Too many CMOs think of IMC as a vague theory or a checklist, but it's a crucial mindset for planning all your media campaigns. Here's how to adapt for 2025. Photo by Olia Danilevich What is integrated marketing communications? Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is commonly known as the coherence of visual cues, narratives, and messaging about a brand across multiple media channels like search, social, and PR . Thanks to Channel V Media for this handy visual! For our purposes as a paid media agency , it's about unifying audience data, building sequential purchase journeys, and analyzing performance from several different advertising  channels holistically, both traditional and digital. But IMC is so much more than brand colors and boilerplates -- it's a mindset to adopt in every touchpoint of your brand's interactions with the world. When planning your marketing and advertising campaigns for 2025, rise above these common misconceptions to leave a lasting impression with your audience and crush your competition! 5 things marketers get wrong about integrated marketing communications (IMC): Consistency isn't just visual branding Many marketers think IMC is just about maintaining consistent logos and color schemes across channels. While that's certainly part of it, IMC is also about creating a unified narrative and emotional experience that resonates consistently across every touchpoint. This means your messaging, tone, and core value proposition must feel seamless whether a customer encounters your brand on social media , through a podcast ad, on TV , or on a billboard . Data integration is more important than channel-specific execution Some marketers focus too narrowly on the tactics and performance of each channel, comparing one to another, but true IMC success hinges on sophisticated data integration. Your customer data from one platform should inform another, allowing you to create truly personalized, contextual experiences. This means breaking down silos between marketing, sales, customer service, and product teams to create a 360-degree view of the customer journey . The 2024 Salesforce State of Marketing Report showed that fully integrated data is more common among high performers, meaning that investing in unification gives marketers an edge. Attribution is often fundamentally misunderstood Traditional, last-click attribution models are so outdated. Modern IMC requires understanding complex, multi-touchpoint customer journeys. You need advanced attribution models that can track and evaluate interactions across channels, recognizing that a podcast might spark initial interest, while a retargeting display ad might nurture consideration, and a personalized email might drive the final conversion. Marketing mix modeling (MMM) or multi-touch attribution (MTA): Which model is best for your campaign? Emotional continuity is just as important as tactical messaging Brands often get trapped in short-term , tactical messaging tied to specific goals or deals, like limited-time offers (LTOs), immediate calls-to-action, or "try it today", rather than communicating broader brand values for long-term positioning. Effective IMC creates an emotional through-line that makes consumers feel consistently understood, regardless of where they interact with your brand. This means developing a deep, nuanced understanding of your brand's emotional promise and ensuring every communication reinforces that core emotional experience. Why media planning is a marathon, not a sprint Tech stack alignment is a strategic imperative Your martech (or, in our case, adtech) stack is more than just a collection of tools -- it's the engine driving your IMC strategy. So they need to be aligned with your goals! For our media plans, we partner with adtech vendors who provide us with rich consumer data and real-time insights for mid-campaign optimizations as needed. Overall, the key is to view integrated marketing communications as not just a tactical checklist, but as the mindset required to build long-term customer relationships. For more ad buying news and tips, join our free, weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter.

