Last year marked a watershed year for digital brand advertising with factors including trust, transparency, safety, measurement, user experience, consolidation, Facebook/Google dominance and the use of data all up for debate.     

Throw in a wobbly economy, Brexit (ahem), GDPR and the welcome, but as yet un-established changes brought by the Coalition for Better Advertising, and 2018 is set to further confuse the industry and its clients.  

The need to effectively press CTRL+ALT+DEL for the long-term benefit of all concerned is real and it is now, as the brands that succeed in the new digital landscape will be those that take a step back and carefully weigh up all the influences in play.  

Brands, agencies, media owners and digital/marketing specialists have been given a final chance to enter this year’s Festival of Media Global Awards 2018 – with an extended entry deadline until Feb 15, 2018. 

With a number of significant changes to entry categories and the awards entry site, the Festival of Media Global Awards 2018 has evolved in line with the transformation of the sector.

Amongst the changes, the traditional four pillars of the awards have now been condensed into three: Media, Content, Insight & Technology. Each will have their own specialist juries made up of industry experts from around the world of agencies, media owners, advertising and tech companies and representing inclusivity.

Delhi-NCR’s premier music school Bridge Music Academy is taking a stand against racism with an integrated campaign that includes a film featuring a specially-built keyboard with no black keys.

Returning to work after maternity leave can be challenging for many new mums – regaining the art of holding an adult conversation, for example, for longer than the five minutes it takes the Tesco driver to deliver shopping, or learning to think above and beyond how many nappies you’ve changed that day.  

However, the real challenge lies in employer attitudes and the need for a mass culture shift. 

I’m one of the lucky mums who works for a marketing agency that values the important contribution we make in terms of skills, experience, commitment and loyalty. I’ve been with the business for 10 years (minus two years maternity leave) and my colleagues currently share 23 babies of various ages between them – almost half of the company.  

Is the business suffering as a result? Hardly! Revenues are increasing year on year, and we’re repeatedly winning industry awards for our work. So why don’t more employers take this approach? 

On these cold Winter days, there’s nothing worse than being stuck at a bus stop in the freezing cold as you watch every other bus on the route come and go while the countdown timer slowly ticks down for your bus to arrive…

Enter Coca-Cola.

While an ice-cold refreshing bottle of Coca-Cola is the last thing on your mind at this particular point in time, commuters in Kazakhstan might tell you different.

36% of consumers like a brand more when they run ads that break gender stereotyping and 25% are more likely to make a purchase from that brand as a result, according to some research we stumbled across from Choozle.

The findings were part of a survey looking at consumer sentiment towards brands that actively break stereotypes, the impact of ad copy versus creative with regard to consumer perception of stereotypes, how it affects purchase behaviour and whether the ad industry should be held responsible for breaking gender stereotypes.

Check out all of the key highlights in the infographic below:

A new year brings a new batch of opportunities and challenges but which trends should marketers have on their radar for 2018?

The folks at MDG Advertising have identified five big marketing trends to watch in 2018 and have pulled it all together into one handy infographic.

From micro-influencer campaigns to AI-powered efficiency and more, check out the top five below: