“America has always been a blood circus,” says Jordan Sullivan, a New York based painter and writer who grew up “in the rustbelt” of rural Ohio. “The myth and history of America were developed simultaneously, creating a fractured reality and a unique kind of psychosis within the country.” Only a painter like Jordan can get away with vicious takedowns of his country, because his paintings are absurdist, horrific and empathetic peepholes into a garbled nightmare-world that doesn’t look too different from the one we currently inhabit. In his series American Psychosis, which proves to be popular on Instagram, expletives are written in chemtrails, men urinate in the corners of art galleries and an act of self-immolation takes place in the middle of a nightclub. “My paintings attest to how deviancy, addiction, fantasy and dreams of destruction are symptoms of living in a country that is impossible to make sense of,” says Jordan. In these scenes, which often channel Harmony Korine’s suburban-absurdism and kitsch, Jordan attempts to reach into not a shared consciousness, but a shared psychosis. Still, a scruffy, lean type of beauty (and humour) prevails somehow, inspired by his work as a drug and alcohol counsellor for teenagers.
There’s an immediacy that drives Jordan to capture the current state of America, a type of documentarian obligation to fight against passing time. “Time doesn’t disappear, it accumulates, like dirt filling a grave, and it’s important to recognise the times and the history that came before, which still impact this moment,” says Jordan. In one particularly striking painting, Jordan transports an astronaut and Jesus’ crucifixion from the famous poster for William Peter Blatty’s The Ninth Configuration from the moon to the garden of an average home, implying that our world is as strange as anything in outer space. Be it lines of pensioners worshipping at an altar of slot machines or strippers back-lit by Tesla cybertrucks, Jordan makes sense of the world through nonsense, because why not? The world is topsy-turvy – art tends to follow suit. “I’m not sure we are still human,” says Jordan. “Sometimes I think we’ve evolved into something far more absurd.”
Jordan Sullivan’s new book Drinking Margaritas at the Mall is available now here.
There are three types of marketing leaders right now:
There should be a fourth who is planning for the future, trying to work out where AI sits in their organization and how to get ahead, so they do not get lost and can confidently say we have an internal owner.
Right now, I only know a handful of chief marketing officers who are taking it seriously enough.
The challenge for most is, “Who do I trust enough to do a great job in pulling the department, and often the non-technical parts of the company, on the AI journey?”
As someone who’s held both CMO and chief growth officer titles and now coaches C-Suite leaders and consults, I decided to dedicate the last six months to going deep into AI.
I have worked with companies in and around AI since 2022. However, over the last six months, we have seen AI transition from a set of tools and models to help, to starting to influence the reduction of team headcounts and being responsible for hiring freezes unless you can prove AI cannot do it first.
If you haven’t started, it will become a hotly discussed talking point in board and leadership meetings.
The promise of AI is exactly what everyone is looking for: productivity gains (not starting from zero every time), cost savings (on hiring, having to rely on data analysts or agencies), and the ability to leverage competitive advantages. We are seeing some of this play out.
The return on investment of going first and early will mean you are ahead of competitors, you will quickly understand the investment case, and you will be able to calculate ROI early.
Where to start? Most people struggle with where to start and where it makes sense to kickstart the AI agenda.
With coaching and consultancy clients, I offer two ways to tackle this:
You must have an owner – someone who will be there with the team and responsible for championing tech and tools and integrating them into their workflow.
When that owner says something is important, the teams treat it as such. You need an owner for when something breaks, they take control. This is a high-trust role with a lot of status attached.
You have co-owners, those who feel connected – the team members who don’t like being left behind but aren’t confident enough to own it themselves. You might say these are the ones who are likely on the fence about leaving.
Last are the collaborators, the team members who need to learn, need co-workers to help them develop and talk through what the tools have done and where they have likely used AI to get themselves out of missing a deadline or a situation where they’ve missed something.
This requires a strong and forward-thinking department leader who requires reshaping your teams to adapt to the new technology shift.
A proactive and visionary department leader is now essential. This leader must restructure teams to embrace and adapt to the significant shift towards new technologies.
You are not just shifting for hires and skills gaps, as most do. You are reshaping for the next two years.
You have to plan out how the next six, 12, and 18 months will change, move team members around, where there will be headcount reshuffles, and in this situation, a new technology that will reach all marketing disciplines.
The Opportunity: You will need to assign a natural long-term leader to AI. AI is not going away and will be the driving force in most businesses for the foreseeable future. You have to get ahead of when boards and C-Suites push you for your plan.
The Threat To Be Ahead Of: You must identify those who just will not naturally fit in the short to mid-term, and reshuffle your team members.
In this “do more with less” era, you will have to be at the front, leading and potentially losing headcount. AI has already seen mass layoffs, and this is unlikely to stop.
You will need to be ahead of the industry shifts. Being ahead is critical. Being close to your new owner or captain is pivotal.
Who will be the owner of AI? And, how will you reshape your department?
Whether you are a marketing leader or a growth leader, you have to think about where these elements connect and who has the most exposure and muscle memory in big shifts.
Potential AI owners could come from several areas:
You will know who fits best in your department. However, I predict it’s likely the search or growth team.
You need someone who is used to unpicking shifts – someone who can understand technical aspects and interface with product teams and engineers while teaching their colleagues.
For the top tier of SEO or search professionals, this is something they have had to do for years.
This is an opportunity for your team members, particularly in search, as Carl Hendy and I discussed in a recent podcast: It’s time to reset, mature, and take ownership from across different disciplines.
A core skill to look out for in the right candidate is having the ability to understand the importance of changes for the whole business and be able to hold their own with C-Suite executives.
The AI leader will have to hold strong, informed opinions based on knowledge of what is happening and how they assign budget and resources across the business.
Your AI lead will be a close colleague in many important meetings, so you trusting them and being able to learn and gain reverse mentorship will be essential.
Immediate: Week 1-2
Short-Term: 30-90 Days
The Long-Term Plan: 6-18 Months
Remember, in an ever-evolving AI landscape, you can be on top of being proactive and be well prepared for when your business needs to be reactive.
Good luck on your AI journey!
More Resources:
Featured Image: DC Studio/Shutterstock
The Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder took their NBA Finals matchup to Game 7, but just making it this far took each team’s merch, sports marketing, and media to another level.
Oklahoma City got the Thunder in 2008 and had just over 601,000 people when a team featuring Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden went to the Finals in 2012. Amid the team’s success and struggles that followed, the city’s population grew to more than 713,000—moving from the 29th-largest in the U.S. in 2012 to the 20th-largest today—and has become more diverse.
This year, with star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander named the league’s MVP and memories of three straight losing seasons from 2021 to 2023 all but erased, the Thunder have maintained their years-long “Onward” marketing strategy, bringing fans, brands, and community partners into the fold. The strategy focused on placing all 18 players on team graphics and merchandise, bringing in local designers to create special-edition gear, and encouraging fans to buy through their website or at activations like their Loud City HQ weeklong pop-up.
“We are consistent with our brand’s identity at every touch point, whether that be through the guest experience, the traditional marketing exposures, whatever that might be, and that is something that we adhere to, regardless of who’s on the roster at that time or what performance is on the court,” said Erin Lewis, the Thunder’s director of brand identity.
In Indianapolis, meanwhile, the Pacers’ surroundings have also grown considerably since Reggie Miller, Jalen Rose, and Rik Smits took the team to its last Finals in 2000. Not only has the city’s population jumped from roughly 782,000 to almost 900,000 in that time—and diversified rapidly—but the Pacers were joined in the city’s pro ranks that year by the WNBA’s Indiana Fever (which won the WNBA title behind Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings in 2012). This year, Pacers Sports & Entertainment has not only used social media to effectively tell the story of its “Yes ‘Cers” campaign and the clutch shooting of star Tyrese Haliburton but also to note the occasional presence of Fever stars Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, and Lexie Hull during NBA Finals games.
As a result, Tyler Beadlescomb, svp of marketing and content at Pacers Sports and Entertainment, noted that the Pacers have stronger social media engagement in May and June of this year than they’ve had during the entire NBA preseason and regular season combined. Meanwhile, demand for Haliburton jerseys, gold Yes ‘Cers shirts, and anything with an NBA Finals logo on it has tripled demand for Pacers merchandise from regular-season levels.
As the NBA Finals head into Game 7, the series’ effect on each team’s business and marketing extends far beyond displays at the Omni Hotel or JW Marriott and fan parties at Gainbridge Fieldhouse or Scissortail Park.
“In The Finals, [Game 5] had just over 9 million viewers for the broadcast. That’s a lot more than are normally watching Pacers games, so we’re working with our partners at the NBA, ABC, and ESPN to provide them content that we have around the team to help get that in front of more eyeballs,” Beadlescomb said. “Realistically, this is your best chance to convert casual basketball fans that just love the NBA and are looking for a good series and a good game into Pacers fans, so we believe that if casual fans learn our players’ stories, and they see out the exciting brand of basketball, we think that we can get them hooked.”
Michelle Matthews, director of fan engagement and retail for the Thunder, noted that some of the key changes in fan culture since the Thunder’s 2012 Finals appearance have driven this year’s success. For one, the fanbase is more digitally engaged, with sign-ups for the team’s SMS fan text alerts increasing during the postseason as followers try to stay informed.
Matthews has been with the Thunder for nearly 11 years, but came into her current position in the summer of 2023, after the Thunder ended their third-straight losing season. She noted that even in those early stages, data collected from fan interactions allowed her and her colleagues to rethink certain portions of the business: It introduced the Thunder Artist Group (TAG) to create street art and merch designs aimed at multiple generations.
The Thunder arrived in Oklahoma City in 2008 and were great for more than a decade… until they weren’t. Team marketers worked to build a win-or-lose culture.David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images
It also retooled the team’s youth basketball program and eventually teamed with Devon Energy on rural school physical education takeovers, with Google on tech programs, and with local universities on a college ambassador program.
“Those youth programs are important because we’ve had so much growth in the city, and a lot of people have moved here. Maybe they’re not necessarily from here,” Matthews said. “But we know our standard for an experience—whether it’s a youth basketball camp or a book bus visit—is so high that you’re going to want to keep going back for more.”
Will Syring, the Thunder’s vp of corporate partnerships, still sees the occasional 2012 playoff T-shirt at his gym with an energy company’s logo affixed. Local utility Oklahoma Gas and Electric bought space on the Thunder’s Game 5 T-shirts, and Syring said he imagines seeing those around the city 10 to 13 years from now.
