emotion, golden turkeys and overflowing puddings, families framed in warm light, as the soundtrack swells. This year, we saw more emotional connections, more community, and less pudding.

But as HFSS regulations take hold, the traditional language used in all food advertising will face new creative constraints. Expect brands to lean into togetherness, generosity, and ritual rather than indulgence; to show that joy can feel rich even when the food doesn’t. The future of food communication will reinvent “treat culture” and rely more on curiosity. Brands that want to connect with tomorrow’s consumers will have to offer something more nourishing, both emotionally and nutritionally.

The most successful food brands won’t be those that shout the loudest, but those that teach, play, and inspire. Brands that turn food into experience, and as the visual vocabulary of indulgence fades, creativity must work harder to earn emotion.

At first, the change will feel invisible – research from Leeds University found that when supermarkets reduced HFSS placements, shoppers didn’t notice. Yet, HFSS sales still dropped by two million items a day. Behaviour changes quietly when the cues disappear.

Invisible change, lasting impact

Children, too, will be subtly influenced by fewer in-store prompts and a rebalanced media landscape. Fewer sugary signals in their world will mean fewer impulsive habits and more space for mindful ones to grow.

For marketers, that opens up a new creative frontier: connecting through experience, play, education, or storytelling that celebrates curiosity. This is where the creative industry comes in. HFSS isn’t the death of marketing, but an opportunity for brands to think smarter and work harder in this category.

It’s a call for brands to re-evaluate their tone, their role, and their cultural contribution. Hospitality brands like Nando’s are already shifting how they speak, reframing the removal of free refills as a positive, health-first change rather than a loss of fun. It’s a small but powerful signal that transparency and progress can live comfortably alongside joy and flavour.

For agencies, this is a creative and strategic responsibility. The job now is to help brands rethink how they show up through repositioned messaging, a reset of owned-channel strategies, and an exploration of new targeting tactics.

What replaces the sugar rush

This is a massive opportunity to help brands build consumer trust through healthy product messaging and to support some with a shift to bigger, brand-led strategies – whatever the next step, agencies need to encourage clients to use these new rules as an opportunity to behave differently and thrive creatively.

The next generation will remember fewer jingles about chocolate bars and more stories about curiosity, balance, and joy. The brands that grow with them will be those that feel emotionally honest, that teach, entertain, and empower rather than just sell.

When the sugar rush of advertising fades, what’s left has to mean something. The new regulations require brands to grow up alongside their audience, replacing manipulation with meaning and excess with intention.

The next era of food marketing will be defined not by what brands are no longer allowed to say, but by what they choose to say instead. Those who embrace this moment with creativity, responsibility, and emotional honesty won’t just survive the change; they’ll help shape a healthier, more thoughtful relationship with food and prove that constraint, when handled well, can be the most powerful creative catalyst of all.

Feature image credit: Adobe Stock

Sourced from CREATIVE BOOM

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The key for growing businesses is creative technologies

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By Olivia Atkins

While there’s no doubt that technology has always been present in the creative industries, its accelerated use has disrupted almost every aspect of our lives.

Marketers regularly use tools to enable more efficient work and speed up workflows, while data is useful for informing a campaign’s direction. However, questions over the purpose of technology remain. Creatives recognise that while technology can act as an enabler of creativity, they can’t become too reliant on or distracted by technological developments as it could trivialise their campaign’s message. There’s a necessary fine line between experimenting with new tech and focusing on the campaign’s core message to ensure that their idea is creative and, most importantly, remains relevant.

The Drum, in partnership with Mailchimp, has launched A Guide for Growing Businesses to discuss some of the issues small-to-medium size enterprises (SMEs) face today when it comes to business growth.

The guide further explores how SMEs are achieving growth by finding a balance between creativity and tech.

Know your tech

“It’s difficult to define ‘technology’ today,” says Unit9’s creative director, Kate Lynham. “From improvements and everything ‘in-camera’, CGI techniques to artificial intelligence software, it all falls under the same umbrella and you can’t really work without it in some way.”