The Festival of Media North America Awards celebrate excellence in marketing, advertising, and media campaigns from agencies large and small. Exverus Media has won the Best Retail Media category at the Festival of Media North America (FOMNA) Awards for Premier Nutrition: Winning Prime Big Deals Day . The honors were given at a ceremony at the Sky Theatre in New York City the evening of December 5, 2024. Premier Nutrition: Winning Prime Big Deals Day was a multichannel paid media campaign that made Premier Protein Shakes the #1 top-selling item across Amazon on Prime Big Deals Day in October 2023! We achieved retail media success by designing a new path to purchase , meeting our target Gen Z and Millennial "Healthy Strivers" where they actually discover and consider brands: social media. Social influencers created engaging videos showcasing our products in their daily lives, resonating with our audience personally. Simultaneously, we employed an Amazon daypart strategy to prioritize ad spend during the historically optimal times of day and a sponsored display remarketing strategy to nurture past Premier Nutrition page viewers down the funnel. The record-breaking sales achievement garnered millions of press impressions. "The final judging session was a dynamic exchange of ideas with jurors thoroughly assessing the outstanding media work that defined North America last year. The level of strategic thinking and execution has set a new bar for media working in the region. What truly stands out is the growing focus on creating campaigns that not only resonate with audiences but also drive lasting impact, reflecting the industry's commitment to pushing boundaries and shaping the future of media." - Leah Mellard, Awards Manager, Festival of Media See all the 2024 winners here ! Founded in 2014, Exverus is a Los Angeles media agency elevating growth-stage brands through full-funnel media planning, traditional and programmatic advertising, retail media & e-commerce, paid search, paid social, and analytics. Our data-driven media plans combine precise market research with creative ideas to confidently allocate every ad dollar for the maximum return. Named for the Latin phrase "from the truth", Exverus is dedicated to transparency and long-term client trust.

Los Angeles based media agency wins the MediaPost Online Media & Marketing Award for New Belgium's Voodoo Ranger Megabrand campaign. (OCTOBER 11, 2024) Exverus Media won the 2024 MediaPost Online Media & Marketing Award (OMMA) Best Alcoholic Beverage Marketing Campaign for its work with New Belgium Brewing's Voodoo Ranger IPAs Megabrand. The 360 digital media campaign brought the brand’s visually stunning, edgy creative assets (designed by creative agency Fact & Fiction ) to a carefully chosen mix of programmatically bought premium CTV, Snapchat, Reddit, YouTube, and more. As a result, brand awareness and perceptions lifted exponentially, and the product line surpassed its sales goals for the year. See all the 2024 winners  here .   Exverus Media's New Belgium team is led by Media Director Shelby Dolan and supported by Georgia Schreiner (2023 Ad Age Media Planner of the Year , Marlee Thompson , Anna Acuna , and Kris Chen . Sean Edwards oversaw the programmatic advertising portion of the campaign, while Aaron Silva handled Ad Ops and Charles Lai directed the data analysis. Founded in 2014, Exverus is a Los Angeles headquartered media agency elevating growth-stage brands through full-funnel media planning, traditional and programmatic advertising, retail media & e-commerce, paid search, paid social, and analytics. Our data-driven media plans combine precise market research with creative ideas to confidently allocate every ad dollar for the maximum return. Named for the Latin phrase "from the truth", Exverus is dedicated to transparency and long-term client trust. Follow us on LinkedIn here . New Belgium Brewing was co-founded in 1991 in Fort Collins, Colo., by Kim Jordan, a social worker, who built her company the only way a social worker would: People first. Over the past three decades, New Belgium has turned that ethos into a unique Human-Powered Business model through practices that were and still are rare in the business world: fully paid healthcare premiums for coworkers who need the support, living wage compensation, open-book management, renewable energy sourcing, a free onsite medical clinic and physician, a deep commitment to philanthropy and advocacy, and much more.  Learn more at newbelgium.com . PRESS INQUIRIES: Michelle Andrade michelle.andrade@exverus.com For more media buying news and tips, subscribe to our weekly Paid Media Insights  newsletter.

Adweek awarded the multichannel CPG campaign for Best Use of Mobile Media. (August 20, 2024) Exverus Media's CPG marketing campaign for Stella & Chewy's, " America's Next Top Petfluencer" , has been awarded Adweek Media Plan of the Year 2024 for Best Use of Mobile among campaigns of its size. The raw pet food brand needed to expand into big-box retailers while maintaining strong relationships with the neighborhood pet stores that launched it. So their longtime media planning team at Exverus designed a multi-channel sweepstakes that would drive customers into their local pet stores. Excerpt from Adweek: Digital ads encouraged people to submit their cutest pet photos for a chance to win a prize package. Exverus worked with social influencers and boosted posts targeting pet parents...while QR codes sent people on scavenger hunts to their neighborhood pet shops. Contest participation reached 75%, triple the benchmark. The campaign reached 16.8 million target consumers and lifted foot traffic by 33%! Thousands of entrants opted in to future promotions, collecting invaluable first-party data. To see more of our work with Stella & Chewy's, check out this AR-integrated campaign next: About Exverus Media Founded in 2014, Exverus is a Los Angeles media agency elevating growth-stage brands through full-funnel media planning, traditional and programmatic advertising, retail media & e-commerce, paid search, paid social, and analytics. Our data-driven media plans combine precise market research with creative ideas to confidently allocate every ad dollar for the maximum return. Named for the Latin phrase "from the truth", Exverus is dedicated to transparency and long-term client trust. For more media buying news and tips, subscribe to our weekly Paid Media Insights  newsletter.

