Non-alcoholic spirits brand, Lyre’s, has brought on Audience Precision to support its media strategy, planning and buying as its looks to build out a bigger global presence.

Australia’s robust advertising expenditure in the face of continued Covid-19 disruptions might feel remarkable to some, but it’s no surprise to media industry thought leaders. And many agencies reporting a record-breaking year as a result.

Balancing flexibility and routine, community contribution and the consumer’s desire for optimism proved instrumental for The Lott’s marketing team over the last 15 months. And they’re the keys to getting through this next normal, too.

​ A new connected customer journey-led approach, rethink of local and regional team collaboration and repositioning of brand are three strategic changes giving Seek fresh opportunities for growth in 2021.

Recently returned to local hands, RM Williams has appointed a homegrown media agency to spearhead its global media buying, insights and strategy.

Facebook has announced it’s tightening its rules around hurtful content as more brands boycott the platform. Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg, shared the platform’s renewed efforts from its second civil rights audit.

Global ad spend will fall by almost 12 per cent this year (excluding US political advertising), but this will be followed by growth of 8.2 per cent on a comparable basis next year, according to GroupM’s twice yearly This Year, Next Year report.

Getting more Australians to access equity in their homes and lift the reverse mortgage category from a last resort to proactive retirement funding option has seen Household Capital launch its first brand campaign.

Brand advertisers are reportedly avoiding advertising on news media websites around coronavirus coverage, prompting an urgent call from both publishers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) for them to stop the practice and get behind publishers and the media community. And it’s a call that’s now provoked a response from the CEO of the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), John Broome, defending brand owners from cutting spend and preserving cash while reiterating the advertising community’s appreciation of trusted news sources and a commitment to working through issues.

Challenges remain for content providers, marketers, advertisers, and media, according to the Deloitte Annual Media Consumer Survey, as consumer attention spans wane, trust is eroded, and content choice increases. ​

The marketing and media industry is too heavily skewed towards data, efficiency and short terminism in this mid-digital age where consumers are confused and neither brand nor media is benefiting as a result, Zenith Media’s head of innovation, Tom Goodwin, claims.

​Allianz’s test and learn approach to online video advertising is not only helping the brand understand what publishers and platforms are the best for reaching prospective customers, it’s changing the way teams think about data, audiences and creative, its senior media planner, Mark Dawson, says.

Demographic marketing is dead, and it’s only by combining people smarts and imagination with multiple, contextual data sets that brands will truly win over the ever-changing consumer.

CMOs are mistakenly being judged on their ability to invest in “fashionable” new digital media channels instead of the demonstrable commercial returns that TV delivers, Channel 7’s CEO claims.