Tech falls under so many categories and is used in such varied ways that separating the tech from the creative can be difficult to do. Lynham urges marketers to become really familiar with the tech they’re working with so they can continue to find room for experimentation. “If you don’t have enough of an understanding of the tech itself, then you can’t think of ways to manipulate it,” she adds. “Reimagining what a piece of technology can do is part of the process. At Unit9, we’ve used a GPS system across three different jobs, with each providing totally different creative outcomes even though the base technology is the same.”

To download the digital version of The Drum’s Guide for Growing Businesses complete the form below.

Resisting tech trends

It can be tempting to plunge head first into the tech and try out new innovations as they arise. But Nexus Interactive Arts’ executive producer, Colin Davis, urges marketers to proceed with caution and not get swept up by tech trends. “The real source of a lot of what people perceive as technology getting in the way of creativity stems from how technology gets covered in the press,” he says. “Novelty and ‘world’s first’ get attention and thus there is a PR premium placed on that, which causes the technology to drive the creative, which rarely results in amazing work that stands the test of time.”

Wieden+Kennedy’s head of technology, Michael Naman, agrees – the industry needs to restrain using tech for tech’s sake or else we risk undermining creativity. “We as an industry are fantastic at navel gazing; we continually fetishize over what we can do with technology and forget about what technology is doing to our clients’ businesses,” he says.

“These businesses will be unrecognisable in the next five to 10 years as they continue to digitise what they do.”

Collaborative creative processes

Streamlining the creative process and getting creatives to work more closely with tech developers is one way to make sure that the process is a bit more joined-up. “Bringing creatives and coders together at the beginning of a brief can yield fantastic results, but you have to be willing to learn,” he says. “You can’t just rock up with a tech idea and expect it to work out of the box. It can be unnerving to hand over your idea to a team of coders who are going to tell you that certain bits aren’t going to work, so focus on building trust between teams and production companies.”

Relatability

Ultimately, tech can push ideas into unimaginable territory, but brands need to remember the importance of connecting with their consumers.

“Creativity can suffer when marketers are too quick to jump to a solution that is solely data-driven and ignores the human factors at play,” cautions Media Chain’s COO, Dominic McGregor.

Going post the digital hype of course is key, but it is also critical to remember how technology can create opportunities.

Technology is an incredible tool for understanding audiences and informing creative decision making, an assistant in the creative process. However, it’s important for marketers to get the balance right between tech and creativity because, ultimately, it is creativity that creates value, concludes Lynham.

By Olivia Atkins

Sourced from The Drum

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For retail brands, TikTok Shop’s rise brings viral success — and disruption

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Executives at NRF highlighted major sales wins while noting the social commerce feature is turning some retail fundamentals on their head.

NEW YORK — TikTok has drawn droves of marketers for its ability to turn products of all stripes, from Stanley tumblers to cranberry juice, into viral sensations. Since the social platform launched its Shop e-commerce marketplace in the U.S. a little over two years ago, brands have gotten better at quantifying just how much video crazes are translating into sales. TikTok Shop’s stature is growing enough to influence how retailers think about product mix, demand forecasting and content strategy, according to speakers at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show.

“It’s a place for us to learn what’s working versus not,” said Richard Cox, chief merchandising officer of the Gen Z-focused retailer Pacsun, during a Monday panel at the trade conference.

At the same time, Shop has gotten more crowded and competitive. It acts as a “bonafide retailer,” one NRF speaker said, hosting its own Prime Day-like deals bonanzas called Super Brand Days. Shop is robust enough at this point that TikTok no longer offers brands some of the incentives it once did to use the feature. A fresh level of maturity comes as the retail industry is beset by challenges related to tariffs and pullbacks in discretionary spending.

“Our main operational challenge is around profitability,” said Jenna Manula Linares, vice president of digital marketing at Tarte Cosmetics, during the panel. “As their platform has scaled, they started pulling back in what they’d been funding for us.