Former Exverus VP Sifat Ullah published a full article in Adweek on the pros and cons of retail and social media buying. Learn how to make the most of each! This news appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, & analysis, subscribe for free here .

The annual awards are given for excellence and innovation in media planning and buying. (LOS ANGELES) May 14, 2024 -- Talia Arnold , cofounder and managing director of Los Angeles media agency Exverus Media, has been named one of Adweek 's 2024 Media All-Stars. The annual awards are given for excellence and innovation and media planning, buying, and strategy. According to Adweek , "As AI continues to influence media buying and the industry overall, these stars are making the best of the technology and finding new ways to help clients maximize their dollars and gain market share. "For the 2024 Media All-Stars, technology is a key tool to crafting the best strategy while navigating markets and audiences that are increasingly diverse, creator-led, and shoppable." Talia’s 20 years of expertise in advertising, media strategy, and data analysis have secured long-term relationships with growth-stage brands like Premier Protein & Dymatize, New Belgium & Bell's Brewery, and Honey Stinger, just to name a few. In addition to overseeing a dozen media planning & performance teams and pitching new business, Talia regularly publishes original whitepapers and speaks at industry conferences . As a result of her leadership and creativity, Exverus is Adweek's 2024 Breakthrough Agency of the Year and among LA Times B2B's Best Workplaces of 2023 . For more media buying news and tips from Talia, subscribe to our weekly Paid Media Insights  newsletter.

Our media buying experts' key takeaways from the Snap Partner Summit 2024 Did you know Snapchat (the social media platform owned by Snap, Inc.) has a user base of 850 million users worldwide?! If you thought Snapchat was just a small niche app for kids, it's time to start thinking of it as a bona fide advertising platform that can grow your business. But how do Snapchat ads work? Fun facts: 75% of people come to Snapchat to interact with their closest circle of family and friends, and... 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family above all other forms of advertising! That's a really significant opportunity to influence your target audience, especially if they're predominantly Gen Z. Snapchat offers two ad creation options : Instant Create:  For quick and easy ads, upload your creative and select your audience and budget. Create your ad in just a few minutes. Advanced Create:  For more complex campaigns, use this option to create multiple ad sets with advanced targeting and bidding capabilities. To measure and optimize your campaigns, use the Snap Pixel to track performance and make data-driven decisions. At Exverus, our professional social media advertisers have close relationships with Snap to build the most comprehensive and effective campaigns for our clients. Snap Partner Summit 2024 Highlights Our VP of performance marketing and paid social director attended the 2024 Snap Partner Summit in the Bay Area and came back with invaluable learnings for media buyers and brand marketers: Snap highlighted their growing user base of 850 million users worldwide, who send more than 1 billion monthly snaps to each other. Company executives unveiled their new  Simple Snapchat  User Interface, which looks to simplify the design of the Snapchat mobile app to make the user experience seamless and easy to navigate. Snap also announced development of their proprietary AI tools for designers/developers to easily create AR lenses and filters on the platform. Most notably, the company unveiled their 5th generation of  Snapchat Spectacles , which create a unique VR user experience that blends Snap's AR technology into the user's real world surroundings. "For the first time in history, we've made transition lenses cool." -- Evan Spiegel, CEO Snap Inc. Key Snapchat Ads Partnerships Hulu x SambaTV x Snapchat Ads Hulu and SambaTV showcased their partnership to drive a full funnel measurement approach with Snapchat ads , allowing Hulu to target new-to-brand users on Snapchat while measuring tune-in lift on the backend using SambaTVs automated content recognition (ACR) technology. Sports & AR Snap highlighted the wide application capability of their AR Lens technology with partnerships across professional sports, including the NBA, LA Rams, and Suni Lee (American Gold Medal Gymnast). Snap is enhancing the fan experiences with athletes behind the scenes, in stadium, and everywhere fans are engaging with sports. Live Music Snap discussed partnerships with Live Nation and artists (including Billie Eilish and Partynextdoor), showcasing how the platform allows users to intimately engage with their favorite artist, strengthening that bond and driving a deeper connection for advertisers in the music industry. Snapchat extends the reach of concerts beyond attendees and allows artists to communicate authentically with their audiences. 3 Things marketers should know about Snapchat Creativity is alive and well!  Authentic and fun experiences make Snapchat unique. Creators and developers continue to raise the bar for content and experiences on the platform, which will provide better media innovation and new opportunities for brands. Add Snapchat to your existing social media mix:  Snapchat is a key part of social media -- it's not a replacement for other platforms, but rather an additive to build brands and deliver business results.  Run A/B tests and connect ads to retailers for driving lower-funnel conversions after capturing upper-funnel attention. Our own social media advertisers are excited to brainstorm ideas of new Snap activations for Exverus clients in 2025 & beyond! What will your team create? For more media buying news and tips, subscribe to our weekly Paid Media Insights  newsletter.

Mastering your retail media search strategy can persuade shoppers already in a purchasing mindset. As the Google antitrust trial unfolds, a new set of challengers is rising up to steal share from the search giant. And they’re not Bing or ChatGPT – they’re retail media networks (RMNs).  While social media takes the reins of brand discovery, RMNs are becoming a mid-funnel consideration-driver where consumers go to learn more about brands they discover. Amazon is now the most popular place  for US adults to start a product search, according to a February 2024 Jungle Scout survey, and EMARKETER  predicts retail media ad spend will more than double over the next five years, reaching $129.93 billion by 2028. So, how can your brand influence customers right where they already shop?  First, what is retail media search marketing? Retail media search marketing is a strategy that helps brands appear prominently on the search results pages of retailers’ e-commerce websites and mobile apps. It can be achieved by organic or paid media tactics, onsite or off-site, leveraging the value of the immense first-party purchase data retailers hold.  In other words, it’s applying the principles of search marketing to e-commerce sites and retail media networks (RMNs).  What is the difference between onsite and offsite retail media? Onsite  is a retail media solution that displays advertisements for brands within a retailer’s website or mobile app. An example is opening Walmart’s shopping app and seeing an ad for Premier Protein displayed at the top of the search results page for “protein shakes”.  Off-site  is media published by a brand on external advertising platforms, including traditional search engines, social media, display, video, mobile, audio ads, and more. Currently, the biggest driver of off-site retail media growth is Connected TV (CTV)!  Learn more about the relationship between CTV and retail media here Is that the same thing as Google Retail Search?   Not exactly. Retail Search is a specific service provided by Google Cloud  that some retailers use to employ similar Google Search type capabilities but with the retailer’s own products. Most retail media search ads are bought through RMNs or demand-side platforms (DSPs).  Why is retail media search so important? High purchase intent Sponsored search advertising  has exploded in the last couple of years because consumers come to retailer sites or apps already in a purchasing mindset – no demand generation required.  Precise targeting capabilities Social media networks may have data on what you’ve shown interest in before, but retailers know what you’ve actually bought  before. That makes their deep wells of first-party consumer data extremely valuable for efficient targeting and closed-loop measurement.  Trouble at Google Retail search poses a huge threat to the search market dominance of Google, which is currently on trial for antitrust behavior allegations and facing steep competition from AI-powered search bots. While retail media search spend grows like ivy, traditional search ad spending growth will slow to just 0.9% YoY  in 2028.  