Syring noted that 2022-23 was a record revenue year for the Thunder, but it was also a year that they didn’t make the playoffs. While Syring said Thunder partners certainly take advantage of the exposure the Finals bring—with credentialed press from 40 countries in Oklahoma City for the event—having American Fidelity sponsor its book bus or Devon Energy buy the Thunder’s Loud City Partnerships’ naming rights for the home of the NCAA Women’s College Softball World Series (and 2028 Olympic softball host site) demonstrates an enduring commitment to the surrounding community that’s repaid in engagement and sales around the Finals.
This year, the Thunder also received city council approval for a new $1 billion arena that was overwhelmingly supported by voters and will keep the team in Oklahoma City for at least 25 more years.
“In pro sports, I would argue you are only as good as the level of engagement you get from your community,” Syring said. “Because your community drives ticket sales. It drives sponsorships. It drives fan development. It drives bookings in the camps that Michelle’s team is running. It drives merchandise sales. If your team, your community, is only engaged when your team is playing well, it’s very difficult to run an effective business.”
The Pacers have handed out tens of thousands of gold shirts and placards throughout Indianapolis during the playoffs, with brand partners Starry, Kroger, and Key Bank stamped on each iteration.
“It is hard to go anywhere in Indianapolis right now and not see a number of variations, because we do ‘Gold Outs’—and we did them all last playoffs and this playoffs. That means there are like 20 different designs out there,” Beadlescomb said. “You’ll be at a restaurant downtown, and you might see five different playoff shirts that people have worn in the last month.”
You can’t overestimate how much gold “Yes ‘Cers” gear currently exists in Indianapolis.Jeff Dean/NBAE via Getty Images
The “Yes ‘Cers” slogan is visible throughout the city from a graphic on the JW Marriott, less than a mile from Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Bars downtown are awash in gold signs, gold towels, and gold posters. Even when the Pacers have been on the road, the team has filled Pacers watch parties at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, with seats going for $5 apiece and proceeds going to the Pacers Foundation.
The team has told the stories of Haliburton hitting a dozen shots in the last two minutes of playoff games to either go ahead or win. They’ll tell anyone who’ll listen that they have eight players averaging 10 points or more during the playoffs. They’ve touted “the power of friendship” between players, fans, and their fellow Indiana teams, and how “basketball matters more in Indiana.”
Coming off of a celebrity-laden Eastern Conference Finals with the New York Knicks that averaged nearly 7 million viewers per game—the most for that series since 2014 without going seven games—the Pacers focused on its supportive stars like ESPN commentator and former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee, actor Terry Crews, TNT playcaller and Pacers legend Reggie Miller, and Indianapolis 500 winner Alex Palou.
The added focus on Indianapolis during the NBA Finals has also spread to other endeavors, including bringing attention to the Wheeler-Dowe Boys & Girls Club of Indianapolis, the Fever’s WNBA Commissioner’s Cup run, and Indianapolis’ upcoming WNBA All-Star host duties in July—complete with a Tamika Catchings mural going up just in time for the occasion.
“It’s been an incredible time for us in the city and the Pacers and Fever brands at the same time—you can’t fake or manufacture that type of energy,” Beadlescomb said. “We always try to leverage the opportunities at hand and make the most of them, but sometimes that timing is so perfect and and the synergy provides just extra special opportunities, and we’re there, so we’re trying to cherish it, enjoy it, and maximize it for our city and our state.”
Ever wondered what a professional cosplayer carries around in their kit bag? I sat down with Abi Le Guilcher (otherwise known as Opal Ink Cosplay) to find out. There’s a lot that goes into cosplay, from crafting costumes to content creation, and I’ll be unpacking the top tech for cosplayers as picked out by a pro. See my interview with Abi for some top tips on how to get started in cosplay.
Finding the right tools for cosplay can be tricky, with so many material options to choose from (there’s EVA foam, leather, spandex, chiffon, body paint, and not to mention wigs). I’ve recently been learning how to 3D print cosplay props, and had some pretty great results. I also discovered 5 ways that you can use a 3D pen for cosplay during the process as well.
An affordable option for quality visuals
“The Sony ZV-E10 steps up my social media posts hugely and has so many uses, from cosplay portraits to Twitch streaming and unboxings. It’s also a camera designed for beginners/vloggers, so it’s a great starter piece of kit if you’re unfamiliar with cameras. DJI also do some great handheld cameras for content creation that can be a bit more budget-friendly”.
See Abi’s review of the Sony ZV-E10 for more details.
Paired with Procreate, this is a top design tool
“I’ve had my 11-inch iPad Pro for a good 5 years-ish now, but it is a huge help for things like cosplay and photoshoots. From checking reference images to sketching out costume designs when crafting, I couldn’t live without it.”
Take a look at our iPad Pro 11-inch (M1 2021) review for more info.
03. Joby Beamo ring light
Go full content creator mode with expert lighting
Good lighting is essential for making sure your cosplay makeup looks professional and ensuring your content looks even better. There are some great budget-friendly options on Amazon for both ring lights and handheld lighting for cosplay videos. Abi uses a Neweer model, paired with a Blue Yeti Nano mic.
See our guide to the best camera for streaming for more buying advice.
Great for prop-making from scratch
“I’m a big fan of the manufacturer PolyProps as it supplies so many of the materials I need for my projects in one handy place.” Abi recently created an entire bass guitar out of foam, and it looks epic! (see below).
