Table of contents for January 3, 2022 in Adweek

After going virtual last year, the largest technology trade show in North America is making an in-person comeback. The 2022 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show is set to take place in Las Vegas from Jan. 5-8. As the world continues to navigate the ongoing pandemic, the show will also have a new hybrid format. Last year’s virtual-only event attracted more than 100,000 attendees across live and on-demand broadcasts. This year, according to the Consumer Technology Association—the trade organization that produces CES annually—more than 1,900 exhibiting companies have signed up to participate, with attendees coming in from 160 countries. This is also the first year that CES will have a presence in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s West Hall, which makes up an area of 1.4 million square feet. Other…

Over the past two years, TikTok has triggered a fundamental reinvention of both creator culture and the way people interact online. Originally a teen haven filled with dance videos and sound-based memes, the platform’s horizons have expanded, drawing in 1 billion monthly active users across a broad range of demographics, according to company data. Early brand adopters including Chipotle, Eos, e.l.f. Cosmetics and Oreo were rewarded with powerful viral moments and creator partnerships. As performance levels out, marketers have to get more nuanced by connecting with the subcultures and communities that are developing on the platform, exploring monetization options and targeting niche trends and creators. Simply put, the massive influx of users and brands is impacting the visibility of content on the platform. “We are now seeing a stabilization of…

At this point in the cannabis timeline, it’s simpler to count the number of U.S. states that haven’t legalized the plant—it’s 14, for the record—than to tally those that allow medical sales, recreational use or both. And with that broad reach came a record-shattering green rush over the past two years, spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic as dispensaries were declared essential businesses. These brands quickly invested in ecommerce and delivery tools and were flooded by stressed out, homebound consumers looking to stock up on THC-laced products. In 2020, that meant sales to the tune of $19.5 billion, per New Frontier Data. Tallies for 2021 are hovering around $25 billion, another milestone. Going into 2022, the growth shows no sign of stopping, even without federal legalization. Research firm BDSA estimates the…

May 17, 2021, was one of the media industry’s most transformative days in years. That day, on which AT&T announced it would merge its WarnerMedia arm with Discovery Inc., teed off what will likely become the media industry’s next tectonic shift. While the deal isn’t expected to formally close until midyear, the newly merged company—which will be known as Warner Bros. Discovery—will create not just a heavy-hitting and fast-growing subscription video offering, but an enviable marketing and advertising arm, one that has only heightened the sense of urgency for companies to secure their own global streaming foothold. But enough about Warner Bros. Discovery. With the soon-to-be-combined company looming over the entertainment landscape, industry watchers are already homing in on the next big deal that will again reshape the media space.…

Almost every programmatic player has cast a line in the CTV ocean, hoping to reel in a piece of the $65 billion in linear media spend that many view as up for grabs in the new streaming reality. Their hooks carry the same bait that provoked earlier waves of programmatic adoption: identity, automation, perfect measurement. Those efforts have begun to pay off. The Trade Desk’s CTV revenue grew 100% in the third quarter of 2021. Magnite reported CTV revenue growth of 50% during the same period. And AT&T-owned Xandr’s CTV revenue grew 180% in the second quarter. Actual revenue figures are harder to come by since companies tend to phrase their CTV growth in percentages rather than real numbers, but the growth pattern is clear. And yet, despite the early…

What are the most important capabilities agencies need to master to remain valuable to their clients in 2022? “It can’t be overstated how critical flexibility has become for businesses and agencies alike, in terms of keeping up with the many consumer switchbacks and speed bumps brought on by the pandemic. Agencies need to reflect this agility while expertly guiding brands towards opportunities to drive authentic consumer connections in 2022—ideally without getting bogged down by layers of approvals. Today’s agencies need to be nimble; they need to understand the (everchanging) digital and social landscape, and they should be empowered to drive the right kinds of KPIs for their clients.”…

How has brand purpose changed in this polarizing past year, and how will brand purpose strategies evolve in 2022? “I think consumers (especially Gen Z), don’t want to waste time on vague commitments and lip service. They operated with a deeper sense of urgency than generations before them. They now expect to see governments, institutions and companies’ action [toward creating] meaningful change, and they aren’t shy about calling them out and boycotting/protesting if there is more they could be doing.”…