“We also know that the TikTok customer is value-driven,” added Linares. “So now we are at this intersection where we’re trying to find the balance between how much value [we can] offer a customer while still being conscious of our bottom line.”

Sales follow virality

TikTok Shop increasingly seems like one of the first major success stories for social commerce in the U.S. The marketplace accounted for about one-fifth of the social commerce segment in 2025 and is forecast by eMarketer to exceed $20 billion in sales this year.

Pacsun’s first pop on TikTok Shop came as something of a surprise. Around Black Friday in 2023, a smaller influencer posted a video about the retailer’s Casey jeans, a low-rise, baggy cut of denim. The availability of the item on TikTok Shop dovetailing with a key holiday sales window resulted in 11,000 pairs sold on Black Friday alone, along with a long tail of popularity.

“We’ve sold over 100,000 pairs of that jean. In terms of halo effect, it’s helped our entire denim business,” said Cox.

Other brands on the panel shared similar case studies that speak to how Shop can link buzzy content to business results, sometimes in a chaotic fashion. Last year, Tarte — among the early adopters of Shop — noticed that creators were participating in a strange trend: They would draw under their eyes with a permanent black Sharpie and then cover up the markings with the brand’s CC under-eye color corrector, a testament to the concealer’s efficacy. Tarte has sold nearly 600,000 units of the product on TikTok Shop in the U.S., according to Linares, while noticing stronger demand in international markets through direct-to-consumer channels.

That said, Shop requires a different approach than a traditional DTC or e-commerce site. Tarte promotes a smaller assortment on Shop because the brand “can’t control the algorithm,” Linares explained. Speakers noted that TikTok’s unpredictable nature is disrupting some of the fundamentals of retail, increasing a reliance on social listening, media mix modeling and “analytics horsepower.”

“It kind of turns everything we all know about demand planning on its head,” said Feliz Papich, senior vice president of digital technology, experience and insights at Crocs.

Go with the flow

By that same token, marketers are adjusting some of their brand content to feed the Shop pipeline. Tarte, for instance, has introduced a mascot named Shapey, based on its shape-tape concealer, to attract viewers organically to its profile.

“If you come to our page, you’re actually not going to see a ton of tutorials or before and afters,” said Linares. “We’re doing a lot around humour.”

The discussion also touched on co-creation, the idea of enlisting everyday customers to create content on behalf of a brand. Some retailers may not like relinquishing that degree of control but ultra-polished ads don’t perform as well in TikTok environments, according to Cox. Additionally, high-performing organic content is becoming valuable fodder to convert into paid media or material for other social platforms.

A willingness to roll the dice on such marketing experiments is just one piece of the Wild West mindset needed to succeed on TikTok, an app that is still in the process of figuring out its future in the U.S. following a ban threat.

“TikTok wants to partner with brands that are willing to take smart risks and to move fast. They’re not going to read your legal red lines,” said Linares. “Just say yes and go with the flow.”

Feature image credit: Drew Angerer via Getty Images

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Sourced from RETAIL DIVE

First published on MARKETINGDIVE

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Seven Data-Driven Principles That Will Define B2B Marketing ROI In 2026

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By Paula Chiocchi

B2B marketers are swimming in data, yet many still struggle to connect that data to measurable business growth. At the same time, the martech landscape continues to expand, with more than 15,000 solutions now available worldwide.

When data lives in silos across customer relationship management (CRM) systems, automation platforms, analytics tools and identity solutions, it creates confusion instead of clarity. As the founder and CEO of a performance marketing agency specializing in B2B2C data, my perspective is that the B2B leaders outperforming peers in ROI aren’t collecting more data; they’re building smarter, connected ecosystems where insights continuously inform action.

