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Navigating a Shifting Landscape in 2025 and Beyond
As the Trump Administration settles into the White House in 2025, the digital advertising industry stands at a crossroads. After years of rising regulatory scrutiny and growing concern around consumer privacy, the industry now faces a dramatically different political environment—one that promises less scrutiny and diminished federal oversight but, simultaneously, comes with new risks and uncertainty.
For advertising agencies and in-house marketing teams, this shifting landscape presents both significant opportunities and complex challenges, all of which will require strategic foresight and operational agility.
Here, we’ll explore and analyze how the new administration’s policies and priorities are likely to impact the digital advertising ecosystem, examining how expected shifts in regulatory approaches, market dynamics, technological innovation, and brand positioning will reshape marketing in an increasingly polarized world.
The Trump Administration’s return signals a radical realignment in the relationship between Washington and Silicon Valley. Unlike the Biden Administration’s aggressive antitrust actions and regulatory initiatives, the new regime is taking a broad deregulatory approach that, in turn, is expected to deliver benefits to major technology platforms and providers.
This reset, already evident in early administration signals, will likely come with several significant implications for the advertising industry:
“At a high level, I think this administration is going to be much more industry-friendly and focused on removing restrictions, so we’ll likely see some deregulation,” says Derek Zolner, General Counsel at Basis. “With Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook and, of course, Elon Musk all donating to the Inauguration and cozying up to Trump, I think we could see some preferred treatment of the tech industry in general, which should also carry over to the ad tech space.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean the prospects of federal-level privacy regulation are completely dead. Industry coalitions, including the US Chamber of Commerce, have encouraged Republican lawmakers to introduce and pass a national privacy framework that establishes “a uniform privacy standard” for the United States. The theoretical legislation would likely have similar protections to those found in the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, but fall short of stricter regulations like those in the CPRA. And, perhaps most notably, it would supersede any existing state-level regulations, effectively neutering laws like those in California, Colorado, Connecticut, and Virginia. The odds of such a bill becoming a law are still fairly long, but it does merit monitoring in the coming months.
In the meantime, for digital advertisers, this regulatory recalibration creates some breathing room after years of increased expectations and growing compliance challenges. However, it simultaneously raises the stakes for responsible self-governance, which will be essential to keeping consumer trust in an era where the public’s distrust around data privacy (and broader institutional skepticism) are on the rise. Industry leaders should view this not as an opportunity to revert to problematic practices, but rather to establish meaningful and durable self-regulatory frameworks that can satisfy consumers and weather any potential future political changes.
As federal oversight recedes, state-level regulation will increasingly fill the void, creating a complex patchwork of compliance requirements that may prove more challenging than unified federal standards.
California’s role as a leader in this space will almost certainly continue, and the CPRA’s expanded requirements may even inspire similar legislation in other Democratic-led states, creating an uneven regulatory map that further complicates advertisers’ efforts to reach audiences. “I could see the states that still have blue administrations—California leading among them—still taking very active roles on the privacy front,” says Zolner. “So privacy isn’t going to just ‘go away’ as a concern.”
The implication for advertisers is clear: National (or global) campaigns will need to navigate multiple regulatory standards simultaneously, taking the patchwork of legislation into account when crafting media plans that go beyond any single state’s border. This will require advertisers to continue developing modular approaches to data collection, targeting, and measurement that can adapt to varying compliance requirements across jurisdictions. Forward-thinking agencies and marketing teams will need to embrace technology that allows them to efficiently scale complex campaigns, while also building or onboarding compliance systems that are capable of applying different standards to different audience segments based on geography.
Of course, the impact of the Trump Administration on the advertising industry will extend beyond regulation.
The White House’s emerging economic policies—particularly around international trade, tariffs, and industrial policy—may introduce significant uncertainty into business planning cycles, with cascading effects for advertising budgets and strategies.
New or expanded tariffs could throw global supply chains into disarray, affecting product availability, spiking pricing, and disrupting promotional calendars for advertisers across multiple sectors. And potential tax cuts, paired with dramatic reductions in federal spending, could boost short-term consumer confidence…or, alternatively, create yet more longer-term economic volatility, further complicating media investment planning.
If the changes lead to a downward drift in consumer spending or bring volatility to the stock market, companies may come (as they often do) for marketing budgets, forcing leaders to grapple with increased pressure to demonstrate immediate ROI as businesses adjust to economic uncertainties. One potential result: a renewed focus on performance media over brand building, shifting away from the brandformance trend of the past few years.
In this type of uncertain environment, advertisers will increasingly depend upon advertising approaches and technology that allow them to rapidly adapt to changing market conditions. Future-friendly strategies could include:
The brands that thrive in the coming years will be those that embrace technology that provides a unified look at all of their campaigns and data across all channels and platforms, automation to more seamlessly integrate those solutions, and AI to identify and capitalize upon granular performance details. In doing so, those advertisers can pivot more quickly and effectively toward winning tactics, developing what might be thought of as “strategic reflexes”—or predetermined response patterns that can be activated quickly when economic conditions shift.
The Trump Administration’s pronounced pro-AI stance—paired with extraordinary private sector investment in the technology and reduced fear among marketers regarding AI’s societal and industry impacts—will converge to dramatically accelerate adoption across the advertising ecosystem.
Here are a few of the positives marketers can anticipate in the coming years:
For advertising professionals, this acceleration presents transformative opportunities. Unfortunately, it also comes with serious risks and somber ethical considerations. The rising adoption and sophistication of AI, coupled with fewer guardrails and a proliferation of synthetic content, will almost certainly lead to a corresponding spike in AI-generated misinformation, hate speech, and MFA-esque content and websites. Altogether, it could create unprecedented brand safety challenges, as deepfakes and AI-generated misinformation become increasingly indistinguishable from authentic content, making it all the more essential for advertisers to adopt robust brand safety and ad fraud protections and to cultivate connections with trustworthy, premium publishers.
In the absence of regulatory guidance, brands and agencies should prioritize the establishment of specific internal ethical frameworks for AI usage. Marketing leaders must develop their own principles for the responsible use of AI in customer targeting, messaging, engagement, and measurement—considering not just what is technically possible, but what maintains consumer trust.