How do you predict creative marketers will embrace and experiment with the metaverse? “The implications for engagement are endless. Things like ‘trying out’ a product before actually seeing it in real life or ‘visiting’ a resort before making the commitment to an actual trip or immersing people in a ‘real 3D’ environment that helps them understand the importance of giving to an organization are probably just the tip of the metaberg. Taken a step further is the frightening possibility that eventually we will not know the difference between the real world and the metaverse. Who knows what marketers will do then!”…

Preparing for a trip to the Consumer Electronics Show has always been a daunting proposition—even in prepandemic times. This year, the question many of us are asking is: How do you get the most out of a show that attracts hundreds of thousands of companies and attendees when it may be your first live event in 20 months? Not to mention the fact that this convention—always centered on the future—is during a time when the future seems to be arriving faster than scheduled, causing many aspects of your business to change. If you’re an advertising or media professional, my most basic advice is that this is probably not the year to wing it. The return to an in-person CES warrants some degree of strategic planning to ensure that executives make…

As the entertainment industry further consolidates, what are the most important assets companies will need to thrive? “With CTV, we’re afforded the best of TV and digital/programmatic together. It’s the best of TV in terms of the best content, larger screen, etc. and the best of programmatic in that we have greater control of impressions so we can better target the right users, control frequency and measure success. To succeed, brands need creative capabilities that work across lengths and formats due to the changing nature of consumers’ time spent with advertising. Gone are the days of marketers making a suite of 30- and 60-second spots and buying GRPs to reach the masses across all demos. In fact, shorter-form assets will be especially key to reaching broader sets of (especially younger)…

Agencies are well-positioned to lead the way on unified media planning across both linear TV and streaming TV modalities, but many still struggle with legacy team structures that separate those channels into siloes. In 2022, this is unconscionable. Take it from an agency that’s made real progress. “The thing that’s exciting me most in 2022 is the idea of converged budgets,” says Mike Fisher, vp, advanced TV and video at Essence Global. “There’s not a TV budget and a digital budget anymore. There’s an audience budget.” Essence begins by defining an audience and then understanding the content they’re watching, regardless of the distribution platform. It then layers in household-level targeting where possible. This converged model requires some client education, but many of Essence’s customers successfully deployed it during the 2021…

Decades ago, the creative and media sides of the business split. But in the world of digital marketing, digital agencies, which dominate Adweek’s annual Fastest Growing Agencies, have owned every step of the process. They oversee content ideation, production and deployment. In 2022, convergence is coming to all aspects of marketing, not just digital. Brands will increasingly look to remarry creative and media, either through consolidation within holding companies or with independent agencies that can execute both capabilities. In today’s multichannel world, creative and media must work together to make media dollars go further. In Adweek’s recounting of the 10 most notable creative and media accounts to change hands in 2021, four were consolidations into a single holding company: Coca-Cola with WPP, and Mercedes-Benz, Philips and Home Depot with Omnicom.…

Humorous oddity? Existential threat? Until recently, content created via artificial intelligence somehow managed to be both. But it wasn’t particularly useful in day-to-day work. That’s changing quickly as platforms advance and business models—including agencies—arise to make the most of them. In 2022, expect to see AI content become a tool that’s interwoven into standard creative processes without much drama or even a mild robot apocalypse. A few resources and companies to keep an eye on: Supernatural an agency that uses AI to expedite the strategic process and help its human staff create unprecedented ideas. Runway a machine-learning video editing service that dramatically speeds up tasks like rotoscoping and adding visual effects. Copysmith, Copy.ai, Rytr, Jarvis and other push-button subscription tools for marketing copywriters. Playform An AI art tool that’s getting…

