Taking stock of the video game industry in early 2021 and what it means for brands
Video games have become an integral part of mainstream culture. Since the pandemic started, many of us have resorted to video games for comfort, distracting ourselves from the terrifying news and the lockdown boredom. As a result, video games and gaming-related content are commending more audience attention than ever. According to a recent report by YPulse, 94% of 13 to 39 year-olds in the U.S. are playing video games in some capacity.
Moreover, 2020’s most popular games, including Animal Crossing, Fall Guys, and Among Us, have become reliable virtual spaces that millions regularly turn to socialize with friends when we…
What the changing motivations behind traveling mean for the future of the travel industry
Why do people travel? A question commonly asked at airport customs, “for business or pleasure?” neatly sums up the two main reasons for travel. However, with the pandemic drastically accelerating the shift towards remote work and turning every meeting into a Zoom call, many companies are starting to question the necessity of business travel. Of course, business travel won’t completely go away — in places like Australia and East Asia, domestic business trips have already tipped back up — but it may never return to its pre-pandemic level due to the diminishing cost-efficiency of international business travel.
How the accelerated shift to wearables, telemedicine, and smart home is impacting pet care
Along with sales of board games, scented candles, and sourdough yeast, another category that received a lockdown boost was pet care. Pet adoption surged during the pandemic as people who are stuck at home suddenly found the need for companionship and had the time to care for a pet, and pet care received a consequent boost. From pet foods to pet toys to pet medicines, all pet care products naturally expanded their customer base and saw an increase in average spending. …
Video is fast evolving as a medium, becoming more interactive, participatory, and versatile than ever before & unlocking new brand opportunities
Video has been an important storytelling medium for marketers, but it is also a medium that is only starting its digital metamorphosis. Different as digital video may be from its analog equivalent in terms of distribution channels and scale, video creators are only beginning to explore new formats, viewing contexts, and rules of engagement.
As video channels evolve from linear TV to digital and mobile video, and in the future to emerging channels such as AR/VR, connected cars, and eventually the metaverse, video formats are evolving in tandem to become more personalized and interactive, more social and shoppable, increasingly immersive…
Amid the rise of Clubhouse and Spotify’s aggressive moves to monetize podcasts, digital audio is at an interesting point in its quest for monetization at scale
Looking back on the past 12 months, the audio industry leaned further into streaming and subscription as the key monetization channels thanks to the pandemic. The Recording Industry Association of America recently published its 2020 report on the current state of the U.S. music industry, which found that streaming had another huge year with 15.1 million new paid subscriptions — a record number of new subscriptions created in a single year. As COVID-19 disruptions forced many people to spend more time at home and less time consuming audio in-car, the shift of audio consumption from radio to mobile streaming also…
And what retailers and brands can do in response to mitigate their impact
It is now common knowledge that the pandemic has significantly accelerated the adoption of ecommerce and related digital shopping services. U.S. ecommerce sales grew by 44% y-o-y in 2020, nearly tripling the 15.1% increase in 2019, according to the latest data from DigitalCommerce360. 25% of businesses surveyed by Software Advice in June reported having launched an ecommerce sales channel due to the pandemic. Overall, the pandemic has accelerated the shift away from physical stores to digital shopping by roughly five years, per IBM US Retail Index.
Less commonly addressed, however, are the unexpected consequences and new challenges stemming from hastened…
Exploring the potential marketing applications of non-fungible tokens
If you’ve been online these days, you’ve probably come across some incessant buzz about something called non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Lindsay Lohan and YouTuber Logan Paul both created some sort of digital collectibles based on NFTs; Post Malone teamed up with a startup called Fyooz to launch a celebrity beer pong league using NFTs; and the first NFT artwork just went on sale at major auction house Christie’s.
So what exactly is a NFT? How do they work? Why are they suddenly everywhere? …
Digital-native brands, 5G, and sustainability stood out in a year of brands trying to keep things light
On Sunday, the grand American tradition of the Super Bowl match returned to TV after a transformative year, and brought with it one of our favorite weathervanes of cultural zeitgeist — the Super Bowl ads. As with years past, they reflected brand marketers’ best guesses at where consumer interests and sentiments are landing these days and, in aggregate, pointed to some interesting market trends that all brands should keep an eye on.
The Takeover of Digital-Native Brands
Super Bowl, the crown jewel program of U.S. broadcast TV, has long provided unparalleled audience reach for brands, especially those in categories like auto, CPG, and entertainment, whose…
Clubhouse had a big moment, but its path to monetization and brand opportunities remains uncertain
Clubhouse is having a moment. Although the social audio app is not yet a year old, it has become a buzzy platform among the Silicon Valley crowd. Built around the idea of live audio-only interaction, Clubhouse enables users to broadcast their live conversations and invite live audience feedback. Instead of a central content feed, users are presented with different “rooms” to join for live discussions on various topics where they can choose to simply listen or to participate.
After raising a series B round at a staggering $1 billion valuation last month, Clubhouse scored an Elon Musk appearance on Sunday…
What brands need to know in order to effectively reach this rising high-value audience segment
As we dissected in our brand new 2021 Outlook report, the accelerated shift towards remote work is giving rise to a new class of digital nomads and forcing many knowledge workers to reckon with a broken sense of time and location in everyday life. …
Richard Yao
Manager of Strategy & Content, IPG Media Lab
