On this episode of Brand Anatomy, where we get exclusive looks inside leading brands, eMarketer Briefing director Jeremy Goldman sits down with Abigail Jacobs, senior vice president of integrated marketing and brand at Sephora, and Joshua DuBois, co-founder and CEO of cultural insights firm Gauge, to discuss the genesis of the beauty retailer’s "Black Beauty Is Beauty" campaign, what role Gauge’s NXTLab played in the process, how the campaign came to life across multiple channels, and how Sephora uses the 15 Percent Pledge to keep itself accountable with its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. Plus, hear what brands Abigail and Joshua draw inspiration from—and learn a little-known fact Joshua picked up from his friendship with a recent ex-president.

About two-thirds of the US population are monthly connected TV (CTV) users. Young people are more likely to use CTV than older people. Four in 10 US senior citizens are CTV users—whereas CTV usage is about double that, more than 80%, among those ages 25 to 54.

“We’re showing 20.5% growth for retail media ad spending this year, and 22.9% actually accelerating into next year,” said senior forecaster Ethan Cramer-Flood at our recent “Attention! Seizing the Retail Media Opportunity” summit. That stat assumes inflation will cool some in the second half of this year, which our forecasters currently predict it will.

Nearly 90% of CMOs and senior marketing executives are planning to increase their marketing budgets in 2023, according to a recent survey by Matter Communications. The top area of investment will be public relations and social media, which over two-thirds of marketers say provided the most ROI over the past year.

Retail media is going to be digital advertising’s “third big wave,” following search and social as “must-haves” for marketers. But some marketers are struggling with how to implement and optimize, shared Nikhil Lai, senior analyst at Forrester, during an Advertising Week session on Tuesday.

Value-based care for seniors and Medicare members helps Walmart keep pace with Walgreens and CVS.

Robert Franklin, senior vice president of ecommerce at Peloton Interactive, leads the product and technology teams to improve the shopping experience for the company’s bikes, treadmills, accessories, subscriptions, and more.

This year, we forecast that Walmart’s digital ad revenue growth will outpace Google, Meta, and even Amazon. This success is driven by updates made to Walmart’s retail media platform as well as partnerships to help advertisers activate across channels like social and connected TV. “You know [how they say] crawl, walk, run? We’re getting to that walk/run phase now where our platform is maturing,” said Rich Lehrfeld, senior vice president and general manager at Walmart Connect.

Marketers adjust goals in uncertain economy: Most senior leaders see value of social media and online video, survey shows.

Insider Intelligence spoke with Riy Edoo, senior director of product management at Pacvue, an enterprise software that works with brands, sellers, and agencies to manage their ecommerce businesses. Edoo shared insight into Pacvue’s recent partnership with Sam’s Club and the future of retail media networks.

AI is “for sure the hottest topic in the SEO space,” said Lily Ray, senior director of SEO and head of organic research at Amsive Digital. “But people are still being a little bit careful because we don't know exactly how Google is going to treat this type of content.” Here’s what marketers need to know.

Insider Intelligence spoke with Liz Hershfied, senior vice president and head of sustainability at Madewell, about how Madewell has repositioned itself to adopt sustainability into the brand’s ethos and the steps other retail companies should take to encourage sustainable shopping behaviors.

“We’re seeing some real caution—with a dose of optimism,” John Paquin, senior director, brand and media, at the Association of National Advertisers said at our EMARKETER Summit last week. “We’re seeing the number of platforms marketers are using stay flat, and for some, they’re actually reducing that number. Most are not increasing their spending and not sure if they will in the future.”.

“Even though the shift has moved away from linear into more CTV [connected TV] and streaming and viewing, the measurement capabilities of those spaces are lacking,” said Jason Trubowitz, senior vice president of media and measurement at the Association of National Advertisers. The proliferation of walled gardens and the death of the cookie aren’t helping.

Insider Intelligence spoke with Lilian Rincon, senior director of product for Shopping at Google, about the tech giant’s newest features, ranging from personalized suggestions to showcasing products in 3D.

Senior loan officers are reporting the longest stretch of elevated credit tightening since 2009. Built-up savings and boosted credit scores have helped consumers keep up with tighter lending standards, but as those effects wane, payments firms will see less incentive to market for products they’re restricting access to.

“When a company is thinking about a rebrand, you have to understand why you're doing it,” said Erinn Steffen, senior vice president, insight at Mower Agency. “Is this a strategic shift in your core offerings? Are you trying to differentiate from your competitors? Sometimes it's just about modernizing or refreshing. All of that affects how you think about it.”.

So it speaks to the power of Facebook, especially if you're trying to reach as a marketer, seniors, what was that number in 2019, 93%, so essentially anyone who was 65 and over and was using the social platform was likely only spending time on Facebook. It's dropping, it'll hit 75% of the time next year, but it really is all about Facebook still for seniors. Marcus Johnson:.

EMARKETER will soon release reports aimed at educating marketing leaders, as well as marketing agencies that work with those leaders, about how to be successful, work best with other teams and senior leadership, and meet objectives. Sources. Boathouse. Capgemini. Matter Communications. Spencer Stuart.

Senior marketers worldwide shifted their priorities from 2022 to 2023, with diversity, equity, and inclusion moving from 22% to 18%. While DEI is still a priority, the emphasis on it has eased compared with other elements like operational efficiency and data analytics.

And 28% of millennials expressed discontent, along with 33% of Gen X and 25% of baby boomers and seniors. More tweaks to credit card rewards programs will likely be around the corner to mitigate this issue and boost customer satisfaction. But issuers like American Express will need to ensure the changes aren’t too costly and are in line with what consumers actually want.

“It’s really tied back to what customers are coming to Sephora for in the first place, which is an amazing product assortment,” Emmy Brown Berlind, senior vice president and general manager of loyalty at Sephora, said during a Retail Brew webinar. “So sampling is a wonderful way for us to reward people’s loyalty.”.

Find out what’s ahead for digital ad convergence and how the current ecosystem’s challenges are driving change from industry expert Jeff Greenfield, senior vice president, buy side at WideOrbit.

In this Meet the Analyst Webinar, Ross Benes, our senior analyst, will discuss the latest trends, data, and strategies on how marketers are approaching programmatic video.

"Google, itself facing what could be its most challenging year yet, has placed a huge hurdle in front of the rest of the digital ad market with the deprecation of third-party cookies," says Insider Intelligence senior analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf. The company’s Q3 timetable for the phaseout and transition to Privacy Sandbox is one potential obstacle on the horizon.