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2020 Brought New Influencer Trends That Will Impact 2021
Liz Hawks
December 4, 2020
While 2020 has been an unprecedented year in many ways, one constant in the midst of a lot of change was the power of influencers. In fact, influencer marketing helped sustain engagement with brands and products through the pandemic, and this year unveiled new influencer relations trends we believe will have application into the new...
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How Travel Brands Can Succeed While Travel is on Pause
Alexandra Duff
November 24, 2020
With travel on pause for many this year and consumer sentiment around future travel fluctuating daily due to the consistent rise in COVID-19 cases globally, travel brands have been tasked with remaining relevant while also being mindful. In July of this year, our client Chase and Marriott Bonvoy conducted a study that found most respondents...
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Breaking Down the Label: Hispanic, Latino, Latina or Latinx?
Amelia Gomez
October 14, 2020
As a young girl, when friends would ask me “where are you from?” I’d respond, “I’m Cuban.” Until one day, my mother – a Cuban exile who fled the island at 17 years old to escape Fidel Castro’s dictatorship – heard me and quickly corrected me. “Amelia, you’re not Cuban. You are Cuban-American.” As a...
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Compassionate Communications in Brand Marketing
Lauren Winter
October 6, 2020
In recent months, our world has turned outside in and the effect of the pandemic on our lives has been substantial. Meeting rooms have turned into video conferences, planned vacations are trips to the park. Life as we knew it was put on pause and switched to another channel at the same time. It is...
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Consumers Have Spoken: How Will You Show You Have Listened?
Depali O'Connell
October 1, 2020
We are all activists now. The blinkers are off and ordinary people are seeing the world laid bare. It’s messy, it’s difficult – and at times it’s downright depressing – but above all, there’s hope. And that is what corporates now hold in their hands. The hope of millions of people is being placed at...
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The Class of 2020 – A Generation Like No Other
Marie Morgan
September 10, 2020
A couple of months ago, when I told people that I felt most sorry for 18-year olds during the pandemic, most looked at me with a puzzled expression. Why, they said – they have no real responsibilities, no loss of earnings, and besides they all got away with not doing any exams and will get...
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Gen C: A New Virtual Sanity
Lauren Winter
July 21, 2020
As management thinker Peter Drucker once said, "culture eats strategy for breakfast," but right now brands need to get strategic about their cultural approach. It has become my mantra over the past few months, it’s not enough to be culturally aware, we must be culturally committed. We are reframing and resetting and with that comes...
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Understanding Gen Z: Defining Moments for a Generation
Kyla Brinkley
May 20, 2020
While news surrounding millennials and their choices continues to appear in headlines, the generation that follows — Generation Z — is also trending as its members grow older, begin entering the workforce and continue increasing their buying power. Now, as COVID-19 decisively alters this generation’s future, it’s more important than ever to understand the moments...
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Supporting Small Businesses During a Pandemic
Joash Mencias
May 6, 2020
Last year, small businesses employed nearly half of the United States’ workforce, driving job creation and economic growth. Under normal circumstances, we would celebrate the accomplishments of the small business community this National Small Business Week. The coronavirus pandemic has upended those plans, with the Small Business Administration indefinitely postponing the annual commemoration. Meanwhile, small...
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Community in a Time of COVID-19
Rachel O'Malley
April 30, 2020
Humans are notoriously bad at anticipating how a catastrophe might affect them, particularly if they don’t have an existing benchmark to measure against, so lockdown has carried its own specific set of frustrations. The speed at which our normal changed was so swift that if you blinked you might have missed it. Whilst workplaces may...
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Bringing Brands Back to Earth
Amity Harrold
April 22, 2020
A few months ago, I would have bet on Earth Day 2020 being D-day for brands to prove their sustainability creds. The consumer mindset well and truly shifted to ‘green’ in 2019, with many changing lifestyle and consumption habits to reduce their personal impact on the climate. Businesses had been put on notice: Either step...
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Culture Over Consumption
Lauren Winter
April 14, 2020
We’ve just come out of a frenzied decade of consumerism moving at such pace alongside social purchasing abilities that new vocabulary, jobs, scrolling injuries came into play - and that phenomena, in a nutshell, could be described as content. But what does the word even mean — so vapid in its usage we tagged on...
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Marketing for Our Favorite Furry Family Member
Reagan Bennett
April 10, 2020
Cute pic of kitten or puppy; healthy dog running through a field = pet brand marketing campaign sewn up. Right? Wrong. Marketing to pet lovers can be a complex landscape to navigate. Valued at $225 billion, the United States pet care industry is highly saturated, highly competitive and as any pet owner will tell you, highly emotive. The stakes are...
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The Era of Post-Traumatic Marketing
Candace Peterson
April 6, 2020
Helping Consumers Cope After COVID-19 Like a therapist might, I often turn to an exercise that explores the emotions consumers experience with a brand and how the brand makes them feel. I ask questions like: Overall, how would you describe your consumers’ mood? How are they feeling? What are they expecting to feel? What’s bothering...
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Keeping Creativity Alive
Jacob Porpossian
March 24, 2020
“These sure are interesting times!” That was the common phrase used by friends and colleagues during our first FH-WFH (Work From Home) week. And honestly, how can you disagree? It was a whirlwind as we all started to grasp and understand what our new reality not only meant for our clients but also how we...