Here are seven core data principles that will shape how we define and achieve marketing ROI in the year ahead:

1. Audit and reset your marketing data ecosystem.

Before you can improve outcomes, you must first understand your current data reality. According to Ascend2’s 2024 Data-Driven Marketing Survey, just 15% of respondents said their data is completely integrated. Although an increasing number of marketers are focusing on centralizing data and removing silos, the ongoing challenge of turning information into clarity remains significant.

Unifying data across systems gives organizations a single source of truth that eliminates conflicting records and fragmented customer views. When teams operate from the same accurate, integrated dataset, they are better positioned to spot trends, understand behaviours and make decisions with confidence. Data unification also strengthens collaboration across sales, marketing and operations—reducing friction and enabling faster, more aligned execution.

To get started with data unification, map every platform that stores or touches customer data—your CRM, customer data platform (CDP), marketing-automation platform and analytics stack—and identify redundancies or blind spots. This will be more than just a technical exercise; it will be a full-on operational reset.

2. Integrate for visibility.

Your first ROI breakthrough often doesn’t come from acquiring new data, but from unifying and activating what you already have. Integration turns data fragments into a single, actionable view of your audience. By connecting systems, you eliminate duplicate records, streamline reporting and enable predictive insight across the funnel.

When CRM and automation data align, marketing and sales gain the same visibility into buying signals. Integration also enables performance benchmarking, so you can track which channels or segments drive actual business impact. With this knowledge, marketers are better able to achieve end-to-end visibility, which is widely believed to lead to shorter sales cycles and higher marketing efficiency.

3. Enrich for relevance.

Our agency leaders know from experience that data enrichment ensures campaigns are guided by context and relevance, not guesswork. Integration drives completeness, but enrichment delivers precision. Static data quickly becomes outdated, especially in B2B, where job and company changes are constant. Adding verified contact, firmographic, social, domain or intent data enhances accuracy, reach and ROI.

You can enrich your data by enhancing existing customer or prospect records with new, verified information that provides deeper context—such as updated firmographics, job role changes, digital behaviours or intent signals. Enrichment is typically achieved by matching internal records against high-quality third-party data sources or identity graphs. This process fills gaps, corrects inaccuracies and adds new attributes so that segmentation and targeting are always based on the most current and complete view of your audience.

4. Accelerate the way you operationalize insights.

The gap between data collection and data action is where ROI is often lost. A recent survey found that 53% of marketers in North America view data analysis and insights as the top bottleneck in marketing cycles. You can operationalize insights by embedding analytics into workflows so teams can adapt campaigns, creative or audience segments in real time.

For example, analytics can be embedded directly into campaign workflows so teams receive automated alerts when key performance metrics shift—such as sudden increases in engagement from a specific audience segment or declines in conversion rates. These triggers can automatically prompt creative updates, audience refinements or budget reallocations, enabling teams to act in the moment rather than waiting for a reporting cycle.

5. Measure full-funnel impact.

Too many marketing dashboards still stop at lead volume. To prove true ROI, B2B organizations must measure across the entire funnel: awareness, engagement, opportunity creation and revenue contribution. Yet, an eMarketer article states that only 27% of marketers intend to adopt unified measurement platforms that provide end-to-end visibility into their data. Without unification, marketers work with disconnected systems that prevent their organizations from having one version of the truth linking awareness to conversion. In contrast, full-funnel measurement connects marketing activity directly to outcomes, giving leaders the confidence to invest where it matters most.

The importance of knowing what’s working and what isn’t brings up the topic of attribution. In B2B, sales rarely result from a single email or ad. More often, a prospect receives multiple touches—direct mail, programmatic impressions, an email—and only then do they convert. That’s why, for a more accurate view of ROI, it’s helpful to move away from last-touch attribution and embrace blended attribution that recognizes the full customer journey, rather than simply giving credit to the final click.

6. Prioritize trust and privacy (and account for bias) when embracing AI.

The rush to realize AI’s efficiency and performance advantages has put marketers face-to-face with issues such as bias and privacy. Regarding bias, AI models, especially those used in hyper-personalization, targeting and content generation, learn from the data they are fed. If that data reflects existing biases, the AI will as well.