The convergence of content and commerce will reach new heights in 2022, as publishers—those audiences trust—are well-placed to maximize their authority as sellers, too. Many of them are investing in technology to streamline the buying experience. BuzzFeed’s adoption of on-site buying is one example. Others, like Food52, are setting up physical stores so they can take up more permanent, physical residency in buyers’ minds. By now, almost all publishers at least dabble in commerce, from simply plugging in with affiliate partners to involving audiences in product creation, with each showcasing new muscles to flex, especially in mitigating against supply-chain problems. But it’s publishers’ content creation abilities, their use of flywheels between content, audience and commerce, that stand them in stronger stead than your average direct-to-consumer company. Just how this plays…

Last year’s most significant TV transaction by far occurred in March, when the NFL completed eye-popping new rights deals for all of its TV packages, worth an estimated $10 billion annually over the next decade. Not only did the agreements keep the NFL games on CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and ABC—ensuring that linear TV will continue to have its top audience draws for years to come—but they also extended them to a variety of streaming platforms. This includes Amazon Prime Video, which will have exclusive Thursday Night Football rights beginning this fall. The deal, in other words, was a microcosm of the dual role that live sports now plays in keeping eyeballs on linear TV and serving as a major subscription driver to streamers. And that’s why media companies must now…

On a list of most popular New Year’s resolutions, exercise ranks near the top. But what working out looks like has changed for many Americans after nearly two years of on-and-off gym closures, quarantines and the mental challenges of living in a changed world. In its wide-ranging biannual trends report, full-service market research firm Provoke Insights asked more than 1,500 Americans ages 21-65 how they are exercising. Since the start of the pandemic, 22% of Americans have been exercising more while 24% say they’ve been working out less. And even this far into the pandemic, 13% of Americans bought fitness gear in the last month. Notably, those who work out more are twice as likely to say they feel “very optimistic” about the future. “During the pandemic, working out has…

For the past two years, media companies like Disney and NBCUniversal have been furiously restructuring to intertwine their once disparate linear and digital sides. That’s why we renamed our television vertical Convergent TV about a year ago—to reflect that seismic change. With most of that heavy lifting complete, look for media companies to leverage their now-converged portfolios in two major ways. First, they’ll be ramping up simulcasting to maximize audience share, whether it’s for sports (like Monday Night Football “ManningCast” on ESPN2 or the Nickelodeon simulcast of CBS’ NFL wild card game) or entertainment fall smash hit Yellowstone’s Season 4 return debuted across four different ViacomCBS cable networks). Second, speaking of Yellowstone, look for more companies to use linear shows to help boost their streaming services. Twice last fall ViacomCBS…

Creatively, 2021 was a year of mixed signals. Hot off of what initially felt like a turning point in experiential, which saw marketers heavily leaning on digital tools to connect with consumers from a safe distance, the industry wasted little time shifting back toward in-person activations. Then came Covid-19’s delta variant. Then omicron. And amid this recurring “should we or shouldn’t we” debate, interest was rising in another way to connect personally, but remotely: the metaverse. With roots that date back to the early 2000s (and much further back in terms of science fiction portrayals), the updated metaverse comprises myriad ways for people to interact via augmented or virtual reality—with each other, but also with brands. As the pandemic lingers into its third year and the public understanding of concepts…

With at least 18 months on the clock until Google withdraws support of third-party cookies in Chrome, 2022 is shaping up to be the year the marketing and media industries kick the tires on alternative identifiers. While identifiers’ viability for targeting audiences is on the docket, the consequences—intended or otherwise—of a global push for privacy will emerge. Among those consequences are further consolidation, ratcheting tensions around who owns publisher contextual data and, as scaled audience targeting withers, the further growth of already domineering tech platforms. This year, publishers, tech vendors and marketers, spurred by tightening regulation and browsers turning the screws toward greater user privacy, will continue to test solutions for audience targeting and ad delivery. And those tests present a market opportunity: There are over 100 cookieless solutions out…

How do you think cryptocurrency will affect your brand in 2022? “On one end there is the resource-intensive option of fundamental product integration, such as accepting crypto alongside traditional methods in a payment terminal. But, perhaps one of the most actionable implications is purely around the literacy a brand showcases in crypto through its messaging and programming, such as in social. This is especially true for a brand like GoDaddy Pro, where blockchain is an entrenched complementary interest of our freelance web designer and developer audience.”…