Following public criticism in the US about racist advertising and a name-change announced last year, Mars Food is now airing its rebrand of Uncle Ben’s rice as Ben’s Original, in new packaging minus the smiling face of ‘Uncle Ben’, a person of colour.

Collector coins and Facebook virtual birthday party are on their way from Big W and Woolworths to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of iconic Australian childrens’ group, The Wiggles, this month.

Brands advocating vaccinations for all are working to present themselves as good citizens with a leadership role in the community that enables them to give consumers, and often their staff, advice on what we ought to do. Here’s a sample of the ways a dozen brands are approaching this controversial topic.

Heightened consumer demand to connect authentically around cultural conversations as well as tentpole TV moments are triggering strong growth in the number of brands investing marketing dollars into Twitter globally and locally.

Outdoor media company, QMS, and neuro-marketing firm, Neuro-Insight, have found and quantified the way changing digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising can have a 38 per cent higher impact than static advertising - all by day five.

Mood tea’s ‘Sip selflessly’ campaign is hitting airwaves, press, outdoor, and social and digital platforms in pro bono marketing, rolling out its important message through November via more than $10 million of donated media inventory.

Reconnecting to modern consumer conceptions of what makes life ‘good’ by reflecting everyday moments has seen LG Electronics invest in its first brand-oriented program of work in more than a decade.

After at least decade without sustained marketing communications effort for its masterbrand, Dairy Farmers has stepped up activity under ‘Here’s to Good’ banner with marketing bursts for core products.

Establishing the pay on-demand category along with sustained awareness of its company credentials have led homegrown pay on-demand fintech, Beforepay, to launch its first brand campaign nationally.

​A 30 per cent increase in free range chicken buyers and a 72 per cent lift in new brand buyers are two standout results for Ingham’s chief marketing officer, Seb Brandt, from its first audience-led outdoor campaign.

Celebrating Australia’s farmers and their importance nationally as well as globally lies at the heart of a new brand platform launched by agricultural manufacturer, Case IH, this month.

​Reaching and engaging the ‘quiet Australians’ who care about climate change and nature in order to trigger national action is driving a new multi-year campaign platform launched by WWF-Australia this week.

It might be a catchy line, but the Federal Government’s latest Covid-19 vaccination advertising line campaign, ‘Arm yourself’, lacks punch and the right mechanisms to motivate Australians to change behaviour and get the jab.

​Almost one-quarter of Australian agencies traded digital out-of-home (DOOH) inventory during 2020, a third are getting into programmatic digital out-of-home and greater creative experimentation is on its way in FY22 and beyond, the IAB reports. The latest figures come as the Outdoor Media Association also reports a triple-digit increase in net media revenue across the category to $203.3 million for Q2, 2021, with DOOH picking up the lion’s share.

Half of the Federal Government’s $6 million digital advertising spend over the past 15 months has been related to Covid, but just $32,000 of it reflects vaccine-related messaging.

One of the silver linings of 2020 was the way marketers stepped up to assist their colleagues in sectors in need. So in September of last year, Share With Oscar launched a new campaign to alert its customers to the availability of unused hotel parking spaces around Sydney.

Winning over generation Z has seen Afterpay, Samsung and Mars Wrigley populating Tik Tok, Snapchat and Twitch with video campaigns to coincide with product promotions.

Highlighting both its sustainability and Australian-made credentials locally and globally has seen 50-year-old Nerada Tea overhaul its visual brand identity and kick off a new marketing program.

EBay’s ‘The fast and the furious’ digital advertising for its Plus loyalty program has topped a new list of Australia’s most effective ads in 2020.

In 2020, negativity led to lower conversions across a range of industries including ecommerce, fitness and nutrition, and home improvement, according to the Unbounce 2021 Conversion Benchmark Report.

Advertising in premium digital channels delivers more than two times better recall and brand lift than the rest of the Internet, while pre-roll video is also outperforming Facebook in terms of both measures.