AI governance requires marketers to perform ongoing auditing of their AI training data for representativeness and fairness. For example, actively check that data used for segmentation or targeting doesn’t unfairly disadvantage specific groups based on gender, race, age or location. When fairness and equity are prioritized, target audiences are more likely to trust the brand and remain loyal customers.

When it comes to privacy, many marketing systems that use AI are dependent on massive volumes of customer data, including highly personal information. AI governance provides the structure to comply with global regulations (such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and emerging AI-specific laws like the EU AI Act) while improving data quality and maintaining customer trust.

According to Gartner, responsible AI leadership builds trust with customers, employees and regulators. Further, LinkedIn reports that establishing trust with stakeholders is the key to B2B success.

7. Evolve continuously.

A connected data ecosystem is never done. Systems, standards and buyer behaviours evolve constantly. Marketers who treat their data environment as a living framework—auditing quarterly, updating integrations and refreshing sources—stay ready for what’s next. As I often tell clients, the most valuable database is a living one: dynamic, learning and aligned to business goals.

In 2026, the winners in B2B marketing won’t be those with the most data. They’ll be those who can make data work cohesively across every touchpoint. Clean, connected and continuously improving ecosystems will define the next generation of marketing ROI.

Feature image credit: Getty

By Paula Chiocchi

Paula Chiocchi is CEO of Outward Media, Inc., a provider of B2BC contacts, with email and digital IDs, that drive business growth. Read Paula Chiocchi’s full executive profile here. Find Paula Chiocchi on LinkedIn and X. Visit Paula’s website.

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Salesforce vs HubSpot: Which is the better business CRM?

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By Ritoban Mukherjee

Salesforce is the ultimate sales CRM. Marketing folks swear by HubSpot. Is one truly better than the other? ZDNET put them to the test.

The final verdict

Salesforce wins for enterprise complexity and customization power, but HubSpot still dominates ease-of-use and marketing integration. I’ve seen Salesforce effortlessly support massive organizations with complex needs, but I’ve also watched teams abandon it due to poor adoption. HubSpot gets teams moving quickly but hits walls when you need advanced customization or industry-specific workflows. It can also get pretty expensive once you start looking for advanced features

For most growing businesses, I recommend starting with HubSpot and evaluating Salesforce once you hit more than 50 employees or complex sales processes. The switching costs aren’t trivial, but neither is choosing wrong from the start and struggling with adoption for months.

Which CRM is better for SMBs?

HubSpot clearly wins for small businesses and startups. The free tier provides genuine value for teams up to five people, with a learning curve that’s accessible to new users. Small teams can become productive within days rather than weeks.

Salesforce’s complexity and pricing make it overkill for most small businesses. Unless you have very specific enterprise needs or complex integration requirements, the investment rarely pays off until you reach significant scale.

Can you migrate data between Salesforce and HubSpot?

Yes, but it requires planning and often professional help. Both platforms offer migration tools, but I’ve seen data integrity issues when companies rush the process. Contact records, deal history, and custom fields need careful mapping to avoid losses.

HubSpot’s import tools are more user-friendly for smaller datasets. Salesforce migrations often require technical assistance. Budget two to four weeks for a proper migration and consider hiring specialists for complex data structures or large volumes.

Which platform offers better customer support?

HubSpot has a significantly better support reputation based on my knowledge. Their chat support is responsive and the knowledge base actually helps solve problems. People have rarely waited more than a few minutes for assistance.

Salesforce support is notoriously frustrating, slow response times and representatives who often can’t solve complex issues. Enterprise customers get better support, but standard plans often leave you searching community forums for answers.

Feature image credit: Allison Murray/ZDNET

By Ritoban Mukherjee

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How to Market Your Business Without Spending a Dime

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By Deedra Determan Edited by Micah Zimmerman 

Marketing doesn’t have to drain your budget. With creativity and consistency, you can build momentum and attract customers for free.