5 ways to sharpen your brand’s retail media search strategy Prioritize home page placements  The home page of a retailer’s site or app is a coveted placement for advertising because it’s the most visible with the widest reach, and it’s the most memorable thanks to the primacy effect. Here’s a good visualization of the purpose each page level of an e-commerce site serves:  Segment your audience If your feminine product ads are being served to biologically male customers, those wasted impressions are wasted ad dollars. Every product isn’t right for every consumer! To optimize your retail media budget, you’ll need to get precise with your targeting and segment your audiences. Fortunately, the first-party data provided by retail media networks solve this problem very well, if you’re putting in the right audience parameters. Check out this excellent list of audience segments put together by the IAB:  Dominate your niche Our own Senior Search Specialist, Michael Robbins, advises: “Find the long-tail search terms that resonate with your consumers best, and aim to own those key terms. Be specific; do not take your hands off the wheel, going broad-match and letting the ‘algorithm’ do the work.” Take this example from our back-to-school marketing  guide: Adding contextual keywords  to your search mix can boost visibility and drive sales. For instance, a granola bar company could add long-tail keywords like “granola bars for school lunches”, or “healthy after-school snacks” to their current bidding strategy.  Consider the whole customer journey Despite the popularity of e-commerce and online shopping, most consumers in 2024 are operating in a “ click-and-mortar ” style: either buying online and picking up in store, buying online and returning in store, or discovering brands in-store and following on social media. To beat the competition, you’ll need to meet your target customer at each point along their nonlinear journey.  Don't forget to influence them BEFORE they start shopping - using tactics like TV, video, audio and OOH to improve brand perception and credibility. Check your metrics As with any media tactic, it’s imperative to use the right metrics for your brand’s specific campaign goals. The report below from IAB Europe shows there’s still a discrepancy between the information sought by media buyers and what’s provided by media sellers. For CPG brands advertising on retail media networks, of course, the most important result is growth in business sales. But over what timeline? And by what means? Which channels are worth continuing to invest in, and which aren’t?  These kinds of questions are more complex, and they’re answered with help from tools like:  Holistic measurement tools like DISQO Marketing mix modeling Multi-touch attribution Brand lift studies (which predict next year’s growth) The right performance marketing agency can help you figure out what goals and metrics make the most sense for your business and how you can exceed them! Your retail media search strategy is a key part of eclipsing your business objectives. For more media buying news and tips, subscribe to our weekly Paid Media Insights  newsletter.

Some marketers feel uncertain about programmatic bidding -- we'll put you at ease. Programmatic advertising is quickly becoming the preferred modus operandi  for digital media buying. In fact, EMARKETER predicts that 91.3% of US digital display advertising will be bought programmatically in 2024! But recent third-party reports suggest ads from major brands are appearing next to harmful content, even with AI-powered brand safety tools in place. That's got some people feeling concerned about the safety of programmatic display advertising more generally, which is understandable!   Brand safety, brand suitability, and ad-budget stewardship are the highest priorities at Exverus.    Here are a few ways we're reaping the benefits of two common types of programmatic auctions while avoiding the risks.  What are the 4 types of programmatic advertising exchanges? What is the difference between PMP and OE deals? What are the pros and cons of the open exchange? What are the pros and cons of PMP deals? How we safely navigate programmatic bidding First, let's level-set on some definitions of how programmatic buying works: What are the 4 types of programmatic advertising exchanges? Open exchanges (OE), or open marketplace Private marketplace (PMP) deals Preferred deals (PD) Programmatic guarantee deals (PG) Let’s zero in on the pros and cons of private marketplace (PMP) vs. open exchange (OE) deals and clear up some of the misconceptions about each. What is the difference between PMP and OE? A private marketplace (PMP)   is a digital marketplace where publishers can connect