“You will always have some players in the market that are willing to walk up as close to the line of what's either legally or self-regulatorily acceptable, because they see extra margin there,” says Zolner. “But ultimately, success depends upon the health of the industry and the individual businesses, and it’s always better to not be a target for public anger.”
While perhaps not as immediately visible or prevalent as during President Trump’s previous term, political polarization remains high across the US, and it's expected to further intensify under the new administration. Additionally, the White House, Republican attorneys general, and conservative activists around the US have made their displeasure known by explicitly targeting companies that openly embrace and promote policies like DEI and LGBTQIA+ inclusivity.
In this charged environment, brands could face heightened risks when engaging with social issues or political topics. Consequently, we are likely to witness a significant corporate retreat from public positions on controversial matters.
Many brands—including Target, Meta, Walmart, McDonald’s, and others—have begun to pivot away from some of the purpose-driven positioning and internal policies they had adopted (or highlighted) in recent years. In turn, diversity-focused advertising efforts could see a corresponding downward cycle. For most brands (save historical outliers like Nike or Patagonia), cause-based marketing efforts will likely shift away from politically charged topics and toward less controversial issues. Meanwhile, those companies that do maintain more progressive or inclusive internal policies are likely to communicate those policies less prominently toward external audiences, instead embracing a more neutral public position in the hopes of avoiding consumer controversy and governmental wrath.
For marketing and advertising professionals, this environment requires more sophisticated and nuanced approaches to positioning and issues management, and should prompt brands to pursue a firmer grounding in authenticity and company values rather than trend-hopping, clout chasing, or virtue signaling.
To ensure consistent strategic alignment, leaders should craft and adopt clearly articulated internal frameworks that identify which issues align with core values, and which fall outside their legitimate scope. From a paid media perspective, advertisers can focus on both tailored messaging and refined targeting efforts to facilitate more granular audience segmentation, which can enable brands to communicate different aspects of their values to different consumer groups.
Of course, even for those brands that try to stay apolitical, there is always a risk of unexpected backlash. In today’s hyper-charged political environment, even seemingly innocuous campaigns have the potential to trigger a significant response, so advanced preparation and robust crisis response capabilities could prove essential.
In all, the most successful brands will not chase every social trend, but neither will they remain entirely silent. Instead, marketers should identify specific issues that are closely aligned with their core business and stakeholder interests and strategically evaluate where they can make authentic contributions.
Perhaps the greatest immediate concern for marketers in this new political era is brand safety. With content moderation standards beginning to loosen across major platforms and AI enabling more prevalent and sophisticated forms of harmful content, brand safety challenges could intensify dramatically in the years ahead.
These mounting risks to brand safety have already begun. Meta began the year by joining Musk’s X in ending its fact-checking program on Facebook and Instagram, instead turning to “Community Notes” for content moderation. It also updated its Hateful Content guidelines to allow users to post controversial and/or offensive content that was previously banned, including “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation,” and granting tacit approval to posts referring to “women as household objects or property” or “transgender or non-binary people as ‘it.’”
Then there’s the problem of AI-powered disinformation, as synthetic content creates unprecedented challenges in distinguishing between legitimate publishers/real users and bad actors. Research indicates that marketing and advertising professionals have already universally acknowledged and accepted AI’s brand safety risks, and those concerns will only intensify over the course of this new presidential term.
In the end, brand safety is not merely about avoiding reputational damage, but about fundamentally maintaining consumer trust in fragmented information environments. As such, marketing and advertising leaders will need to exercise caution and take proactive measure to navigate this challenging environment.
With different platforms taking different approaches to content moderation, advertisers need to deliberately evaluate and strategize around their use of individual social platforms for specific campaigns and audiences, leveraging any and all brand safety tools while doing so. Additionally, rather than relying solely on those platform standards, brands must also articulate their own definitions of acceptable adjacent content, developing proprietary brand safety frameworks to help avoid undesired context and uninvited controversy.
Sophisticated brand safety and ad fraud tools will become increasingly essential, while AI-powered contextual targeting will help advertisers implement their more nuanced strategies and avoid non-suitable content. Lastly, the premium inventory and curation trend that began in 2024 will remain a hot topic, as direct relationships with vetted publishers provide advertisers with a much-desired safe harbor in a chaotic content sea.
As the industry navigates the shifts brought on by the new Trump Administration, several strategic imperatives have begun to emerge for advertising agencies and in-house marketing teams:
In this environment of growing complexity and diminished federal oversight, industry leaders will need to carefully evaluate their tech stacks, their talent, and their internal frameworks to increase their likelihood of success and achieve marketing goals. Those who view the moment as an opportunity to establish more durable and responsible approaches to marketing—rather than an excuse to revert to problematic practices and exploit regulatory openings—will be in the best position to succeed over the long term, and to build lasting competitive advantages.
After all, while a successful campaign can deliver short-term value, consumer trust remains the industry’s most valuable and vulnerable asset—regardless of which party controls Washington.
As the Trump Administration enters the White House in 2025, the digital advertising industry faces a significant shift. Federal regulatory oversight is expected to recede, creating new opportunities for innovation, while policy changes and growing political polarization will simultaneously introduce uncertainty and risks. In this environment, industry leaders will need to navigate evolving regulatory landscapes, economic fluctuations, AI acceleration, and shifting brand safety concerns with strategic agility.
To stay ahead, advertising leaders must:
1) Develop regulatory agility: Build and deploy comprehensive compliance frameworks to navigate varying state and federal policies.
2) Embrace agility: Build flexible strategies for economic and political volatility, and adopt technology that allows your organization to quickly adapt and optimize campaigns.
3) Establish AI governance: Explore all the opportunities that AI can provide your agency or brand, and define detailed internal guidelines for responsible use.
4) Refine brand positioning: Align marketing messages with core business values while taking safeguards to minimize reputational risks.
5) Elevate brand safety measures: Implement comprehensive tools to avoid ad placements in controversial or harmful contexts.