Key Takeaways

  • Partnerships beat ad spend when you collaborate with people who serve the same audience.
  • Consistent, repurposed content builds visibility faster than polished, expensive marketing.
  • Real relationships and referrals outperform paid campaigns — momentum is the real marketing engine.

 

When I first launched my business, I didn’t have a marketing budget. But what I did have was creativity, time and a sense of urgency to get my name out there. You don’t need thousands of dollars to make a big marketing impact. You just need consistency, connections and a willingness to get a little scrappy. Some of the best marketing strategies don’t cost a lot of money — they just require a high level of intention and effort.

Here are five ways to market your business without spending money (or spending very little).

1. Build partnerships

Partnerships are one of the most cost-effective ways to grow your audience. Look for businesses that serve the same type of customer as you, but don’t compete with you.

If you’re a fitness coach, you can partner with a nutritionist or a local smoothie shop. If you’re a photographer, team up with a florist or wedding planner. Host a workshop together, share each other’s email lists (with permission) or collaborate on a giveaway.

When two businesses with similar audiences join forces, both brands win. You expand your reach and build community, all without paying for ads!

2. Use the power of free platforms

Social media is the great equalizer for small businesses. Currently, TikTok and YouTube Shorts offer the most organic reach and allow you to get in front of thousands of people without spending any money.

Don’t overthink your content. Film short videos sharing tips, behind-the-scenes moments with your team or what you’re up to in the community. Remember that authenticity often outperforms polished content.

One thing that has been helpful in my business is repurposing content. A 30-second video we make for a TikTok gets reposted on Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and LinkedIn. One idea can work four times harder for you!

3. Grow and nurture your email list

Your email list is the most valuable marketing asset because it’s all yours. Social media platforms can change their algorithms overnight, but your list gives you direct access to your audience through their inboxes.

Start collecting email addresses as soon as possible. Add a signup form to your website and social media bios, and offer something in return, such as a discount code, a free e-book or a mini course.

Once people are on your email list, stay consistent. Send regular updates, tips or insights that make them look forward to hearing from you.

4. Share your voice

Visibility builds credibility, and there are so many ways to share your expertise.

Start by pitching yourself as a guest on podcasts that reach your target audience. You’ll get exposure to new listeners and position yourself as an authority. Or, start your own show. There are free and low-cost hosting platforms to help you publish your podcast for under $100 a month.

If you prefer writing, contribute articles to local publications or industry blogs. If you’re more comfortable speaking, offer to speak at community events, meetups or conferences. These opportunities give you a captive audience and can drive new clients to your business. (Pro tip: end your presentation with a QR code that links directly to your email signup or freebie.)

5. Engage your community and encourage word of mouth

The most powerful marketing tool still comes down to relationships. Get involved in your community, whether that’s through volunteering, joining a local business group or partnering with a non-profit. When people know and trust you, they’ll naturally want to support you.

And don’t be shy about asking for referrals and reviews. Most happy clients are glad to share your name; they just need a little nudging. Send a quick follow-up email or text asking for a Google review or testimonial. Those words from real customers are more persuasive than any ad you could run!

You can even start a small referral program. Offer a discount or bonus for every new client someone sends your way. It doesn’t have to cost much, but it creates a ripple effect that builds loyal advocates for your brand.

At the end of the day, great marketing doesn’t always come from money–it comes from momentum. Every video you post, email you send and relationship you build compounds over time. Keep showing up in your community, keep adding value and soon you’ll realize you don’t need a big budget to make a big impact.

By Deedra Determan 

Deedra Determan is the Founder & CEO of D2 Branding, a top digital marketing agency recognized by Entrepreneur magazine. A business coach, speaker, and author, she helps female CEOs build personal brands for financial and time freedom. She also hosts the Do It My Way podcast.