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While You Were Sleeping…
Miranda Kusama
March 13, 2020
It’s hard to miss the interest surrounding that magical time when your head hits the pillow ‘til your alarm blares (hopefully) eight hours later. From new industry buzzwords like sleep debt, social jet lag, even clean sleep, to the constant discussion – How much did you sleep? How was your sleep? You look tired –...
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How a Day Celebrating One of America’s Favorite Cocktails Can Open the Door to an Entire Industry
Alex Roberts
February 21, 2020
When was the first time you experienced tequila? Let me guess – a shot on your 21st birthday? And what was your experience? Perhaps a burning sensation, followed quickly by the taste of salt and a lime. A notorious first experience that for many Americans is inherently bad, it’s no surprise that it could deter...
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Lessons in (and from) Black History
Jon Bennett Gray
February 17, 2020
Like many kids, my mom put me through what felt like countless hours of flash card drills. Math, grammar, spelling, you name it. But for all the flash cards I’ve forgotten, there’s one set I think of often: Famous Black People in American History. Not long ago, I decided to see if it was still...
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Do's and Don’ts During Chinese New Year
Helena He
December 18, 2019
Chinese New Year (CNY) is quietly approaching. Observed by one fourth of the world’s population, CNY is a celebration of another year of prosperity and a time of gathering. The holiday is typically celebrated for sixteen days from New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival – each day with different activities and taboos, as observers...
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Telling a Complete Brand Story
Mandy Levings
December 11, 2019
Brands often struggle to tell a complete story. It’s even more challenging to tell a story that inspires consumers to sit up and listen – let alone act or change behavior as a result of said story. Does a brand tell a story about our products and services or a story about its heart and...
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A Solution to the Retail Apocalypse?
Tina Manzo
December 1, 2019
With the so-called “retail apocalypse” upon us, it is no surprise the retail industry now considers joining in on societal issues as a major tool to win over conscientious consumers. When it comes to taking a stand, most brands that choose a side are commonly looked at as brave, bold and more connected to customers’...
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How Do Brands Win the Hearts and Minds of Consumers in a New Space?
Candace Peterson
October 7, 2019
For a brand to enter a new space, it needs to set itself apart from the competition. Historically, this might have meant a pizza company with faster delivery. Or, a new brand of gum with flavor that lasts five times longer. Seems simple enough, right? But, what happens when the attributes today’s consumers really care...
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Focused on Products and Services? You’re Only Half Right
Paul Vosloo
September 27, 2019
The relationship between corporate brands and customers has changed dramatically over the past decade. Today’s audiences are no longer just passive consumers. They want to be part of the conversation — and are increasingly vocal in their expectation that businesses take a stand on social issues. They want to buy from, and work for, companies...
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Are Companies Overlooking "Forgotten Issues"?
Alexa Waltz
September 4, 2019
Consumers today are making purchasing decisions on more than just the customer or product benefits, also weighing aspects like what a company is doing for society and its environmental impact. Brands are increasingly aware of the expectation and supporting causes that they may not have touched 30 years ago. But taking a stand isn’t easy,...
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Five Retail Trends Making the Grade for Back-to-School Shopping
Mandy Levings
August 19, 2019
Retailers are expecting record spending at the start of the 2019 school year given the nation’s growing economy. The National Retail Federation reports that total spending between K-12 and college shoppers is predicted to reach $80.7 billion. So, who is buying what? Gen Z is spending more of their own money on back-to-school shopping. Rather...
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Brands Are Couch Surfing Their Way Into The Screens Of Consumers – Here’s Why
Pritni Sandhu
August 9, 2019
Tomorrow, many consumers will be taking advantage of National Lazy Day. Couches will be surfed and screens – this includes phones, tablets and TVs – will be lit up. For brands, this means more opportunities for exposure, higher engagement and awareness in consumers’ homes, as more and more individuals opt for In Your Home (IYH)...
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Marketing to Mom at Mother’s Day
Liz Hawks
May 10, 2019
Mother’s Day is upon us and it’s a big deal not just for moms, but brands as well. In fact, consumers spend $8B more at Mother’s Day than Father’s Day. But, if Mom is supposed to be queen of the day lavished with attention and gifts, why is Mom herself the recipient of so many...
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One-to-One Empowerment
Candace Peterson
June 22, 2018
As my Cannes Lions experience draws to a close on the last day of the Festival, I feel quite like I just consumed a magical creative elixir that’s now coursing through my veins. And, no, I’m not referring to the rosé. Unlike my daily industry news feeds that keep me apprised of the best brand...
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A World Cup without the United States, but Not Without American Fans
Jorge Diaz de Villegas
March 20, 2018
The U.S. Men’s National Team (client) suffered a surprising and disappointing exit last fall in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament, but just because the U.S. won’t be fielding a team on the world’s grandest soccer stage, it doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of fans in our country following the competition. Marketers should...
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Sports at the Speed of Social: Key Takeaways
Steve Hickok
November 3, 2014
Last week, FleishmanHillard hosted a panel discussion for a packed room at the 2014 Holmes Global PR Summit on the topic of “Sports at the Speed of Social.” Arguably, no industry has been more impacted by the explosion, and constant evolution, of social media than the world of sports. Moderated by FleishmanHillard's Mitch Germann, alongside...