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GA4: Unraveling the New World of Google Analytics

| Mike O'Brien

The digital landscape has experienced a seismic shift with the recent sunset of Google Universal Analytics (UA) in favor of Google Analytics 4 or GA4, introduced in 2020. As of July 1, Google stopped processing data through UA, creating a forced migration. Ben Hardt, VP of business intelligence and innovation at X Agency, walks us through the changes and the impact on marketers.

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Your 2024 Back-to-School Campaign Planning: Too Soon? Nope

| Karla Crawford Kerr

The back-to-school shopping rush is hectic for retailers, ranking just behind the holiday season on the marketing calendar. But now that kids in grades K-12 have returned to class and college students are heading back to campus, it’s time to start planning your back-to-school 2024 marketing campaign. Too soon? Not if you want to make the most of a huge opportunity.

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The Future of E-Merchandising: AI and Personalization

| Sam Parnell

The world of e-merchandising, i.e., the art of presenting products and services in an enticing and captivating way online, has evolved significantly over time. Now, the profound impact of significant AI advancements on the future of e-merchandising is becoming increasingly evident. However, data inputs need to be sufficient to realize meaningful insights and harness the power of AI.

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Retail Media Networks Buyer’s Guide Released by IAB

| Mike O'Brien

Given the explosion in retail media networks, and the vast potential of their rich first-party data insights, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released a buyer’s guide that explains the market and the players, helping brand advertisers more intelligently build media planning and buying strategies. Kroger and Walmart talk about the power of data science in their media networks.

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Generative AI Magic Happens on the Back End

| Darren Guarnaccia

Before brands can invite consumers to create magic like generative AI-based campaigns from icons like Coca Cola and Google, brands need an effective, flexible system that supports the experiences, such as a composable architecture, not a monolithic, legacy platform.

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Retail Media Networks: 5 Ways to Unlock Brand-Building Power

| Kevin Dunn

With advertisers projected to spend upwards of $45 billion on retail media this year, launching a retail media network makes a lot of sense. However, it requires careful planning and execution amid a crowded marketplace. Here are five key steps you can take to establish a retail media network that drives transformational growth for your business.

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7 Steps to Meeting Ecommerce Marketing Objectives

| Darwin Liu

Can ecommerce marketing campaigns really fail by something as mundane as failing to set the right objectives? Yes, they can, and sadly, they often do. Just as professional athletes cannot achieve a desired level of performance by simply starting to run and seeing how fast they can improve, ecommerce marketers need to unpack what drives success and apply their own build-backwards methodology.

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Retail Media and the Optimization Opportunity

| Skye Frontier

Retail media has grown under a confluence of factors which make measurement very difficult. This is mainly because both the ad nd sale take place within walled gardens. But if poor performing campaigns can be identified quickly, and dollars reallocated, brands can generate significant incremental sales with the same working budget. 

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Gap Inc. Exits Retail Media to Focus on Other B2B Areas

| Mike O'Brien

A year after its launch, Gap Inc. has decided to exit its retail media and advertising business, in order to focus more time and investment on its B2B logistics services and custom apparel, as it faced competition from major retailers whose media networks held more appeal for brands.

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TikTok Search Ads: The Monetization Unlock

| Emily Smith

The stratospheric growth in TikTok’s user base has arguably been the biggest cultural shift in media consumption for the last decade. It’s no surprise then that brands have jumped at the advertising opportunity to drive traffic and sales. TikTok search ads, now in beta, represent a significant opportunity but require some strategic thinking.