Great for post-processing props for that finishing touch
“I use the Dremel brand a lot as their hand sander is fantastic for all of my foam projects for armour and weapons. They are easy to use and lightweight, and just super trustworthy”.
Spraycraft SP45K Professional Airbrush
Great for weathering cosplay props
“I love using an airbrush for things like realistic weathering on costumes and paint details, and would love to use it more in the future.”
Abi uses Mehron makeup paint palettes and creamblend sticks for an array of advanced SFX and cosplay makeup looks. As an alternative, Abi also recommends DiamondFX face paints, Kryolan makeup products, Glisten Cosmetics water-activated eyeliners (I use these too!), and ColourPop Cosmetics eyeshadow.
Elmer’s purple glue stick
Abi uses Elmer’s purple gluesticks for sticking down her eyebrows for cosplay makeup creations, as well as for keeping wig sides stuck for reliable all-day wear. It can take Abi anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to complete a cosplay makeup look, depending on the complexity of things like this body paint/prosthetics.
Contact lenses can be an excellent way to elevate your cosplay to the next level. Abi shares, “Only wear contacts if you are comfortable with it, as plenty of people can’t stand contacts! There are some fantastic Korean brands that do some really cool lenses, including a lot of prescription options.”
One of the best Adobe software programs for creatives
Abi uses Photoshop for editing some of her visual assets that she shares on social media. Take a look at our Adobe Photoshop 2025 review for more details on this software program.
One of the best all-around editors for quick content
Abi uses Capcut for putting together some of her most epic transition videos that you’ll find on her social media channels, especially her TikTok, @OpalInkcos.
Take a look at our guide on how to use CapCut.
One of the best FREE video editing tools for creatives
Abi uses DaVinci Resolve for editing some of her cosplay content, as well as any b-roll footage captured during work filming projects for Spores Productions, of which Abi is a producer.
Take a look at our DaVinci Resolve 19 (2025) review.
I’m a mixed media queen – I love using both digital and traditional tools in my projects. I mostly use Procreate on my iPad Pro (11-inch) for anything design wise, where as I traditionally sketch out a lot of my templates for things like weapons and armour so I can easily adjust proportions in real time!
Not really! I’m always a person who has struggled hugely following instructions, so I rarely use things like commercial sewing patterns or exact tutorials. I love getting a rough idea of how projects will come together and just kinda winging it as I go, utilising the expertise of friends by asking for help when I really get stuck. It’s like a constant (mostly) fun puzzle in this hobby.
Marketers and business owners are spoiled for choice when it comes to the many social media platforms available for growing an online audience.
From BlueSky to TikTok, LinkedIn to Patreon, social media marketing has never been more robust, or, arguably, time-consuming.
But it doesn’t have to be. Fortunately, you don’t have to be everywhere at once.
Where you choose to show up online should be based on where your target customers spend most of their time. Choose these platforms purposefully.
Also, streamlining your social media marketing is made easier with the right planning tool in your arsenal – and no, it doesn’t require fancy software solutions.
In this guide, I’m sharing a free, easy-to-use social media planning template, plus helpful steps on how to make it work for you.
It’s as simple or as customizable as you need it to be. No unnecessary bells or whistles.
Planning your social media content doesn’t have to be complicated – or require the use of expensive tools.
With the free Planner Template, you’ll find an easier way to plan, organize, and schedule your social media content.
Whether you are an individual, business owner, or marketer, this template is designed to help you publish content consistently, stay organized, and make better decisions about your social media strategy.
With this Google Sheets template, you can:
Note: Click on File > Make a Copy to edit your template. You do not need to request edit access.
Make a copy: Social Media Planner Template for Google Sheets
The Google Sheet template makes it easy to see your schedule well in advance and save all of your social media assets in one place.
Here’s how to plan your social media content this year.
Once you have access to the template, click “File” and then “Make a Copy.” This will create a new copy of the template that you can edit.
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025
Next, give your copy a descriptive name, such as “[Business name] – Social Media Plan Q1-Q4 2025,” and save it to Google Drive.
Depending on when you’re reading this article, you will want to identify the quarter and/or month in which you plan to start your social media planning.
The bottom of the template includes tabs spanning from “Q1: January” to “Q4: December” of 2025.
Open the tab for the month in which you want to start planning your content:
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025
For simplicity, we started with “Q1: January” and began filling out the first few topics as an example:
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025
You will also see in the left-hand columns that there is a calendar for each month. This is simply a reference to the correct days of the week/month for 2025 so you can plan accordingly.
You can, of course, update this for 2026, 2027, and so on.
Column K includes a dropdown of various social media platforms to which you may be publishing your content.
You can select from this list of options (Blog, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter/X, TikTok, YouTube, or Other), or you can add your own by clicking the pencil icon:
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025
This dropdown allows you to easily identify which platform you plan on publishing to. Whether it be Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), or any other platform, this will help you keep your content organized.
Now, it’s time to fill in your topic ideas.
There are quite a few ways to think of engaging social media topics, which we covered in our guide on how to create authentic social media content.
However, the research process doesn’t have to stop there. Here are a few ways to come up with social media posts:
Once you think up some ideas, you can start filling out your social media planner.
Just fill out Columns J through R with your “Title/Topic,” “Description,” and the like.
Start editing the template by adding relevant information, such as your descriptions, content document links, hashtags, publish dates, and tracking links (if needed).
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025
Feel free to add rows, columns, or fields to suit your needs.
