AI is swiftly transforming the search landscape.
As generative AI reshapes the user experience on search giants like Google and Bing and AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity gain traction with consumers, advertisers are preparing for a search landscape whose future looks markedly different than its past.
Although Google still dominates the market, early signs of fragmentation are emerging. Last year, Google’s market share dropped below 90% for the first time since 2015. While much of that volume went to established competitors like Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo, newer AI search agents are gaining ground as well, with Gartner predicting that traditional search engine volume will decline by 25% by 2026 due to chatbot-like applications. Gen AI pioneer ChatGPT is projected to claim 1% of search market share this year, and OpenAI’s SearchGPT—which is currently in beta—could further challenge Google’s supremacy.
Future fragmentation aside, the shift towards conversational interfaces on traditional search engines is already impacting organic traffic and advertising opportunities, leaving media teams questioning how to adapt. To succeed in today’s evolving search landscape and ready themselves for success in the future of search engine marketing, advertising leaders must understand how AI is reshaping user behavior and take proactive measures to evolve how their search teams operate.
AI is driving a fundamental change in how consumers search online. Historically, people have used keywords to search (ex. “Miami beachside hotel.”) But AI is spurring a shift from keyword searching to natural language conversations (ex. "Can you find me a beachside hotel in Miami with vacancy on May 23rd?”) This can be seen with the growing popularity of AI agents like ChatGPT and Perplexity, as well as in traditional search engines with features like Google’s AI overviews (AIOs).
The shift towards conversational interactions could also lead to a larger focus on voice search. Google appears to be embracing the possibility, with a recent update to its Gemini tool that allows users to engage with AI much like they would with another person—similar to how Iron Man talks to Jarvis in the Marvel movies. Manus, an AI agent that recently went viral, is another AI agent that offers advanced conversational voice interactivity, and OpenAI has offered an Advanced Voice Mode since Q3 2024.
As consumer adoption of generative AI increases in the coming years—and competition among companies providing AI-powered chatbots rises—the overall search market will likely grow increasingly fragmented. While we’ll eventually see a decline in the use of traditional search engines, we’ll likely also see a net positive engagement with generative AI-powered search engine-like queries.
Currently, the biggest AI-related change that marketers are seeing with their search performance is a drop in organic traffic from Google and other traditional search engines. Industry experts predict that AIOs could result in as much as a 60% decrease in organic traffic, and an April 2025 study found that search results featuring an AI Overview were associated with a 34.5% lower average clickthrough rate (CTR).
While Google could work to mitigate the drop off in organic traffic with future updates, the current outlook has advertisers and businesses concerned. Earlier this year, education technology company Chegg filed a lawsuit against Google, claiming that AIOs have negatively impacted the company’s traffic and revenue.
AIOs are also making brands feel like they have fewer avenues for effectively leveraging search advertising (at least for the time being). This change might push advertisers to invest more in programmatic, video, and other non-search channels.
In my conversations with brand and agency leaders, I’ve heard an equal amount of fear and excitement around how AI will change both the search landscape and digital advertising as a whole. Ensuring teams grow their AI expertise and increase their familiarity with these new tools is one way organizations can prepare for—and adapt to—the coming changes.
Marketing teams should use AI-powered targeting to continuously test and learn what resonates with target audiences in today’s evolving search environment. This tactic is growing even more important in the context of signal loss, offering a privacy-friendly way to reach target audiences on search platforms like Google and Bing, while simultaneously giving media teams hands-on experience with the machine learning-based systems that are increasingly shaping search. By leaning into these tools now, teams can build the agility and expertise they’ll need to stay competitive as search becomes increasingly AI-driven.
Nearly all (97.7%) advertising agencies are using generative AI today, with 38.6% of agency professionals using it daily and over 90% using it at least weekly. To make the most of the technology, marketing teams should actively experiment with various generative AI tools to better understand how and where they can make the campaign process more efficient and data driven.
At the same time, AI comes with risks such as inaccuracies and bias, and leaders must make sure to put the proper guardrails in place to minimize risk—particularly when it comes to generating creative content and analyzing consumer data.