directly with a select audience of media buyers for premium ad inventory and set up individual, guaranteed deals... ...whereas open exchange (OE) bids are public, automated real-time bidding (RTB) auctions open to all buyers and sellers through display-side platforms (DSPs) for ad buyers and supply-side platforms (SSPs) for ad sellers. As with all media planning decisions, choosing the right inventory and exchange type depends upon your campaign goals. Here are some considerations to weigh: What are the pros and cons of the open exchange? The benefits of open-exchange bids include wider reach and scale, more robust data collection, optimization levers, more audiences, and cost-effectiveness.    Concerns around the open-exchange include limited transparency, privacy compliance, and brand safety.  What are the pros and cons of private marketplace deals? PMP deals offer access to higher quality ad inventory, more transparency, and more precise targeting.   On the other hand, private marketplaces have limited inventory and thus less audience data to collect, fewer optimization levers and higher costs.  So, which is better? "There is no one-size-fits-all solution for how to transact and activate programmatic media", says Hillary Kupferberg , Exverus VP of performance media. "It is essential to have strong knowledge and a strategic approach to programmatic inventory and supply paths. Each exchange type has nuances but the goal is to maximize transparency and efficiency in brand suitable environments." How we safely navigate programmatic bidding: Publisher inclusion & exclusion lists  created by us in DoubleVerify supersede any automated content partners.  Avoiding user-generated content (UGC)  and made-for-advertising (MFA) sites, which are unmoderated and ripe for questionable content. Continuous monitoring of ad placements for factors like viewability, fraud, contextual relevance, and quality of environment. In-house, hands-on-keyboard trading . We don't leave programmatic trading up to managed services; our own buying experts personally oversee every transaction.  To learn more about programmatic buying and other digital advertising tips, subscribe to our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter here .

The Los Angeles media agency expands its CPG-heavy roster to entertainment and tech clients. (JULY 23, 2024) LOS ANGELES -- Exverus Media has won three major client accounts in the first half of 2024: multi-platform historical drama The Chosen , data center provider Equinix, and nutritional supplement brand Theralogix . The award-winning media agency specializes in media planning and buying for CPG brands like Premier Protein & Dymatize, New Belgium & Bell's Brewery, and Honey Stinger to name a few; but the addition of The Chosen and Equinix demonstrate its versatility in the entertainment and tech verticals, as well. “For The Chosen campaign, we’re excited to partner with the creative team at My Code to reach new audiences our industry often overlooks”, says team leader Melissa Andraos, Exverus SVP of strategy . “Our goal is to drive lasting interest among the show’s existing fan base and capture the attention of new viewers across a fractured TV landscape.” The Chosen app reached #1  on the Apple TV app store and the #2  free app in the Mobile iOS store upon premiering Season 4 in June 2024. The global phenomenon from Angel Studios has garnered over  200 million viewers  from 175 countries, 770 million episode views worldwide, and rave reviews from  Forbes  and  The Hollywood Reporter . Meanwhile, Georgia Schreiner ( 2023 AdAge Media Planner of the Year ) will serve as Media Planning Director for Equinix , a Silicon Valley data center provider currently powering the Paris Olympic pool . Schreiner will also oversee planning for Theralogix , a trusted leader in the fertility supplements space with a full line of premium, research-backed nutritional supplements supporting reproductive health and more. Founded in 2014, Exverus is a Los Angeles headquartered media agency elevating growth-stage brands through traditional and programmatic advertising, retail media networks & e-commerce, paid search, social media advertising, and analysis. Our data-driven media plans combine precise market research with creative ideas to confidently allocate every ad dollar for the maximum return. Named for the Latin phrase "from the truth", Exverus is dedicated to transparency and long-term client trust. Follow us on LinkedIn , Instagram , YouTube , or TikTok . Please direct all press inquiries to Michelle Andrade at michelle.andrade@exverus.com .