In a rapidly evolving and highly-polarized environment, the most successful brands and agencies will be those that take a proactive stance—leveraging technology, refining messaging, and prioritizing long-term consumer trust over short-term gains. While the industry is poised for disruption, those who embrace innovation and positioning with responsibility will emerge as leaders in the next phase of digital advertising.
Read the full report for an in-depth analysis of these industry shifts and actionable recommendations.
Consumer attention is in short supply. From TikTokers to early education teachers to adults in general, it seems that few demographics feel like they (or the people around them) can stay focused for as long as they used to.
In this context, advertisers must contend with the challenge of consumers paying less attention to ads. To advertise effectively in today’s saturated digital environment, marketing teams must have an attention strategy—a game plan for leveraging the confines of attention-related constraints to outperform their competitors.
Perhaps the most important tool advertisers have at their disposal for capturing audience attention is personalization. But in addition to tailoring specific ad placements to capture attention, advertisers must also consider how to capture attention in a broader omnichannel context. Attention gained over time, via various interactions on various channels and platforms, is what garners the brand equity that leads to lasting connection, trust, and action from target audiences.
Ultimately, by empowering their teams to achieve both personalization at scale as well as a sophisticated omnichannel approach, advertisers can outperform their competitors and earn lasting audience attention despite shrinking attention spans and a saturated digital environment.
Multiple studies have tracked decreasing attention to the same tasks over time, appearing to confirm the idea that attention spans are shrinking. But the reality is likely more nuanced: The very concept of attention is hard to define, and attention spans can vary based on environment, activity, and mood, as well as channel, platform, and content.
Experts also challenge the idea that attention is fundamentally shrinking, attributing shifts in focus to increasingly distracting environments, rather than neurological changes. And others argue that attention spans haven’t changed at all, pointing to examples like gamers who play for hours in a single sitting (one 2022 survey found that PC gamers most commonly averaged 1-2 hours per session).
“I don’t think media is responsible for shortening people’s attention spans,” says Lauren Johnson, Client Strategy and Effectiveness Lead at Basis. “I believe what holds someone’s attention is what’s relevant to them. That’s a big reason why so many people, especially younger generations, are spending so much time on TikTok and YouTube: The content on those platforms is highly relevant and personalized to them.”
What is clear is that consumers have grown more discerning of ads. This is especially true for younger audiences, like Gen Z, who tune out of ads after just 1.3 seconds. “If you’re not relevant, younger audiences don’t care,” says Johnson. “It’s a learned behavior that these younger generations can filter digital noise out better than earlier generations, because it’s native to them.”
While advertisers may only have a second or two to capture audience attention, it remains possible to retain that attention for any number of seconds or minutes—that is, if the content is captivating and relevant enough.
Given that consumers typically only pay attention to advertisements for the first couple of seconds (especially in skippable or scrollable environments), marketing teams need a “first second strategy” to hook audiences within that time frame. Some proven tactics include:
Personalization can further strengthen these approaches, while helping retain audience attention past the first couple of seconds.
One of the best ways to capture and retain consumer attention is to serve the right message to the right person at the right time. (It may be an adage, but it’s an adage for a reason!)
Today’s marketing teams have both the advantage and the challenge of being able to hyper-personalize their marketing approaches based on consumer data. The best way to out-personalize competitors’ creative and media placements is through data—namely, by having the most efficient processes for collecting, organizing, pulling insights from, and activating data.
This is not always an easy task, with marketers citing finding and maintaining quality data, managing data and privacy regulations, and centralizing data/removing silos as some of their top challenges to executing a data-driven strategy.
The right platform, designed to streamline campaign workflows, increase interoperability, and expedite the process of collecting, organizing, storing, and activating on consumer data (while maintaining privacy compliance), can give marketers a considerable competitive advantage over their peers in terms of being able to achieve personalization at scale, and thus more effectively capture consumer attention.
At the same time, personalization doesn’t just mean tailoring the creative and media placement to the individual, but also to the context. “Our job as brands and advertisers is to try and make sure we are relevant to whatever environment consumers are in and that whatever content we serve them is interesting to them, or at least makes them pause,” says Johnson.
To achieve this, advertisers must plan around the environment and experience of each platform they advertise on. For example, tapping into popular trends and relevant influencers are effective ways to capture audience attention on TikTok, while digital out-of-home is well-suited for capitalizing on context and leveraging dynamic, showstopping creative. Marketing teams must use these insights to tailor bespoke ads for the platforms they run on, as study after study confirms that this draws more attention from viewers than generic ads.
At the same time, advertisers should be sure to maintain a level of cohesion across platforms—different, tailored ads within the same campaign have a higher impact on brand equity than using the same ads across platforms, or employing separate campaigns on separate platforms.
Advertisers can also capture attention by personalizing content to specific moments—for instance, by tapping into trends on social media.
Brands can use social media trends to their advantage, leaning into pop culture moments and trending audio to participate in the conversations their audiences are having in real time. To do so, they need to be able to move quickly, prioritizing the “messy realness” that characterizes these digital spaces rather than investing in high-end video production. This kind of agility can benefit advertisers beyond social media as well, adding a heightened level of relevance and personalization to advertisements on channels like DOOH.
To achieve this level of agility, leaders should embrace tools that streamline operations and reduce the complexity of working across channels and platforms. Advertising automation, which eliminates manual labor and streamlines workflows throughout the campaign journey, can make it easier for marketing teams to swiftly capitalize on cultural moments. Reporting tools that offer a holistic view of performance can also enhance agility, allowing marketers to assess cross-channel campaign performance in real-time and make in-flight changes if/when necessary.
Speaking of measurement…
Naturally, advertisers seeking to capture attention are interested in how effectively they’re doing so across platforms, formats, and creative placements.
Attention metrics have been characterized as an evolution of viewability—telling advertisers not just whether an ad placement is viewable, but whether consumers are paying attention to it. There are a variety of use cases, from supporting always-on measurement to inform in-flight campaign adjustments and optimizations to helping advertisers better understand which platforms and placements best capture audience attention.
These metrics have captured advertisers’ attention in recent years: 47% of advertisers reported they’d be significantly or somewhat more focused on attention metrics in 2024, up from 36% from 2023, and adoption should continue to rise in 2025.
However, like many measurement solutions, attention metrics are imperfect. A big factor here is the lack of standardization: With each provider offering different metrics, gaining a holistic view of measurement across campaigns can be difficult. Some providers use biometric signals to assess attention, which comes with privacy and compliance concerns. And while attention metrics can provide valuable data around consumer interaction with ads, they still can’t tell advertisers much about those consumers’ motivations or sentiments around those ads—in other words, just because someone interacted with an ad doesn’t mean they feel positively about it, or that they are interacting with it in a positive way.
Given these and other challenges, the jury is out on what place attention metrics will ultimately take in advertisers’ toolkits—or if they will even find a permanent home there. “I can’t tell if attention metrics are here to stay, or if they’re something new that the industry is excited about now but may fade out of relevance in the coming years,” says Johnson. “Until the industry finds a way to standardize it, it’s not going to scale.”
Ultimately, Johnson notes, it’s worth testing and experimenting with attention metrics—especially for brands and campaigns focused on upper-funnel objectives like awareness and consideration—as we know there is a strong correlation between attention and business outcomes. But it’s not currently a “need to have” measurement solution for all agencies and brands. Though perhaps imperfect, marketing teams can always leverage all the other data they’re used to looking at (ex. reach, frequency, etc.) to infer how effective their ads are at capturing attention.
Finally, it’s important that marketers consider audience attention not just in context of specific ad placements, but in terms of their broader marketing strategy. Campaigns that leverage multiple platforms and channels tend to perform better together than separately: According to Kantar, brand impact increases by 234% when the same budget is spent across five channels rather than just one. As such, Johnson notes, there’s a benefit to considering not just the attention garnered by one ad placement, but the breadth of attention across multiple platforms and channels over a longer time frame.
“Do all your ad impressions need to be in the highest attention environment? No—there’s a balance,” says Johnson. “There’s value in display and search ads, where maybe people are catching the logo subconsciously, and that helps with the brand recognition. Then, placements in more high attention environments like social media and CTV can complement that subconscious brand recognition with more direct appeals to attention.”
Enabling this kind of omnichannel approach goes back to an agency or marketing teams’ tech stack. Just like achieving personalization at scale requires tools that allow marketers the time they need to personalize content across channels, so too does effective omnichannel advertising. Managing media placements across a variety of channels and platforms puts considerable strain on teams unless they have software that streamlines the process—for example, a platform that unifies campaigns across channels so that marketers don’t have to waste time toggling between seven or more different platforms.
The complexity of capturing audience attention today mirrors the saturated and fractured digital landscape in which modern advertisers work. However, gaining a competitive edge when it comes to attention—which in turn leads to a competitive edge in terms of revenue and business growth—boils down to a few key strategic approaches:
By investing in the tools and solutions that give teams the agility they need to achieve personalization and omnichannel activation, advertisers can win in this new era of attention.
Basis drove an 80% surge in new users for a Global 500 financial client with a precision-targeted, multi-channel campaign, showcasing the power of expert insights and data-driven activation in B2B marketing.
A global financial services provider needed to boost awareness and engagement for its 529 savings plan among financial advisors. After previous disappointing results, they partnered with Basis to increase high-quality traffic and awareness, engage financial advisors to drive enrollment, and improve key metrics like time on site and page views.
Tailored Multi-Channel Strategy
Basis implemented a customized approach to drive quality site traffic and boost awareness of the client’s 529 plan.
Improved Engagement
Focused efforts led to stronger metrics, including increased time on site and higher page views.
Strategic Alignment
By aligning with the client’s goals and addressing financial advisors’ needs, Basis transformed an underperforming campaign into a lasting success.
Data-Driven Strategy
Using audience insights, Basis tested and optimized platforms like Bing, Meta, DSP audio, and native buys, ensuring ads reached advisors in the most relevant environments with multiple touchpoints.
Expertise & Flexibility
Acting as an extension of the client’s team, the Basis Consulting & Activation Team adapted to regulations, shifting business priorities, and real-time feedback to keep strategies aligned and drive better outcomes.
Clear, Actionable Insights
Integrating Google Analytics and platform metrics, transparent reporting enabled the client to track performance, justify budgets, and refine strategies.
Operational Excellence
Proactive problem-solving eliminated waste and optimized resources by resolving challenges like fraudulent traffic and tracking consent changes.
Performance Gains
Year-over-year increases in traffic, page views, and site engagement exceeded expectations without expanding the budget.
Industry Recognition
Highlighted as “Best in Class” by LinkedIn for innovative strategy and execution.
Stakeholder Impact
The client shared that the campaign established a trusted solution for financial advisors and led to improved marketing performance and increased stakeholder satisfaction.
Here we are again, halfway through February: Love is in the air, spring is peeking around the corner, and candy hearts are in high demand.
Brands spend all year trying to woo consumers, but what better time than Valentine’s Day to dive into how to truly win their hearts? While it all starts with having a standout product and/or service, building on that foundation with meaningful marketing and advertising strategies can take customer relationships to the next level and foster long-term loyalty. Brands that get clear on their values, communicate those values authentically to key audiences, use personalization to enhance that authenticity, and respect consumers’ privacy needs just might find their customers crushing on them like it’s night one of “The Bachelor.”
The strongest relationships are those built on trust, and trust isn’t possible when you’re trying to be someone you’re not. With 87% of shoppers reporting they have paid more for a product because it came from a brand they trusted, building trust with consumers should be paramount for brands in 2025. To earn that trust, brands must get clear on their values and communicate those values authentically to prospective consumers, through both words and actions.
“Consumer behavior is often aspirational—there’s something about your specific brand that consumers want to be a part of,” says Susan Mandell, Basis’ VP of Brand Development. “It’s crucial to understand what sets your brand apart and lean into that in meaningful ways.”
Aligning values with action is key for building lasting connections. “If you’re a brand that talks about making social change or giving back, you might embrace a model where each purchase includes an added benefit for someone or some cause—a pair of shoes or socks donated, a membership gifted, a tree planted," says Mandell. "Backing your brand’s values up with such actions can further deepen the unique relationship with your consumers.”
The reality of showing up authentically, however, is that not every brand will be every consumer’s cup of tea. By the same token, brands that try to appeal to everyone may end up not appealing to anyone at all. “The thing with authenticity is that people can smell lies,” says Mandell. “They can tell when brands are going back and forth trying to try to cater to everyone. People want what’s real and authentic, and brands that lean into that desire will be able to build trust and foster deeper connections with their audience.”
A worn-out opening line won’t do much for the date you’re trying to woo, and a generalized approach won’t win over your customers. Personalization has long been the key to a great customer experience: Nearly 90% of today’s consumers prefer personalized ads and 87% say they’re more likely to interact with ads for products they are personally interested in or searching for.
But effective personalization doesn’t mean simply changing the name of a city in ad copy or partnering with a trending content creator just because they’re trending. Instead, it can be helpful to think of personalization as an extension of brand authenticity—a way to speak to target audiences in a manner that both resonates with them and stays true to brand values.
“Knowing who you are, who you want to be, and what you stand for as a brand is critical,” says Kelly Boyle, Group VP of Client Strategy & Insights at Basis. “That foundation can then serve as a jumping-off point for personalization, which is key to fostering the types of long-term, deep connections that most brands really want.”
Once a brand understands its values and the audiences that connect with them, it can show consumers how they personally fit into its story. For auto companies, this could look like showing cars in hiking or adventure-focused scenarios for certain audience segments and urban environments for others. Or, a CPG brand might place ads alongside recipe videos on YouTube, personalizing both the creative and the placement to its target audiences’ interests and behaviors.
“So much of effective personalization comes down to understanding who your audience is, what they care about, where they spend time, and how that overlaps with your specific brand,” says Boyle. “A personalization approach that’s really going to resonate is one where it doesn’t feel obvious—where an ad just organically fits with the things a consumer cares about, and they might not even realize that it’s personalized.”
If you want a love (and/or a digital marketing strategy) that lasts, you need to focus on an approach that respects the needs and boundaries of your object of affection. And, today, data privacy is at the forefront of many audiences’ minds: More than 70% of customers surveyed in 2024 were increasingly protective of their personal information, and 64% felt that brands are reckless with their personal data. It’s clear that there’s a deficit of trust between brands and consumers when it comes to data privacy.
“Brands today are looking to connect with customers in exciting, meaningful, and privacy-friendly ways,” says Jane Frye, VP of Integrated Client Solutions at Basis. “Contextually aligning with trusted content is one powerful way to engage audiences while also respecting their privacy. Leveraging first-party data is another key strategy for accomplishing this: By analyzing behavioral insights from first-party data, brands can identify the channels and ad placements that resonate most with their customers. This allows them to personalize their approach while respecting consumer privacy.”
Indeed, building trust is not only essential for earning consumers’ hard-earned dollars and building lasting relationships with them; it’s also an important aspect of navigating increasing signal loss and privacy concerns. Using first-party data effectively is a key strategy for privacy-compliant marketing that offers valuable insights into customer needs, wants, and preferences, enabling brands to foster authentic connections. By embracing privacy-friendly marketing approaches like the use of first-party data, brands can strengthen relationships and enhance long-term brand equity with target audiences.
Just like cheese, wine, and blue jeans, strong customer relationships get better with time. For brands, then, the time to start building (or expanding upon) those relationships is now. To that end, it will be critical for them to get clear on their values, show up as their authentic selves, embrace meaningful personalization, and respect consumers’ boundaries in order to help strengthen trust across the entire customer journey. Brands that do so will not only foster stronger relationships but also position themselves for long-term loyalty and growth. And who doesn't love the sound of that?
How will the latest legislation out of Europe and the United States impact digital advertising in 2025 and beyond?
It’s been a busy few years for digital advertising industry regulators, with new regulations taking effect around the US and new legislation popping up across the globe. What’s the latest, and how will it impact advertising and marketing professionals?
While the United States has taken its time determining how to handle Big Tech regulation, the European Union has embraced its reputation as the world’s fiercest tech regulator.
Unrestrained by free speech rules like America’s First Amendment, the EU has taken the lead on matters like consumer privacy (with GDPR), walled gardens like Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store (with the Digital Markets Act), and misinformation and hyper-personal ad targeting on social media (with the Digital Services Act).
Though some requirements of the Digital Services Act (DSA) came into effect in 2023, with “Very Large Online Platforms” and “Very Large Online Search Engines” being subject to the law’s stipulations, it wasn’t until February 2024 that all platforms became subject to its broader implementation and enforcement. The law compels social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to dedicate more resources to stomping out misinformation and hate speech on their platforms, and bans any targeted online ads that are based on an individual’s ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Google and Meta are also now subject to annual audits to uncover “systemic risks” related to their social assets, search engines are required to suppress misleading search results, and even Amazon will have to comply with new rules aimed at curbing the sale of illegal products. Since the Digital Services Act went into effect, the European Commission has aggressively enforced it: X has been under investigation since 2023, while the Commission opened formal proceedings against Facebook and Instagram in 2024 to assess compliance.
While the DSA has somewhat inhibited targeting precision in the region, it is also helping to foster safer advertising environments—particularly on social media—helping both brands and users enjoy a more hospitable digital ecosystem. With brand safety looking like an increasingly-elusive proposition in the United States, an internet with less misinformation and more trust sounds downright novel, providing marketers with some welcome upside in the face of targeting limitations.
As for the Digital Markets Act, in September 2023, the EU designated six companies—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft—as “gatekeepers” under this regulation. Though TikTok and Meta appealed this designation and Apple filed a legal challenge to the metropolitan area itself, these tech giants have been forced to make changes to meet the rules and requirements outlined in the metropolitan area, such as allowing users to choose different default browsers and search engines, download iPhone apps outside of Apple’s App store, and control how their personal online data is used.
Altogether, social media platforms face strict regulation in the EU—and serious consequences when they breach the bloc's privacy laws. Meta learned this the hard way, incurring a nearly $1.3 billion penalty for transferring user data between the United States and countries in the EU and the European Economic Area. It’s the biggest penalty an EU regulator has levied on a tech company since 2021 and a clear signal that privacy compliance is non-negotiable. That said, the EU-US Data Privacy Framework should hopefully help prevent similar data flow-related fines and confusion going forward.
Back stateside, industry regulation is a bit more decentralized—at least, for now. While federal-level legislation has mostly lingered in congressional purgatory, 11 new state-level data privacy acts have already taken effect this year—with many more set to take effect throughout 2025.
The broadest and most impactful of these enacted state-level regulations is the California Privacy Rights Act, aka CPRA. Building off the foundation of 2018’s groundbreaking California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the act created a California Privacy Protection Agency that’s dedicated to (and responsible for) enforcing the law—indicative of increased enforcement—while also reducing ambiguity around how to interpret some of the data-related aspects of the law. The CPRA now requires companies to give consumers the opportunity to not only opt out of the sale of their personal information, but also of giving or sharing that data with someone else, including a third party that might use it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
As Basis General Counsel Derek Zolner put it, “Essentially, the CCPA, CPRA, and the other data privacy acts that are popping up around the US are establishing legal enforcement mechanisms around personal control of one’s personal data and codifying many of the core principals of our industry—namely, transparency, notice, and the right to opt out. Only now, instead of the industry self-regulating these matters, state governments are intervening to take control of that enforcement.”
Meanwhile, at the federal level, privacy-focused legislation remains stuck in lawmaking purgatory. In April 2024, a bipartisan group of lawmakers released a draft piece of legislation that would establish a comprehensive federal consumer privacy framework, called the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA). In its original form, the APRA was expected to have serious implications for the digital advertising ecosystem—establishing strong data security standards as well as clear national data privacy rights and protections, giving individuals the right to sue those who violated these rights, and giving the FTC authority to enforce any violations of the bill. But the bill has since stalled and, with the change in administration, appears unlikely to be revived anytime soon.
As consumers grow increasingly skeptical of Big Tech’s handling of their personal data, state-based legislation has provided users with increased transparency and control…for the residents of those states. With national legislation looking increasingly unlikely, at least at any point in the near future, advertisers and publishers are likely to leverage different tactics in different states—or, alternatively, will default to the most stringent policies (such as the CPRA) across all their campaigns.
From a consumer perspective, as much as consumers say they want a unified, omnichannel experience, they’ve also made it clear that they want more control over who can—and who cannot—access their personal data as part of the advertising process. Private companies like Apple (with iPhone’s App Tracking Transparency and the lack of third-party cookies on its Safari browser) and even Google (which, while no longer deprecating cookies in Chrome, is planning to let users make an “informed choice” about third-party trackers in their browser) have shown a willingness to slowly but surely give consumers more control over their data. With signal loss having crossed 50% and third-party cookies heading toward the same fate as MySpace and the VCRs, advertisers should continue to embrace privacy-friendly tactics like alternative identifiers, contextual, and brand lift studies.
As if pending legislative action wasn’t enough, Google, Meta, and Amazon—which, together, account for almost two-thirds of the nearly $350 billion US digital ad market—are also facing both consumer scrutiny and federal lawsuits around monopolizing the adtech market, the social media market, and the online retail market in the US.
Google, in particular, has caught the eye of the Justice Department and several states. It has faced not one but two lawsuits alleging violation of US antitrust laws. The first case, brought by the Department of Justice and 11 state Attorneys General, aimed to prevent Google from “unlawfully maintaining monopolies through anticompetitive and exclusionary practices in the search and search advertising markets.” This suit and its ruling come at a time when Google owns an almost 90% market share in search, though the company maintains that its supremacy in the landscape is because they “simply provided a superior product.” The 10-week trial for this case concluded in early May 2024, and in August 2024, a federal judge ruled that Google had, in fact, violated antitrust laws in online search. In his ruling, Judge Amit P. Mehta stated, “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.” Potential penalties or remedies for Google’s misconduct have not yet been set, although the DOJ has proposed significant modifications to the tech giant’s business, including selling off its Chrome browser.
Additionally, Google is the subject of a second suit accusing the company of “monopolizing digital advertising technologies” in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. While the first case addressed its monopolization of the search landscape, this second case relates to Google’s overall presence within the digital advertising landscape. During the trial, which wrapped up in November 2024, the Department of Justice argued that Google monopolized the ad server and ad network markets, attempted to monopolize the exchange market, and applied monopoly power by uniting all of the products they used to do so into a single offering. A ruling on this case is expected early this year.
This antitrust regulatory action isn’t limited to the US. Across the pond, Google faces similar antitrust charges for its digital advertising practices, with the European Commission citing Google’s heavy involvement at “almost all levels of the so-called adtech supply chain” and noting concerns that the world’s fourth-most valuable company “may have used its market position to favor its own intermediation services.” This marks the fourth time Google has run afoul of EU antitrust regulations in recent years, and with the bloc’s history of action against US-based tech giants, the case is unlikely to go away anytime soon.
Beyond these antitrust suits, recent years have seen a notable increase in class-action lawsuits against brands for allegedly making false and/or misleading claims in their advertising.
For instance, Starbucks was sued for advertising that they’re “committed to 100% ethical sourcing” despite sourcing coffee beans and tea from “cooperatives and farms that have committed documented, severe human rights and labor abuses,” according to the lawsuit filed by the National Consumers League. Soda company Poppi faced a class-action lawsuit for advertising “prebiotic” and “gut healthy” benefits, when such benefits are negligible—particularly given how much sugar their products contain. The makers of Liquid I.V. were sued for including a “no preservatives” label on their electrolyte drink powder, despite using citric acid and other well-known preservatives. And Grubhub faced a lawsuit that alleges the company deceives customers by promising free delivery, but then charging fees at checkout.
This uptick in false advertising lawsuits shows a growing awareness and intolerance towards deceptive marketing practices among consumers and regulators alike. Both are increasingly willing to hold companies accountable for misleading claims, reflecting a broader demand for transparency and honesty in advertising. Additionally, several new enacted and proposed state-level regulations echo these growing demands, including a California law that targets misleading product labeling around recyclable plastic, a proposed Arizona bill aimed at helping to eliminate misleading information in healthcare advertising, and a proposed Louisiana bill addressing truth in advertising, specifically as it relates to related to how foreign seafood is sourced and labeled.
Given the increased legal scrutiny, consumer sentiments, and uptick in legislation aimed at tackling misleading or false advertising, brands and marketers must be diligent in ensuring that they are not just satisfying regulations, but using messaging that is rooted in truth and authenticity, lest they risk both legal repercussions and lasting damage to their reputations.
Since its public release in 2022, generative AI has garnered a lot of hype—and for good reason. From AI chatbots like ChatGPT, to AI image and art generators like Midjourney, to Microsoft and Google both embracing new AI-powered search capabilities, this emerging tech is making some serious waves in the marketing and advertising world (and beyond). But for all the excitement around generative AI, its boom has also been accompanied by fierce warnings and concerns from experts across the globe.
Amidst these mixed emotions, it’s no surprise that AI regulation has become a hot topic. In 2024, the world’s first comprehensive AI law, the EU AI Act, went into effect. The act outlines the many potential benefits of AI, while establishing “obligations for providers and users depending on the level of risk from artificial intelligence.”
The US, meanwhile, has yet to take action quite as deliberate as the EU’s, but that doesn’t mean Washington has been ignoring AI’s emergence. In 2023, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared before Congress and directly encouraged lawmakers to regulate artificial intelligence. Later that year, former President Joe Biden signed an executive order that aimed to address the “safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of Artificial Intelligence.” However, President Trump has since rescinded that order and, more generally, has signaled that his administration will adopt a more relaxed regulatory approach to AI. Meanwhile, several AI-focused bills have stalled in Congress, with their paths toward enactment looking increasingly uncertain.
On the state level, Utah became the first state to enact a consumer protection law focused on AI. The 2024 Utah Artificial Intelligence Policy Act (UAIP) mandates that organizations disclose their use of generative AI tools to consumers, and restricts organizations from attributing consumer protection violations to generative AI. And in California, draft regulations around the use of AI and automated decision-making would amend the CPRA to give Californians the right to access information about how implicated businesses use automated decision-making tools, including AI tools, in relation to consumers, as well as the right to opt out of their data being used by those tools.
With President Trump’s increasingly-warm ties to the AI industry, federal-level regulation appears to be off the table for the time being. However, international and state-level AI regulations continue to move forward, and more are likely to be introduced in the coming months and years as the technology continues to proliferate. With nearly three-quarters of marketing and advertising professionals saying they believe AI’s development and usage should be regulated—and with its incredible potential benefits still tempered by its significant risks—it’s critical that advertisers stay up-to-date on this evolving landscape to both ensure compliance and to understand where the industry is headed.
Last but not least, while the majority of industry-focused regulation has centered around American-based companies, there is one notable exception to the trend: TikTok, whose fate in the US is increasingly tenuous.
In 2024, Congress passed legislation requiring TikTok parent company ByteDance sell its stake in the app within 12 months or else the app would be banned in the US. While TikTok filed a subsequent lawsuit seeking to halt the law, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the ban in January 2025. The app was set to go dark on January 19, but on January 20, President Trump signed an executive order that aims to delay enforcement of this ban until early April. The legality of such an order remains unclear, but for the time being, the app remains online in the United States.
Looking ahead, TikTok’s fate may hinge upon ByteDance’s willingness to sell the app to an American company—or, alternatively, on Congress passing new legislation that amends or supersedes the 2024 bill to permit TikTok’s return to US app stores. While that was long rumored to be a non-starter for the company, recent signals indicate that both the Chinese government and ByteDance’s leadership may be increasingly open to a sale. And though a number of potential buyers have shown an interest in acquiring the wildly popular app, none have emerged as a front runner, leaving TikTok’s future uncertain.
With TikTok’s fate still unknown, advertisers should continue to craft their contingency plans to swiftly shift budgets should the app ultimately be banned in the US. But the clock is ti(c)king...
For much of the past decade, regulators have increasingly turned their eye toward the digital advertising industry and its key players. Advertising leaders looking to balance innovation with compliance must take regulators’ concerns seriously—specifically, by prioritizing consumer privacy, staying abreast of antitrust lawsuits, avoiding false and/or misleading messaging, approaching AI with caution and intentionality, and keeping an eye on regulatory developments across the board.
While the US is likely headed toward a looser regulatory environment, one way or another, the digital advertising industry is going to have to prioritize privacy. Consumers and regulators alike are demanding increased transparency and individual control over user data. And if Big Tech—and the advertising industry—don’t want to make the difficult choices involved in regulating themselves when it comes to consumer privacy, then world governments will likely be all too happy to do it for them.
Key Takeaways:
Recent years have seen an explosion of snackable, quippy video content—particularly on social media.
From live sports highlights and lifestyle content to product reviews, travel recommendations, funny animal videos, and beyond, short-form video has become a pillar of the digital media landscape. Where even a decade ago this content format was relatively niche and limited (except, of course, on Vine), short-form video is now mainstream, with 65% of people engaging with it multiple times a day.
This meteoric rise has transformed how audiences get information and discover products, as well as how advertisers connect with these audiences. Short-form video’s bite-sized, engaging nature makes it a particularly powerful tool for advertisers trying to combat shrinking attention spans, allowing brands and marketers to capture audience interest in mere seconds. As more and more platforms incorporate short-form video elements to engage and excite users, it’s clear that the format is here to stay. As such, advertisers who seek to understand its impact on the digital media landscape will be better positioned to connect with audiences in meaningful ways.
It’s nearly impossible to talk about short-form video content without talking about TikTok. Despite the looming threat of a ban in the US, TikTok’s immense impact on the video, social media, and advertising landscapes has long been solidified. While it wasn’t the first player to embrace short-form video, TikTok perfected the format and sparked a global shift toward shorter, more engaging content. Its rapid rise in popularity has driven a broader trend of audiences increasingly opting for short-form over long-form content. “Shortly after TikTok became an overnight sensation, we saw Instagram launch its Stories feature. There’s a direct correlation between TikTok’s rapid rise to fame, Instagram Stories, and the new user experience behavior of swiping ‘next,’” says Jess Kaswiner, Basis VP of Social Media Investment.
