Month: March 2024

After languishing for years as a niche interest for basement-dwelling nerds, anime has made its way into the mainstream — and in 2024, marketers have gotten the memo. This year, major brands such as McDonald’s are investing in anime to build goodwill among its diverse and growing Gen Z audience.

To today’s youngsters, the idea that anime was ever anything but wildly popular might come as a surprise. Thanks to the growth of dedicated streaming services such as Crunchryoll, Japanese animation is now more accessible than ever before. But no cultural force truly hits the mainstream until brands and advertisers get involved. And in 2024, they are getting involved.

“2024 is the start of brands having dedicated global strategies for the anime space, in a way that they might have for the sports industry, music industry, gaming industry, et cetera,” said Tatiana Tacca, the founder of Oni Vision, a consulting practice dedicated to the anime and gaming space. “We have not necessarily seen that on a global scale until recently.”

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The world of digital advertising has increasingly become more complicated thanks to Google’s crumbling third-party cookie, creeping costs and over saturation. It’s getting harder for marketers to stand out online, so direct-to-consumer bedding brand Parachute Home is ramping up its experiential marketing to stand out in-person.

“We believe that experiential is a cornerstone to Parachute,” said Foujan Volk, vp of brand at Parachute Home. “The in-real-life moments are a cornerstone to who Parachute is as a brand and how our customer wants to experience us.”

This year, 30% off Parachute Home’s budget is allocated for experiential marketing tactics, double what it was last year, according to Volk. (She did not disclose a specific dollar amount.) That investment has been steadily increasing to support things like its holiday market last year. A post-event survey revealed the favorability of the brand was higher for those who attended versus online consumers, per Volk.

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In previous presidential election years, news publishers have often benefited from an increase in digital ad revenue. But some news podcasts aren’t seeing that same bump yet, with year-to-date ad revenue either down or flat compared to previous election years. 

Media buyers say advertisers’ aversion to news content has only grown since the last election, despite the entrance of new brand safety and suitability tools in the podcast space. In tandem, the news ecosystem has only become more polarized since 2020, seven agency execs told Digiday.

“Historically, we have seen an uptick in brands looking to engage with news [and] political oriented content during election years. However, this is not the trend that we are seeing this year. Brand suitability and the increased polarization of the political landscape are key factors at play here,” said Hilary Ross Shafer, vp of podcast and YouTube influencer at audio agency Veritone One.

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As the first quarter of 2024 comes to a close, it’s becoming clearer where publishers’ revenue priorities lie after a tumultuous 2023. According to Digiday+ Research surveys of more than 150 publisher professionals, direct-sold ads are their major focus this year, while they let up on the gas for other areas of their business, including subscriptions and affiliate commerce.

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The allure of Hollywood paired with the savvy of advertising — is it a match made in business heaven or a recipe for disaster? Recent events, like the clash between talent agency UTA and marketing consultancy MediaLink’s founder and CEO Michael Kassan, suggest the latter.

These unions are notorious for unraveling, though they typically do so behind closed doors. UTA and Kassan have definitely shattered that mold with their public dispute which played out in the trade pubs after it was revealed both companies are locked in a legal dispute.

Yet, in many other aspects, this partnership is just following a well-trodden path in yet another collision between Hollywood glitz and Madison Avenue pragmatism, inevitably stumbling into an unavoidable breakup.

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Getting back to what naturally makes kids’ drawing so glorious is the heart of a new Kraft Heinz “Lunchables Dunkables” campaign.

To extend reach for its Paris Olympics event, NBC will offer a block of daytime viewing at 160 AMC Theaters locations with “select” daytime hours sold as a ticketed event for the July 27-August 11
Olympics dates.

According to the company, “free-form ads” are designed to help advertisers interact with the platform in the same way as its user base.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is asking a federal appellate court to uphold a new state law that requires large social media platforms to disclose their editorial policies.

Apple earlier this year acquired Canadian AI startup DarwinAI, and some analysts and executives estimate the Cupertino, California, company has acquired the most AI startups of any major tech
company.