Google’s Performance Max (PMax) is one of the most prominent examples of how AI is shaping the future of advertising, particularly when it comes to using generative AI to create ads. For instance, within PMax, an advertiser can upload a picture of their product and tell PMax to generate an image of that product on a beach at sunset. PMax will then spit out four variations of that basic image for use in an ensuing campaign. There are some enormous time- and cost-efficiency benefits to this: Advertisers can cut thousands of dollars that would typically be spent on production and go to market much more quickly. They can even download that asset and use it on other channels for greater creative continuity.
While advertisers may not love the levels of control and transparency offered by PMax, using it to test and learn will help marketing teams gain expertise with AI-driven systems and better understand their benefits and drawbacks.
The shift to AI overviews and resulting decline in organic traffic doesn’t mean that brands should deprioritize their SEO efforts. Brands that continue to invest in SEO will be better positioned to have their content featured as a source in Google’s AI overviews, which often include clickable links that drive traffic back to a brand’s site.
However, knowing that Google’s AIOs are driving a drop in clickthrough rate, as well as allowing more relevant—but often lesser ranked—listings to drive answers, marketing teams should also develop a separate strategy for appearing in AIOs. This strategy should focus on optimizing content not just to appear as a direct answer, but also to address potential follow-up questions and offer context, rationale, and detailed information about the products or services being promoted.
One of the greatest benefits that AI offers advertisers is its ability to quickly process and analyze huge amounts of data. As the technology develops, data-related insights will become more widely available, and businesses will need the infrastructure and the know-how to use those insights effectively.
Data-driven cultures prioritize using data to guide decision-making—and invest time, energy, and money into the people, processes, and tools that make it possible. For leaders, this might mean improving data quality and consolidation workflows, conducting audits of all existing data sources (e.g., social media, website analytics, customer surveys, etc.), or investing in a CDP to better capitalize on first-party data.
By investing in AI-powered tools, data-facing teams will be able to generate new insights, improve accuracy, and automate tasks. And because they’ll be using AI for data-related tasks, teams will likely grow increasingly comfortable with these kinds of tools, which will make it easier for organizations to leverage additional AI-powered solutions as they emerge.
With 67% of marketing and business professionals reporting that a lack of education and training is the top barrier to AI adoption, it’s clear that empowering teams with continuing AI education should be a priority for leaders. This is especially true given how rapidly AI is evolving, and how quickly new tools are coming to market. By partnering with vendors or consultants for tailored workshops, creating AI-focused knowledge-sharing forums, and investing in training and education platforms, advertising leaders can grow teams whose AI expertise gives them an edge over their competitors. Advertising leaders should also work to upskill their teams by prioritizing AI-related skills when hiring new employees.
Lastly, leaders should aim to stay on top of news related to how search engines are changing, monitor what new AI-driven advertising opportunities are available, and pay attention to what successes and failures their peers are having with artificial intelligence tools.
In particular, leaders must stay attuned to the potential challenges and pitfalls posed by artificial intelligence. 100% of marketers agree that generative AI presents a brand safety and misinformation risk. A hallucinating AI chatbot, for example, can make up fake “facts” and generate misinformation that can be difficult for content moderation tools to spot, and the resulting content can represent a threat to brand safety.
There are also many unanswered questions related to AI-generated content and copyright infringement—from the legality of chatbots being trained on unlicensed content, to questions around who owns AI-generated media. In the short term, be sure to keep an eye on how the regulatory landscape develops. While we don’t know exactly how governments will legislate the use of these technologies, it’s all but certain that they will eventually take regulatory action, and staying updated on those developments will be critical.
The quickly evolving search landscape asks a lot of marketing and advertising leaders. Advertisers will need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable in the coming years as artificial intelligence moves the industry towards an uncertain future. Teams that use AI to test and learn, grow data driven cultures, and stay learning will have a leg up on those who are less proactive about adapting to how AI is changing search.