In the “Images” and “Video/Media” columns, you can add links to the visual assets you plan to use in your social media post. You can do this by adding a link to a Google Drive folder with images or your chosen Digital Asset Manager (DAM).
Next, use the template to schedule your posts in advance by adding the date and platform for each post.
Don’t forget to update the “Status” column (I) as you work through your social media plan.
You can also use the template to track the success of your content by adding metrics such as likes, comments, and shares.
If you are working with a team, share the template with your colleagues and give them access to edit the template.
This will allow you to collaborate and work together to maintain a consistent social media presence.
The “Notes” column is for any miscellaneous notes about your upcoming content, including details about your upcoming content, drafts, due dates, etc. and you can use this to work with your team async.
Planning your social media content in advance offers numerous benefits that can greatly enhance your social media presence.
By taking the time to plan your content, you can ensure that you are consistently publishing relevant posts that engage your audience and drive results.
With a clear content plan in place, you can focus on creating high-quality content that is aligned with your overall marketing strategy and avoid the pitfalls of impulsive, unplanned posting.
I recommend using the social media planner to plan at least one quarter’s worth of content, so you’re not scrambling to write the copy, collect the assets, schedule the posts, etc.
Social media marketing doesn’t have to be a headache. With the right process, you can streamline your social media content planning and publishing schedule.
In as little as a few hours per quarter, you can plan your content well in advance, taking the guesswork out of your social media posting.
Using a planning template allows you to be proactive in your topic planning, get organized, and stay on schedule. Over time, planning your content will feel like second nature rather than a chore.
With social media planning, marketers gain:
Also, when you plan your social media posts in advance, you can better allocate budget and resources to your efforts, ensuring you’re using your time in the most effective way possible.
So, take advantage of the free social media planning template, make it yours, and save time in your social media marketing efforts.
More Resources:
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
This article was co-authored by Rachel Smith, a Sr. Principal Analyst in the Gartner Marketing Practice, specializing in marketing data and analytics, marketing technology and marketing operations.
Brand marketing is under the microscope. As CFOs demand harder evidence of impact, marketers must prove how brand investments drive real business results — or risk losing the budget to performance.
Today’s challenging economic climate intensifies scrutiny of every marketing dollar, especially those allocated to brands. Marketing leaders are under growing pressure from CFOs to provide clear, data-driven proof of branding’s business impact, and this demand is only increasing.
In 2025, 55% of marketers prioritize performance marketing, compared to 22% focusing on brand. As margins shrink, brand investments are increasingly at risk — unless marketers can protect them with strong measurement and compelling financial narratives.
CFOs aren’t passive observers; many are actively involved in brand strategy. Yet skepticism remains. Gartner research found that up to 52% of CFOs are still neutral or skeptical toward marketing. That makes it even more critical to demonstrate brand value in financial terms. While brand advertising can influence sales, measuring that impact is challenging due to:
These challenges increase when there is no clear measurement plan.
Many paths lead to business success, but branding remains the most distinct lever under marketing’s control. Even after years of decline, brand development still commands significant attention and budget.
In 2025, brand strategy and activation received the third-largest share of marketing spend — 8.8% of the total budget. Producing commercial value is no longer optional for leaders aiming to preserve or grow these investments. Choosing a measurement approach that aligns with business goals and delivers actionable insights can be the difference between defending brand budgets and seeing them cut.
Dig deeper: The real reason marketing measurement keeps failing
Brand’s commercial value can be measured in several ways, each offering a unique perspective on how investments translate into business outcomes.
For companies involved in mergers and acquisitions or those seeking to understand their market capitalization, brand financial valuation estimates the brand’s overall value as an intangible asset.
Selecting the optimal measurement approach requires careful consideration. Clarify your measurement goal. Are you aiming to demonstrate the impact of a specific campaign or quantify the long-term value of historic branding efforts?
Data availability is another key factor. MMM and some tests require three years of granular marketing and sales data. If data is limited, geographic tests or ATU surveys may be more feasible.
Geographic variability also matters. If brand activities can be varied across regions, geographic testing is a powerful tool. Budget and resources are crucial. MMM delivers the highest sensitivity but at a high cost, while geographic tests are more affordable, and ATU surveys and conjoint analysis may require external providers and more coordination.
Finally, speed to value is essential: all methods require at least one to two quarters to execute, with additional time needed for test setup or survey design.
Dig deeper: How to prove the value of brand marketing without sacrificing ROI
Some practical approaches for measuring the commercial impact of brand activities include:
This real-world experimentation method lets you compare performance across different locations by exposing select areas to specific brand activities and using others as controls. It’s especially effective for campaigns that can be varied regionally, such as:
It also provides robust evidence of incremental impact in the short and mid-term.
MMM is the gold standard for organizations with access to extensive historical marketing and sales data, particularly for B2C brands. Applying advanced statistical techniques quantifies the aggregated impact of brand and performance marketing on outcomes like sales and market share.
This lets you detect even modest changes in brand spend and reveal valuable halo effects across channels. MMM requires significant investment and data, but its ability to show both short-term sales and long-term brand impact makes it persuasive to executives.
These methods:
You’ll gain valuable directional insights after major campaigns or shifts in brand investment. While less granular than MMM, ATU surveys offer a practical way to monitor brand health and validate other measurement methods.
If you want to understand or defend premium pricing, conjoint analysis quantifies the value consumers place on brand status. By presenting respondents with various product and price configurations, this survey-based technique uncovers:
It is resource-intensive but is uniquely suited for organizations aiming to measure and maximize their brand’s price premium.
These methods together form a toolkit you can tailor to different business needs, data environments and strategic objectives. This allows you to move beyond assumptions and demonstrate the tangible value of brand investment.
Dig deeper: How to measure the impact of brand marketing
Leading organizations often deploy multiple measurement methods throughout the year. For example, a brand might use MMM for overall impact assessment while running targeted geographic tests to validate specific campaigns. This layered approach provides a more comprehensive view and builds credibility with finance and executive teams.
With every marketing dollar under scrutiny, the ability to measure brand’s impact is a strategic edge. By choosing the proper methods, aligning with business goals and investing in analytics, you can move beyond gut feel — proving brand value and securing long-term investment.
Contributing authors are invited to create content for MarTech and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the martech community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they express are their own.
Meanwhile, Monduck provides a fitting anchor. First introduced in 1980 through Moncler’s comic strip-style washing care instruction labels, the character evolved and soon became a brand mascot, featured in every jacket and a pillar in the brand’s history of illustration. That legacy is given new life here, not just in the campaign film, but across the clothing itself. Monduck crops up again on patches, graphics, and garment tags. It’s a small but considered thread, echoing Donald and Moncler’s shared belief that care and storytelling can live inside everyday details, even in what you wear.
This foundation in illustration has woven its way through the brand for almost 50 years that followed, representing creative expression and graphic language from product to marketing campaigns to window and event installations. In this case, Donald Glover had a memory of his first Moncler Jacket, remembering the cartoon graphics, and decided to create “farming” iterations of the Monduck for the collection, and suggested making an animated cartoon to introduce the elevated outdoor wear collection.
As such, the film stays true to the attitude of the 1985 graphic design language, with a contemporary feel. The scenery also binds all the elements of the campaign and collection together, connecting the two worlds of Gilga Farm in Ojai and Moncler’s DNA in the mountains, through colour and form – for example the oranges, which are farmed at Gilga Farm, and can be seen in brand design for Gilga Farm and Gilga Radio.
The garments reflect this approach. Across the stills and campaign video, they appear textured and tactile: cloudlike jackets, sleeping-bag coats, and citrus-tinged colourways washed in Californian light. The palette stretches from sun-faded oranges and pinks to ripstop whites and clear-sky blues. The orange, a recurring motif of Donald’s Gilga Farm, appears throughout. It shows up in logo form, in design detailing, and even in fibres woven into the fabric itself.
So too, the silhouettes are designed with ease in mind. Boxy vests and oversized outerwear recall Moncler’s mountain DNA, now filtered through a sun-drenched Southern Californian lens. Practical elements (such as a gardener’s hat or trail sandals) ground the collection in utility, while soft cotton workwear and technical linen bring texture. There’s a standout burnt orange suede jacket, and a hero item: a duvet-style outer layer that transforms into a sleeping bag, nodding both to Moncler’s origins and the campaign’s quiet emphasis on rest.
In turn, the collection hums with Donald’s signature mix of sincerity and subversion. There’s a sense of humour to it all, but it never tips into gimmick. From the surreal cartoon orchard to the reworked care labels, the collection is laced with surprise and softness. The campaign’s guiding idea – Goodnight Gilga, Morning Moncler – sets the tone. It’s about transition and transformation, sleep and waking, work and dreaming.
Moncler’s creative team describe it as a reinterpretion of Moncler’s elevated mountain codes for high summer in Southern California, fusing function, purpose, and elegant design in a self-assured assemblage of luxuriously laidback pieces infused with graphic personality.
What stands out is the collaboration’s creative coherence. Just as Donald blends satire and sensitivity across his work in music, film and television, here he threads playfulness into craft. There is a clear design rigour behind the garments, but also a willingness to let things be light. Monduck might be silly, but he’s not superficial. He’s just resting.
Wix announced it is acquiring Base44, an AI-powered coding platform that enables users to create software and applications with natural language prompts, no coding experience necessary. The acquisition is a bold step because it reimagines what a content management system can be, enabling its users to do more with Wix than with any other platform.
Base44 provides an easy to use chat-based interface that enables users to create any kind of app without having to subscribe to third-party tools, all within the Wix platform. The acquisition is further establishes Wix as a leading platform for Internet entrepreneurship.
Maor Shlomo, CEO of Base44, commented:
“I honestly can’t think of a better fit. Wix is probably the only company that can help Base44 achieve the scale and distribution it needs while maintaining, if not accelerating, our product velocity. Our market is massive. It has the potential to replace entire software categories by enabling people to create software instead of buying it. Wix’s DNA – its customer obsession, innovation, and speed – perfectly aligns with ours, and its scale will catapult Base44 forward at exactly the right time.”
Avishai Abrahami, CEO and Co-founder of Wix observed:
“This acquisition marks a pivotal milestone in Wix’s commitment to transforming creation online. Maor and his team at Base44 bring cutting-edge technology, strong market penetration, and visionary leadership that seamlessly align with Wix’s dedication to enabling users at all levels of expertise to express their intent while intelligent agents manage execution.
Maor’s exceptional talent and innovative mindset will reinforce Wix’s mission to push the boundaries of AI-driven creation and accelerate the evolution of intuitive, intelligent tools that redefine how digital experiences are built and enjoyed.”