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Edited by Micah Zimmerman 

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4 marketing tricks to not fall for this holiday season

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By Marielle Segarra, Malaka Gharib

Extra 20% off! Factory sale! Last chance! You may have seen these offers while shopping. But are they actually good deals?

To find out, Life Kit spoke with Brian Vines, a reporter at Consumer Reports, and Lindsay Weekes, editor-in-chief of Brad’s Deals, a site that curates promotions from online retailers. They share common marketing techniques that companies use to entice shoppers to buy more — and tips on how to make smarter purchases.

Technique 1: Creating a sense of urgency 

When you see words like “buy now” or “flash deal,” while shopping, take caution, say our experts. Retailers use a sense of urgency to push consumers to make quicker shopping decisions, Vines says. They don’t want you to think too hard about the purchase.

This strategy also relies on shoppers’ fear of missing out, Weekes says. It makes people think, “if I don’t purchase this right now, I’ll never get this deal again.”

The next time you encounter an offer like this, take a beat. Remember, companies are constantly making products, Vines says. “You will not miss the boat.”

You may realize that you only wanted to buy something because it felt urgent. Or you might find a better deal, especially if you wait to shop for something at the end of the season, Weekes says.

Technique 2: Calling out the “original price” 

When you see a price tag that displays an item’s “original price,” say $200, next to the current price, say $75, that’s called price anchoring.

“It makes people fixate on that [higher] price versus the sale price,” Weekes says. It can also make the product appear higher-value, making you want it more.

A lot of the time, that “original price” was never the original price — or hasn’t been that price for a long time, Weekes says.

Outsmart the gimmick by focusing on the actual price of the item, our experts say. If the tag says it’s $75, then assess for yourself whether you think that’s a good deal, regardless of that original price.

Technique 3: Inflating the base price

Another pricing strategy retailers use is to raise the base price of an item just before the busy season, then offer a steep and enticing percentage discount, like 40% or 50%. But since the base price is higher, the item might cost the same as it did last week, or maybe more. This tactic is called “high-low pricing.”

To get around this gimmick, do a price comparison, say our experts. Look for historical pricing data online, or how much the retailer has charged for this product over time.

You can also see if a product is cheaper at another retailer or a second hand website. That’s a great option for clothing — you can even find the same pair of jeans, new with tags still on, for a fraction of the price when you buy second hand.

If you’re shopping at a store, go online to see if you can find a better price at another store across town, Vines says. Then talk to a sales associate and ask them if they can match that competitor’s price. You can also add an item to your online cart and check on the price over a few days or weeks to see if it changes.

Technique 4: Building a fantasy 

Marketers sell you a fantasy: the idea of that picture-perfect holiday dinner where everyone’s connecting and nobody’s fighting. Or the vision of you as your sexiest, most confident self.

“These all play to our aspirational, I’ve-got-my-stuff-together side, based on the amount of things we’re able to gather and put in our carts,” Vines says.

So if you find yourself typing in your credit card information while fantasizing about some idealized version of yourself or your family, pause, say our experts.

That doesn’t mean you don’t get your family any gifts for the holidays. But when you consider a purchase, remember that you don’t have to buy this particular item.

You can also get creative. Bake them their favourite cookies. Plan a group dinner or a family hike. Find a treasure they’ll love at a second hand store. These gifts can be just as meaningful as something you buy from a store.

Feature image credit: Mininyx Doodle/Getty Images

By Marielle Segarra, 

Marielle Segarra is a reporter and the host of NPR’s Life Kit, the award-winning podcast and radio show that shares trustworthy, non-judgmental tips that help listeners navigate their lives.

Malaka Gharib

Malaka Gharib is the deputy editor and digital strategist on NPR’s global health and development team. She covers topics such as the refugee crisis, gender equality and women’s health. Her work as part of NPR’s reporting teams has been recognized with two Gracie Awards: in 2019 for How To Raise A Human, a series on global parenting, and in 2015 for #15Girls, a series that profiled teen girls around the world.

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