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Want to learn more about how your peers are leveraging AI? We surveyed marketing professionals across brands, agencies, and publishers to find out what tasks marketing teams are using AI for, how AI tools are impacting efficiency, how they predict AI will transform the future of marketing, and more. Check out AI and the Future of Marketing for all the findings.
Advertising agencies are experiencing a period of extraordinary transformation, caught between rising client expectations, mounting operational pressures, and revolutionary technological opportunities. To better understand the industry’s greatest obstacles and opportunities, Basis conducted a comprehensive survey of 100s of professionals at leading advertising agencies. The findings offer a window into the brewing challenges, strategic priorities, and future outlook shaping the agency landscape.
Our 2025 Advertising Agency Report explores those findings while providing agency leaders with actionable, data-driven insights to navigate this changing environment and position themselves for sustainable growth in the years ahead.
Here are some of the key findings from the report:
To get more insights into the state of advertising agencies, as well as an in-depth look at key takeaways and strategic opportunities based on the findings, download the full report today.
Advertising agencies are facing mounting pressure from all directions.
Economic volatility and decreased consumer spending are pushing marketers to make their budgets go further. Signal loss and privacy regulations are complicating the task of effectively reaching and engaging audiences. And, brand safety concerns are skyrocketing, driven by content moderation rollbacks on social media platforms, the proliferation of AI-generated mis- and disinformation, and low-quality content like made-for-advertising sites (MFAs) increasing across the open web. Clients are demanding greater transparency in everything from reporting to fees, putting additional strain on agency-client relationships. On top of it all, the digital media landscape is increasingly fragmented, and tech stack sprawl and siloed systems are making it harder to work in a connected, streamlined way.
In this context, it’s no wonder a growing majority of agency professionals agree that digital advertising has gotten harder over the last two years.
Though the challenges facing agencies are varied, inefficiency is a common thread either driving or aggravating many of them—indeed, agency leaders rank inefficient processes as the most pressing issue facing their businesses today. As such, by working to improve efficiency, agency leaders can make significant progress towards alleviating some of their biggest problems. Specifically, unifying data and embracing automation will allow agencies to work faster, drive better performance, and strengthen their relationships with clients.
Tech sprawl is at the heart of agencies’ efficiency problem. More than half of agency professionals say they now rely on eight or more tools to manage client campaigns, and 40% are juggling 10 or more. Teams are increasingly weighed down by fragmented systems and inefficient workflows, forcing marketers to operate in silos or waste valuable hours reconciling data manually.
The issue is further compounded by the fact that media fragmentation is at an all-time high. In fact, agency leaders rank siloed and disconnected systems as the second-most pressing challenge facing their organizations today. Without a unified view of performance, real-time optimization becomes inefficient and difficult, limiting agencies’ abilities to drive meaningful results.
Adding to the challenge, half of marketers agree that martech is complicated and difficult to use, and 63% of martech leaders say marketing teams lack the technical skills to successfully implement and use their tech stacks. These inefficiencies create operational bottlenecks that ultimately impact both agency performance and client satisfaction.
Finally, AI in advertising adds a new and often complicated layer to agency operations. While AI presents powerful opportunities to drive revenue, adding new AI tools to a tech stack can also increase the complexity of workflows. Without thoughtful implementation, proper training, and quality data, AI can contribute to inefficiencies rather than resolve them.
Unifying data and having a single source of truth should be a key priority for agency leaders in 2025. Centralizing data enables teams to deliver strategic recommendations that drive performance and craft compelling performance narratives for clients, rather than spending time pulling data from many different sources and attempting to unify it manually, which inevitably leads to errors.
Unifying data doesn’t necessarily mean overhauling entire tech stacks or tossing existing tools out the window, but rather finding solutions that bring existing systems together to ensure visibility, efficiency, and smarter decision making. With such solutions, teams can access real-time insights in a centralized dashboard—rather than spending hours pulling reports and reconciling data—allowing them to make faster, data-driven decisions. Unified reporting also empowers agencies to tell powerful performance stories with greater confidence, reinforcing their value and strengthening client relationships in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Additionally, a strong data foundation can help agencies to better harness AI. Right now, 58% of ad industry professionals say data quality or accessibility issues are a challenge for adopting AI in their media campaigns. Agency leaders that prioritize unifying their company’s data now will be better positioned to integrate AI-driven efficiencies and maintain a competitive edge in the evolving media landscape.
Even with a strong data foundation, agencies can lose valuable time to inefficient processes. Many teams still rely on manual reporting, campaign management, and optimization—practices that not only waste time but also increase the risk of errors. Media fragmentation compounds the issue, forcing teams to toggle between multiple platforms to pull performance insights, manually adjust bids across different channels, and use spreadsheets to reconcile data from various sources to create client reports.
Automation software addresses such inefficiencies by streamlining workflows and eliminating redundant tasks across the campaign life cycle. In reducing operational inefficiencies, automation frees up agency teams to focus on higher-value strategic work, which in turn drives stronger performance and strengthens client relationships. It makes sense, then, that 77.8% of agency professionals say their organization has plans to invest in tech to automate or streamline processes, and over a third of marketing decision-makers say the type of martech they plan to invest in the most over the next 12 months is marketing automation technology.
In an increasingly fragmented and complex digital landscape, agency leaders that focus on reducing inefficiencies by unifying their data and streamlining their operations will maintain a competitive edge. By embracing these strategies, agencies can ensure ad dollars are maximized and operations run smoothly. In turn, this will allow agencies to deliver stronger results, strengthen client relationships, and drive revenue in today’s ever-evolving digital advertising ecosystem.
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Want to learn more about how advertising agencies are navigating today’s complex digital media landscape? We surveyed professionals from agencies across the US to gather their insights on agency performance, industry trends, key challenges and opportunities, the impact of AI, and the future of agencies. Dive into the full findings in our 2025 Advertising Agency Report.
2025 is shaping up to be a critical year for advertising agencies.
Agencies are experiencing a period of extraordinary transformation, caught between rising client expectations, mounting operational pressures, and revolutionary technological opportunities. To better understand the industry’s greatest obstacles and opportunities, we conducted a comprehensive survey of 100s of professionals at leading advertising agencies. The findings offer a window into the brewing challenges, strategic priorities, and future outlook shaping the agency landscape. This report explores those findings while providing agency leaders with actionable, data-driven insights to navigate this changing landscape and position themselves for sustainable growth in the years ahead.
Select findings include:
Download the full report today to get more insights into the state of advertising agencies, as well as key takeaways and strategic opportunities based on the findings.
In the fast-evolving world of programmatic media and adtech, staying informed is key to advertising success. In this episode, U of Digital Founder Shiv Gupta joins host Noor Naseer to discuss how advertisers need sources of credible information to build sound adtech perspective.
Gupta explores how education can help advertisers adapt to rapid industry evolutions, from AI-driven programmatic advertising to evolving privacy regulations. This episode equips advertisers with the mindset shift needed to stay competitive as changes like these redefine the advertising ecosystem.
How a premium tourism board leveraged expert strategy and advanced automation to maximize reach, engagement, and visitor growth.
THE CHALLENGE
A premier tourism board aimed to position its destination as a top choice for year-round travelers, driving high-value website traffic while maintaining cost-efficient media spend and engagement. However, a competitive travel landscape required a more sophisticated strategy to:
Without a strategic and data-driven approach, the organization risked missing valuable travelers and overspending on inefficient ad placements. To succeed, the organization required media operations and tourism marketing experts to guide strategy, activate campaigns, and deliver measurable results.
THE SOLUTION
Basis’ media experts designed and activated a high-impact media strategy, ensuring every media dollar drove measurable results.
Multi-Channel Media Activation
A tailored programmatic strategy used display retargeting, contextual targeting, high-impact HTML5 creatives, and premium video placements (CTV, OLV, PMP) to maximize reach and engagement.
AI-Powered Optimization & Automation
Automated bidding strategies and real-time performance monitoring ensured cost-efficient conversions and maximized campaign effectiveness.