Read more here:
The future of website creation: Avishai Abrahami on AI and Wix’s vision
Featured Image by Shutterstock/Valery Brozhinsky
As more ad dollars become digital dollars, brands are changing how they use more traditional marketing methods.
Marketers at Coca-Cola’s Sprite have been relying on digital out-of-home (DOOH) to cut through the summer heat, for example.
Alongside paid social activations on Meta, as well as online video and digital display units, the brand is running digital out-of-home (DOOH) work triggered by rising local temperatures. If the thermometer in Rome, for example, hits a preset temperature, ads reminding consumers to get a cold refreshment (preferably a Sprite) will run. Lower temperatures will trigger different ads from the beverage brand, which is running the campaign across the E.U. and in the U.K. Australia, Korea and the Philippines.
“Everything that we’re doing now is meant to reinforce Sprite as the ultimate refreshment,” explained Oana Vlad, global vp, Sprite. “We wanted to try something experimental in a channel that also gives scale.”
The mechanism relies on heat and humidity information drawn from commercial data company OpenWeather, Coca-Cola’s dynamic creative optimization partner Clinch, The Trade Desk and OOH firm Hivestack.
But Sprite’s not the only brand advertiser making space for street-level ad inventory this summer.
European dairy company Arla has been pushing its lactose-free range of products through the early summer months, a period that provides a key seasonal boost to sales, according to Laura Butler, strategic brand manager for Arla LactoFREE.
Its campaign in the U.K. encompasses CTV (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+), YouTube, retail media activations, paid social and PR. But DOOH has been playing an outsized role, taking up at a third of the campaign’s overall budget, said Butler, who declined to provide an overall budget estimate.
“Generally, out of home is a really important channel for us,” she said. Working with Dentsu media agency Carat (and a commercial partnership with OOH firm ClearChannel), the brand has been prioritizing DOOH units located within 500-800 meters of a shop stocking its range; 60% of the sites it’s using are digital, Butler confirmed.
The campaign also included specialist units such as a bespoke install at Boxpark Croydon in London, spanning digital video screens and static inventory. The brand showed creative promoting recipes using its products, which differed depending on the time of day — in the morning, for example, it ran video creative showcasing a breakfast recipe. Such activity can help a brand spread “super simple, really impactful” messages to target consumers, said John Treacy, executive creative director at Zeal, the agency that created the Boxpark DOOH assets.
“Context is key” to making such placements work, said Emma Labrador, CMO of French DOOH network Displayce.
Unsurprisingly, advertiser demand for digital out of home outstrips traditional OOH. Per the Out-of-Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA), digital OOH accounted for 34% of total U.S. outdoor ad spending in Q1 of 2025, growing 9% over the same period last year.
Recent research provides solid evidence that the format is significantly more effective than its static cousin. Happydemics, a company that runs brand uplift studies for advertisers, collated over 1,300 reports on DOOH campaigns — and found that DOOH inventory prompted brand recall from pedestrians at 2.2x the rate of traditional billboards.
“It’s a great tool for shaping brand image and reinforcing key messages,” said Virginie Chesnais, CMO at Happydemics. Veterinary brand Dutch, for example, has begun using OOH in Florida and California to build upon previous brand awareness-boosting TV work.
“We need more eyes on us and increased brand exposure,” said Jenna Brennan, vp of growth.
The industry’s collective investment in out-of-home — digital or otherwise — has been falling for several years, as advertisers gradually siphon budget out of traditional channels and into digital ones. OOH’s share of global ad spend is expected to fall from 5.5% ($42.6 billion) in 2024 to 5.2% in 2027, according to Dentsu’s December ad spending forecast. That report also suggested that growth is set to slow from 4.8% last year to 3.4% by 2027. For what it’s worth, WPP Media pegs OOH’s total revenue in 2025 at $52 billion, 41% of which is digital revenue.
But OOH remains a regular tool of major advertisers — especially for specialist usages like Sprite’s campaign. “DOOH is a bridge between the physical and the digital world,” said Chesnais.
According to WPP Media’s latest biannual forecast, 75% of the world’s advertisers spend 80% of their media dollars on digital channels, while the top 25% spend 47% on digital — the remainder of their budgets being spread across TV, audio, cinema and our old friend the billboard.
That gap is growing smaller, as more of those major brands devote more budget to digital. But it’s unlikely to close entirely. In the first quarter of 2025, 60% of the top 100 out-of-home advertisers increased their investment, relative to the same period in 2024, according to Mediaradar data published by the OAAA.
In basic terms, expect to gradually see fewer small to mid-sized advertisers and more megabrands in OOH placements.
DOOH media owners are leaning in. Pearl Media, a New Jersey-based DOOH provider, recently expanded its portfolio in midtown Manhattan, adding 40 digital screens throughout the central neighborhood, each roughly four times the size of a city bus shelter and each capable of displaying video (or indeed any other creative asset — 3D included) at any time of day.
According to Pearl Media’s CEO Joshua Cohen, the company added the new screens to hoover up latent demand from big brands. “We built this network to attract the world’s biggest advertisers to amplify their message,” Cohen told Digiday.
In line with broader industry trends, the new midtown network can be bought programmatically. Cohen, naturally, is keen to highlight the advantages to brands buying the entire set direct — chiefly, that they can turn such a buy into an event that gets them attention at street level.
“It’s an opportunity to really get involved with New Yorkers during their days and their nights,” he said.
Kwame Taylor-Hayford is a busy man. He is President of D&AD, the global non-profit that represents the pinnacle of creative excellence, and co-founder of Kin, a creative agency focused on driving positive change for its clients. Kin’s client list includes Intuit Mailchimp, Delta Air Lines, Uber and the Obama Foundation.
I met him recently at D&AD Festival where we spoke about his role at D&AD, his advice for young creatives and the challenges branding is facing today.
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(Image credit: D&AD / Owen Billcliffe)
The short answer to that is very badly. I heard this quote not long ago from Shonda Rhimes, who’s a big executive producer, showrunner from the US. And she talks about how when you see her succeeding at one thing, it’s because she’s failing at 10 other things.
So when you see her on the red carpet accepting an Emmy for one of her TV shows, it’s because she’s failing at being a mom at that moment in time, because she’s not there and she’s not present. So I sort of embraced that. It made me feel a lot better about quite a few things that I do. I have accepted that to be amazing in one area sometimes I might need to drop a few balls in other areas, but the key is to try to pick those balls up before anybody notices.
My relationship with D&AD started through D&AD Impact, as someone who’s really excited about creativity, but also social impact. I joined the impact Council, and it was an amazing group of humans – 40 odd people from all over the world who would often convene and just share thinking and insights. And the jury members for the Impact and Future Impact categories are largely chosen from the impact Council. I got to judge Impact, and that was exciting.
But then I think my relationship grew through Shift, which is a night school for creatives that don’t have a degree. I’ve been ECD for New York for a few years, and honestly, I love the program because it kicks open the door and it allows for people who often have no idea the industries of advertising and design exist, but who have a lot of creative sensibilities and a big interest in work that’s more in the creative realm.
It gives them an opportunity to be a part of what we’re doing. And so after doing that for two years, I joined the board and then after a few years of being on the board, I was asked to be President. So here we are. Amazing. It’s really humbling to be in the seat and to help steward what is a very storied institution into the future,
(Image credit: D&AD / Owen Billcliffe)
The future of D&AD is to continue to make it a very global and important part of the creative industries that we participate in. I think there’s so much amazing talent and work in different pockets around the globe, and as the world becomes more connected – I know there’s a bit of a wave of nationalism sweeping the globe right now – but I feel it’s inevitable that through technology and through how all of our different cultures intersect, we’re going to be more connected.
So the more we can appreciate different perspectives, backgrounds and interests, the more we can find ways to celebrate what is different, but also appreciate what we have in common, the better off we’re all going to be.
I think D&AD can play a massive role in the worlds of advertising and design, which are hugely influential culturally. I think we can do a really good job of equipping the next generation of talent with what they need to know to thrive.
(Image credit: D&AD / Owen Billcliffe)
I think the best advice I can give is just stay curious. I think the only constant, the only thing that’s guaranteed is that things will always be changing. But if you stay curious and motivated and if you continue to embrace this learning mindset, you will always be able to achieve what you set out to achieve.
You’ll have access to the tools through organisations like D&AD, [you’ll have] the knowledge and the references and the people, and you’ll be able to grow. And I think that’s an important aspect of being a creative person – this idea that you’re always growing. You’re always growing and taking in new inputs and coming up with new ideas.
(Image credit: D&AD / Owen Billcliffe)
I think they’re an essential part of what we do. I feel peer recognition and acknowledgement that what you’re doing is inspiring and motivating others. Which is really what we’re doing when we pick projects and say that this is, a Yellow Pencil, for example, we’re confirming that it signals the future, and it’s something that people should be striving for, and that it is how we are innovating and building new and different perspective.
So to me, that’s what awards exemplify. It’s all about talent. It’s all about motivating and inspiring, and it’s about how we ensure that we’re continuing to break new ground in what we do.
(Image credit: D&AD / Owen Billcliffe)
I think there are many. But perhaps the biggest challenge is what we consider to be branding in this world that is increasingly changing because of technology and because of how people engage in the world. I was chatting with one of the [D&AD Awards] jury members, and I think we often think of branding as very visual, and you know, what’s the colour, what’s the type, and these, of course, are important aspects of it.
But as brands and as we as a society, come more out of this kind of post Covid context, I think people are excited to engage in the world again and to be more together. So when you think about experience, and even when you think about how technology is evolving, soon you’ll have spectacles that you put on, and you’ll have information overlaid over your real world through augmented reality; we’re talking a lot more to our devices and and so you won’t have probably as many visual inputs consistently in your world.
What does that mean from a sonic standpoint, and how do brands translate to that medium? I think it’s exciting to think about how we expand the conversation around what is branding and how that will evolve honestly, as how we engage evolves.
I do think it’s important to not be afraid, to be yourself. And I know that sounds really weird, but I do think you have seen a bit of this wash. Of sort of sameness across a lot of brands and and I think you’re starting to see a few more brands take a bit more risk in showing up a bit differently. And whether that’s going from a very clean serif, almost like a very neutral colour palette to brands being a bit more expressive, with more serifs, and more hand done elements. I mean, I think there’s something very exciting to me about brands taking a bit more risk.
I guess, it’s that thing about being a bit more human as well, in the place where machines are kind of taking over… I feel we’re all so unique and bespoke, and I think it’s nice for brands to lean into a bit more of that.
Find out more about Kin and D&AD.