Get around the competition by marketing your brand through exciting, less cluttered channels. Everyone in advertising is talking about programmatic CTV and retail media networks these days. And that makes sense! Both these channels present advertisers with a wealth of targeting and engagement capabilities. But they're not the only growth opportunities for brands. In fact, popular advertising channels like CTV, e-commerce, paid search , and paid social media can be quite noisy and cluttered with competition. How can your brand possibly stand out? Adding alternative, emerging channels to a paid media mix help brands to stand out from the crowd and reach people in exciting, memorable ways. What is the meaning of alternative marketing? What are some examples of alternative advertising? What are the advantages of alternative marketing? How do you measure the success of alternative marketing campaigns? How do you integrate alternative marketing into an omnichannel media strategy? What is the meaning of alternative marketing? Alternative marketing traditionally involves any media channel or tactic outside the traditional advertising mainstays of Radio, TV, and Print. Technically, digital paid advertising channels such as e-commerce, podcast advertising, and influencer marketing could be considered alternative marketing tactics even though they've become mainstream. The landscape is rapidly evolving, and emerging opportunities crop up under the umbrella term ‘alternative marketing.’ What are some examples of alternative advertising? The creative possibilities are endless, but a few effective examples include: Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) DOOH boasts the ability to deliver big impact in precise geographical locations. And buying DOOH inventory programmatically (Programmatic Out-of-Home, or POOH) saves advertisers time and money, offering a holistic view of the campaign's digital performance. DOOH also allows brands to reach targeted audiences via hyperlocal campaigns and even use real-time data triggers (such as current weather conditions) to deliver relevant and impactful messages. DOOH ad spending is predicted to hit nearly $14.2 billion by the end of 2024! Experiential Marketing Ads can be more than just visuals; they can be fully immersive experiences. Whether it's a pop-up event, a branded installation, or an interactive campaign , experiential marketing brings people together in the physical world, where they can touch, feel, and sense the brand in a tangible way. These activations explode on social media, lead to higher brand recall, and instill customer loyalty. Strategic organic and paid media efforts lead to enhanced earned media. Cinematic Advertising Imagine your ad on the big screen, impossible to ignore , in a theater near you . Despite taking a hit during the pandemic, cinematic advertising is clawing its way back with digital strategies and box office hits, providing a much-needed jolt. The CPM for cinematic advertising is competitive with CTV and avoids many of the problems in search and social like signal loss and data privacy. An Exverus client who advertised in-cinema increased unaided brand awareness by 12x as a result of the campaign! Guerrilla Marketing These tactics show up in unexpected places, sneaking up on people out in the wild -- think pop-up art installations, flash mobs, interactive street games, or messages appearing on unlikely canvasses like sidewalks and buildings. Pardon the obvious pun here, but there was a truly "guerrilla" campaign for the latest Planet of the Apes movie in 2024: What are the advantages of alternative marketing? Thinking outside the box has its benefits. Bespoke and alternative 360 marketing efforts involving PR, creative, experiential, organic, touchpoints allows brands to stand out and capture consumer attention . Alternative marketing leads to lasting brand recall engagement that bolsters brand awareness, affinity, and ultimately drives purchase intent. How do you measure the success of alternative marketing campaigns? While it's true that alternative advertising campaigns are less directly attributable to sales than performance marketing channels like e-commerce, there are definite ways to measure their impact. For example, see the advantages listed above. You can measure KPIs like brand recall positive brand perceptions, and purchase intent through brand lift studies, surveys, and focus groups. You can also incorporate QR codes or other data collection methods into your campaign, which are very measurable (and extremely important in the face of third-party data loss). Here's an example of a successful experiential contest we ran that collected zero-party data and led to an 84% surge in revenue directly attributed to media! How do you integrate alternative marketing into an omnichannel media strategy? No earned or paid marketing tactic, traditional or otherwise, can yield steady, long-term growth in a bubble – they have to work together! A good media agency can help your brand build a holistic, omnichannel media plan that incorporates upper-funnel tactics like experiential activations or OOH with mid- and lower-funnel tactics like paid search and retail media, respectively.  Focusing too narrowly on lower-funnel tactics at the expense of brand-building is a common mistake called short-termism . The immediate, traceable performance effects can be enticing, but without upper-funnel brand building in the mix, your audience won’t grow, and your business won’t either.  Get your brand outside in the real world and create outstanding, memorable experiences for your customers. Show them a good time, and they'll stick with you. This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here .