Strategic Audience Targeting
By focusing on priority markets and excluding local audiences within a 100-mile radius, the campaign engaged adventure seekers, outdoor enthusiasts, and family travelers most likely to visit.
Seamless Media Operations & Performance Tracking
A dedicated team managed campaign activation, analysis, and refinements, enabling faster insights and better decision-making.
LASTING RESULTS
With over two years of partnership and $1M in annual media spend, Basis has fueled tourism growth through expert strategy and programmatic activation—driving stronger engagement, economic impact, and visitor activity:
Brands and agencies are bracing for economic turbulence.
Amidst the Trump Administration’s shifting tariff announcements, budget reallocations, massive federal layoffs, and other emerging economic policies, global ad spend forecasts have been reduced by nearly a full percentage point. Consumer spending is also slowing due to economic concerns, with consumer sentiment declining for the third consecutive month in March—and down 27% year-over-year.
Unfortunately, this uncertainly appears likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Rather than waiting for stability, brands and agencies must take proactive steps to ensure their media investments remain efficient and effective in a shifting landscape. To help advertising leaders stay ahead, Basis experts outlined the following recommendations for navigating the current landscape:
“The most challenging thing for advertising leaders right now is the uncertainty,” says Grace Briscoe, EVP of Client Development at Basis. While leaders can’t predict exactly how this uncertainty will pan out, they can mitigate risk by analyzing potential economic conditions and preparing strategic responses in advance.
“In times of uncertainty and economic downturns, we know that advertising and marketing budgets are a line item that can be cut quickly,” says April Weeks, Chief Investment and Media Officer at Basis. “Forward thinking brands and agencies are assessing the potential outcomes of today’s economic uncertainty and planning strategically for success in each one.”
Scenario planning can help businesses respond more swiftly when the economy takes a clearer direction. Leaders should reflect on past economic downturns, analyze the strategies they used during those periods, assess their effectiveness with historical data, and apply those insights to prepare for varying degrees of future economic challenges and ensure the highest likelihood of success.
“There’s a lot of appetite for visibility into how media dollars are invested and for using that knowledge to optimize spending,” notes Briscoe. This was true even before economic volatility became a concern, as transparency has long been a point of tension between agencies and brands.
During an economic downturn, stakeholders’ already high demand for transparency will only intensify. If advertising budgets shrink, marketing leaders will need robust, reliable reporting systems to help demonstrate the impact of their spend and, when necessary, advocate for more investment.
“In times of economic uncertainty, it’s critical to be able to show that marketing isn’t a cost center, but rather a revenue-generating asset,” says Weeks.
For agency leaders, staying tightly aligned with clients on KPIs and leveraging historical data to communicate the potential impacts of budget cuts across specific channels or platforms will be key to serving as effective strategic partners to their clients.
Amidst economic volatility, it’s especially important for brands and agencies to keep tabs on the competitive landscape specific to their sectors. In particular, marketing teams should keep a pulse on how their competitors are reacting to economic conditions.
“Especially when it comes to things like discounts and limited time offers, advertisers should be ready to match competitors or implement alternative strategies to protect their brand or client,” says Weeks.
One clear insight has emerged throughout economic downturns over the past century: Brands that continue spending fare better and recover more quickly than those who don’t.
“Pulling back on advertising in a time when a lot of other brands are taking that approach isn’t necessarily the best strategy,” says Katie McAdams, Chief Marketing Officer at Basis.
When businesses scale back on advertising, they reduce brand awareness—the financial impacts of which may not be immediately apparent, but will be felt over time.
“Branding and revenue are intrinsically linked. When we’ve heavied up on brand awareness tactics, we’ve seen performance metrics like lead flow spike,” says McAdams. “That, in turn, drives other key metrics like revenue growth and the expansion of new customer bases. When marketing teams pull back on brand awareness efforts, those metrics inevitably decline.” This relationship between brand awareness and performance has been observed beyond the B2B sector as well.
In the face of economic volatility, advertisers should reevaluate the tone of their communications. During these periods, consumers are often more stressed and more deliberate about their spending decisions, making sensitivity in marketing communications crucial.
“You want to be sensitive to what is happening and how it’s impacting people,” says McAdams. “It’s essential to stay aware and listen, as even a poorly chosen word or phrase could alienate your audience.”
To avoid this, McAdams emphasizes the importance of robust internal review processes. “Getting multiple perspectives on marketing and advertising materials before they go live helps ensure messaging stays relevant and resonates with audiences.”
Economic uncertainty presents challenges, but there are ways for advertising leaders to get ahead by taking a proactive approach. Scenario planning, prioritizing transparency, tracking competitors, learning from past downturns, and keeping an eye on tone can are key to navigating the current landscape with confidence.
Automation and data-driven strategies drove $4.6M in revenue and a $23 ROAS, showcasing the power of precision-driven digital marketing.
THE CHALLENGE
A Fortune 500 medical technology leader sought to enhance its digital marketing strategy with a data-driven approach to:
The company needed a strategic partner to execute and refine its media strategy to achieve these goals.
THE SOLUTION
As the company’s partner since December 2020, Basis implemented a sophisticated, technology-powered approach to digital media activation. Our strategy included:
Comprehensive Cross-Channel Media Activation
Leveraging search, social, digital out-of-home (DOOH), programmatic display, video, connected TV (CTV), and audio streaming to reach and engage key healthcare professionals.
Advanced Analytics & Optimization
Delivering real-time performance insights through custom dashboards, allowing for ongoing optimization and agile media adjustments.
Audience Targeting & Data Activation
Partnering with LiveRamp and TransUnion to activate the company's first-party data and supplementing it with third-party insights for precise job title and industry targeting.
Seamless Ad Operations & Automation
Utilizing Basis Technologies’ automation tools to streamline ad trafficking, pacing, creative QA, and billing.
LASTING RESULTS
Across all campaigns, Basis’ data-driven approach and automation tools delivered exceptional business results:
$23 ROAS achieved in the-commerce campaign, showcasing highly efficient ad spend.
1,770 qualified leads generated through Always On campaigns, ensuring a strong pipeline of potential customers.
$4.6 million in combined tracked and closed revenue, reinforcing Basis’ ability to drive tangible business outcomes.
Team Wins:
Digital advertising has long promised relevance through data. As the industry has grown more sophisticated, the wealth of available data has allowed teams to craft increasingly personalized messages, pinpoint the ideal individuals to deliver those messages to, and measure the results of their efforts.
But as privacy regulations tighten, signal loss accelerates, and consumers continue to push back on tactics perceived as invasive, the industry is evolving to prioritize privacy. At the same time, with access to some kinds of data growing more restricted, advertisers are rethinking how they deliver relevance at scale. In this context, community-based marketing approaches are gaining momentum, offering ways to engage meaningfully with consumers while staying ahead of the shifting data landscape.
Taking a community-centric approach to marketing can include identifying and targeting a specific group based on a shared identity (i.e., sports fans, pet lovers, or gardeners)—rather than hyper-personalizing ads based on more sensitive personal information. It can also mean building a sense of community among groups of consumers, whether that be in person or online. Through both approaches, marketing teams can forge meaningful connections with target audiences and deliver personalized messages in ways that respect individual privacy and meet evolving data privacy standards.
In many ways, community-based marketing represents a return to advertising’s roots, where community played a central role in shaping brand perception and consumer behavior. From iconic campaigns tied to sports fandoms, regional culinary pride, or social movements, brands have long sought relevance through shared identity. Today, advertisers can layer in modern data signals to these approaches, enhancing the precision of such strategies while respecting consumer privacy.
Personalization in digital advertising is no longer as simple as it used to be, particularly as the industry contends with the growing challenges of signal loss and consumer privacy demands. A staggering 95% of data and advertising leaders across brands, agencies, and publishers predict continued signal loss and privacy-focused legislation in the coming years, and almost 90% of ad buyers say they are reorganizing their personalization tactics, ad spend, and data mix to adapt to increased regulation and signal loss.
At the same time, consumers are more resistant to hyper-targeted ads than advertisers may expect. Over half have occasionally thought, “Who approved this?” when coming across targeted ads, and many say they are uncomfortable with how much personal data companies have and feel that companies overdo prepurchase personalization. Even more, 62% of consumers say they object to ads based on sensitive personal data, and nearly half feel they’ve been targeted by an ad that offensively stereotypes them. These sentiments are forcing marketers to reconsider their approaches and rethink how they engage audiences without crossing privacy boundaries.
In today’s privacy-centric digital landscape, brands and advertisers are discovering (or, more aptly, rediscovering) that engaging audiences through shared values, experiences, and interests is an effective way to build connections—without compromising privacy.
“We’re seeing brands embrace this idea of connecting with communities and also fostering community with their own consumer base,” says Susan Mandell, VP of Brand Development at Basis. “When brands align with communities, consumers don’t just buy into the product—they also buy into a shared identity and sense of belonging.” While this idea isn’t new, the vast amount of data available to marketing teams today allows these community-driven strategies to be more precise and effective.
A financial services company, for example, could use first-party data to segment customers with a shared interest, such as retirement planning. Beyond delivering personalized tools and messaging based on that shared financial goal, the brand could foster deeper engagement by offering spaces for these individuals to connect, ask questions, and share tips, such as through an online forum or members-only webinars. By taking such an approach, the brand isn’t just targeting individuals based on a data point, but rather cultivating a sense of belonging around a shared need.
Alternatively, a local retail brand could use customer data or media placements like digital out-of-home (DOOH) to connect with a geographically defined community: people who live nearby, work in the area, or regularly visit the store. By offering this local community special benefits and experiences—such as a local loyalty program or neighborhood events—the brand can help foster a sense of community, build brand loyalty, and ensure their messaging resonates with local audiences.
For community-based media strategies to work, brands must start by thinking about who they are, what they stand for, and which communities it makes the most sense to show up in and connect with.
“We’re in a moment where smart brands are really thinking about their personality, persona, and core values, and then translating that to the communities they want to connect with, either tangibly or in an aspirational way,” says Mandell.
From there, marketing teams can layer on the right tools, tactics, and partnerships to bring those strategies to life:
Research where communities are already spending time and find opportunities to reach them in key moments of impact across multiple channels. For instance, advertisers might use CTV to connect with avid sports fans cheering on their home team, then reinforce that message through social content tied to influencer-led fan groups or DOOH placements around the stadium. Podcasts can deepen connections with listeners who share a specific passion, while social media can extend that engagement with interactive content or community conversations. And location-based media—like DOOH highlighting iconic regional drinks or local college loyalty—can work alongside geofenced digital campaigns to reflect the identity and culture of the community being reached.
Move away from third-party data dependency and toward first-party data unification and enrichment. Seek out partners that make it easy to collect, store, and integrate disparate data sources—such as website interactions, loyalty programs, and commerce platforms—into a single, privacy-safe environment. A unified view helps brands and marketers better understand the communities they connect with, allowing them to activate more relevant, privacy-friendly media strategies.
Focus on values-driven storytelling and community moments over hyper-targeted, one-to-one messaging. When creative speaks to a shared identity—whether it’s a commitment to sustainability, pride in a hometown, or a shared love of gaming—it builds emotional connection and trust. Meaningful messaging should reflect the real-life aspirations, interests, and values of a community, not just assumptions based on demographics.
As personalization changes amidst increasing signal loss and heightened consumer demand for data privacy, community is emerging as a powerful lever for building long-term brand connection—particularly since marketing teams can leverage data in privacy-friendly ways to better understand where and how people come together around shared passions and target them, as communities, more effectively.
By leaning into relevance, resonance, and real connections through community, marketers can elevate personalization in a way that feels more human and more durable in a privacy-first digital environment. This approach helps build trust, cultivate long-term loyalty, and create deeper emotional connections that ultimately lead to stronger brand performance in a rapidly evolving, increasingly competitive market.
