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A new report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) highlights the importance of Display Rising Stars ads – a collection of six units that include the Billboard, Filmstrip, and Pushdown – “in giving more personality to the brand.” When I first scanned the report, I expected to see statistics about the increase in traffic drivenRead more

According to a recent study conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), 96 percent of consumers research online before making a large purchase, especially when considering a new car.  And the auto industry has taken notice, embracing digital and social platforms better than most of their colleagues in other industries. However, there’s nothing new inRead more

We’ve been discussing the pitfalls of real-time content marketing here on the Sensei blog lately. Frequently, the issues reported revolve around the “need for speed” or the marketing team’s insistence on emulating successful campaigns by other brands that have capitalized on trending news/social topics. More often than not these campaigns have failed to deliver theRead more

I’ve often said that social media is essentially a mob-in-waiting, a collection of digital avatars waiting to wage war on behalf of the armchair critics who pull their strings. This self-appointed, crowd-sourced global watch dog works well when championing social causes and shedding light on social or political injustices. However, there’s another side to theRead more

What is the ethos of your brand? Does it take an ethical stand on issues? Does it welcome and embrace responsibility to its community?  I’d argue that few do, especially in today’s climate where social media audiences are incredibly fickle and vocal minorities can control the online narrative. Taking an ethical stand in corporate messagingRead more

So, who’s done more for music, Apple or Starbucks? Interestingly, neither of the options are musicians, music producers or labels. We’ll get to that later. Apple has been credited for re-inventing – if not saving – the music industry after Napster turned the market on its ear. When peer-to-peer music sharing spawned a global undergroundRead more

Instagram, the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app, announced that it has grown to more than 150 million users who capture and share moments of their lives with the world. Every moment. Possibly too many moments. What’s even more amazing is the recent spike in adoption. Just this past February, Instagram reported 100 million monthly active-users and in theRead more

Every company is a media company. Or it should be. That’s the cry of social and content marketers today. They point to the open and direct channel that businesses have to their consumers and the wider audience that did not exist, arguably, prior to 2004 when Chris Shipley popularized the term “social media” in hisRead more

American Airlines, the embattled airline currently fighting for its life through bankruptcy protection, announced it will be updating their fleet’s look with a slick coat of silver mica paint, new tail design and an updated logo. Huh? Given the airline’s well publicized issues with computer failures, cancelled flights, safety issues and labor strife, is aRead more

As consumers, we don’t act rationally. We like to think that we make our decisions based on careful thought and rationale. But most of our decisions and actions come from our unconscious. It’s the parts of the brain that are concerned with survival and processes our emotions that really drive our decisions (note: for moreRead more