Time for the advertising industry to get serious about sustainability. Here are a few ways brands and agencies can pitch in and reduce their digital footprint. Digital advertising leaves a carbon footprint the industry is only starting to address. In fact, programmatic advertising alone is generating 215,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions globally. That's equivalent to 24 million gallons of gasoline consumed!   So what can brands, ad tech vendors, and agencies do to make their media strategy more eco-friendly and more attractive to their target audience? Why sustainable advertising matters to brands In addition to the very real effects of climate change already wreaking havoc on our planet, brands should care about sustainable media because their audience cares! Research from Harvard Business Review  shows: “When Gen Z and Millennial customers believe a brand cares about its impact on people and the planet, they are 27% more likely to purchase it than older generations are — a clear measure of sustainability’s power to drive buying decisions in this group.” By demonstrating your brand's commitment to following through with ethical practices from beginning to end of a purchase cycle, you'll resonate with Gen Z and Millennial buyers, lifting brand perceptions and increasing sales over time. Just look at Patagonia for an example! The company has an estimated value of about $3 billion dollars and brings in $100 million in revenue annually ( Pereira, 2023 ). Sustainable advertising doesn't have to cut into your business's revenue growth -- in fact, it does quite the opposite. How to build a sustainable media strategy 1. Invest in eco-efficient hardware Loading, serving, and engaging with an ad requires electricity, and efficient hardware can minimize the energy output. Companies like Dell and Microsoft offer eco-friendly options. 2. Embrace greener ad formats Opt for lightweight ad formats that load faster, minimizing energy consumption by viewers. Emissions can be reduced without sacrificing ad performance! Lightweight creatives are ads with minimal file size, like text ads or simple banner ads. While video ads can be impactful,  pre-roll ads (shown before the main content) are generally shorter and viewed at a higher rate compared to mid-roll ads (shown during the content). This translates to less energy consumption overall. Compared to video ads,   audio ads require less data transfer and processing power, making them a greener option, particularly for podcast advertising. 3. Agencies, sign the Clean Creatives Pledge ...not to work with fossil fuel companies. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres reminded us last week, all of us in the news/media/tech industries have a responsibility not to promote fossil fuels and prolong humanity's dependence upon them for profit. ( Exverus signed the pledge long ago!) Join us at CleanCreatives.org . 4. Optimize content delivery Leverage efficient content delivery networks (CDNs) that use renewable energy sources to reduce your digital footprint. A CDN is a network of servers that store and deliver content to websites and internet services to improve the speed, reliability, and security of content delivery. For examples, check out CloudFlare, Akamai, or Amazon CloudFront. 5. Join Ad Net Zero & the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) Ad Net Zero is an industry-wide initiative focused on decarbonizing the advertising sector. Their goal is to achieve net zero carbon emissions from all stages of advertising, encompassing development, production, and media placement by the year 2030. They achieve this by providing resources and promoting collaboration amongst advertising stakeholders to reduce the environmental impact of the industry. Measuring the environmental impact of advertising campaigns Speaking of Ad Net Zero: just this week, at the 2024 Cannes LIONS Festival of Creativity, Ad Net Zero announced it's been working with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA)'s Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) to develop the Global Media Sustainability Framework  for tracking emissions. As AdExchanger  reports, "Advertisers will be able to request data from media sellers using a common form, which should make data collection more efficient. Sellers that use the framework will voluntarily share information about the provenance of data, how the data came about and the scope of the data, so it’s clear how measurements are being calculated." While measurement has traditionally focused on electricity emissions, GARM also emphasizes the importance of embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions , or those that occur in the upstream stages of a product's (or in this case, an ad's) lifecycle. Learn more about the new framework here . Think climate change is too big for one person (or one company) to make a difference? No, that kind of thinking got us into this crisis in the first place! If we each do a small part, we can slow climate change without sacrificing effectiveness. And that's good for everybody. This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here .