TikTok revolutionized how people consume video content, popularizing the full-screen, vertical feed of endlessly scrollable, bite-sized videos tailored to individual viewers through its highly personalized algorithm. It also changed how advertisers connect with audiences, offering a space for brands to create authentic, engaging, and highly targeted campaigns that made ads feel less like ads and more like…content. From viral challenges and hashtag campaigns to influencer partnerships and shoppable videos, TikTok set a new standard for creativity in digital advertising. This shift has been an impactful one, with nearly one in four users saying TikTok has influenced them to make a purchase within just three minutes of seeing it.
Now, short-form video extends even beyond social media. Streaming platforms, retail apps, sports outlets, and even news platforms are incorporating short-form video to engage their audiences. And even if TikTok is banned in the US, its influence will persist: Platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook have long since adopted similar features (Reels and Shorts), and some users even turned to alternatives like Red Note to get their short-form video fix during TikTok’s short-lived ban-related blackout.
For advertisers, this shift signals a critical opportunity. As platforms continue to innovate and audiences increasingly demand fast, engaging video content, advertisers who embrace the lessons of TikTok’s (and TikTok advertising’s) success will be better positioned to thrive.
Much like how TikTok changed how users interact with content and find new products, short-form video is more broadly shifting the digital advertising landscape and will continue to do so in the years ahead. In today’s mobile-first world, these quick, engaging videos capture and hold attention effectively, as well as drive action, with three in eight people saying they have made a purchase based on short-form video content.
This obsession with short-form video is particularly pronounced among Gen Z, whose spending power is forecast to reach $12 trillion by 2030. Advertisers have noticed, with social video now accounting for more than 45% of total digital video ad spending.
So, just how is short-form video changing things for advertisers? First, it’s making engagement (aka capturing audience attention) an absolute must: When you only have a few seconds to connect with viewers, it’s key to make every moment count. It’s also blurring the line between entertainment and advertising, with platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels having normalized ad content that feels organic and entertaining rather than disruptive. Additionally, it’s forcing advertisers to rethink the more traditional advertising funnel, as short-form video drives swift decision-making and immediate action. It upends the traditional linear path from awareness to purchase, instead replacing it with a dynamic journey where viewers discover, engage with, and act on content all within the span of a single video.
Not all video advertising works the same way. Long-form video builds depth and brand narrative over time, giving audiences space for more considered decision-making. Short-form video compresses that journey, moving viewers from discovery to action within the span of a single video.
This distinction demands different creative approaches. Short-form video ads should be hook-first, platform-native, and built for the scroll, earning attention in the opening seconds. Long-form video ads, meanwhile, should reward extended attention with storytelling, emotional depth, and the detail viewers need to evaluate bigger purchase decisions.
Given how short-form video has caused digital advertising norms to shift, a strong short-form video strategy is now essential. By understanding audience behavior, embracing innovation, keeping a pulse on regulation, and safeguarding brand safety, advertisers can maximize the impact of this format and drive ROI.
With the near-ubiquitous presence of smartphones, it’s no surprise that many people multitask, often using multiple screens at once. For instance, the majority of Americans report using a second screen (often scrolling social media and—you guessed it—watching short-form videos) while watching TV. Planning for multiple intentional touchpoints across a variety of digital channels such as connected TV (CTV), display, and audio alongside short-form video on social is critical for building strong brand awareness and driving cross-platform engagement.
Among the many other lessons it has taught, TikTok’s tumultuous history and uncertain future in the US have shown just how quickly the short-form video landscape can change. Advertisers must be agile when assessing new opportunities, ensuring campaigns align with evolving regulations and platform policies. Additionally, keeping an eye on regulatory developments should go hand-in-hand with adopting privacy-conscious advertising strategies in the space. For example, short-form video is ripe for contextual targeting and creator partnerships that are inherently privacy-friendly, allowing advertisers to connect with audiences in a meaningful way while also respecting user privacy.
Short-form video’s speed and reach make it powerful—but also risky. False and misleading content is becoming more and more prevalent on social media as a result of the rise of generative AI, which can both create and fuel the spread of mis- and disinformation. This problem is compounded by Meta's recent announcement that it will get rid of independent fact checkers on both Facebook and Instagram, a move that is part of a larger trend of digital platforms reducing content moderation. As such, media buyers must craft a strong brand safety plan and prioritize tools that ensure their short-form video ads appear in brand-safe environments and align with suitable content, thus building audience trust rather than eroding it.
Short-form video ads are often different from more traditional formats: They’re typically more unpolished and “real,” aligning with the types of content they’re surrounded by. "Creating highly engaging content that aligns with the organic style of each social platform is crucial for encouraging users to interact with a brand's message, making it an essential component of any short-form video advertising strategy,” says Kaswiner. “Ads that look, sound, and feel like ads will fall victim to fast thumbs—often before the brand name can even register with the viewer.” Using creator partnerships, dynamic visuals, and storytelling techniques tailored to platform-specific audiences can make the difference between a short-form video marketing campaign that resonates and one that gets scrolled past. The most effective short-form video strategies combines platform-native creative with a clear brand voice, making ads feel like content rather than interruptions.
TikTok might still face an uphill battle in the US, but its role in popularizing short-form video content will leave a lasting impact. The rise of short-form video has reshaped how audiences consume content and interact with brands and products. And for brands and marketers, it’s not just about keeping up—it’s about leveraging this shift to stay ahead. By embracing the lessons of short-form video, from capturing attention to blending entertainment and messaging to taking an omnichannel approach, marketers can position themselves to connect meaningfully with audiences through this ever-evolving format.
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Interested in deeper insights on how to take a holistic approach to digital video within the broader media landscape? In our guide, Video Unleashed, we break down how advertisers can leverage the channel to connect with audiences at key moments of impact that inspire and engage.
The questions of whether, why, and how to invest in diverse-owned media and partnerships may appear complex in today’s industry environment. However, at their core, they remain quite simple.
On the complex side, sentiments around brand diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs have fluctuated in recent years, from brands going all-in in 2020 to a recent string of reductions and cuts. Economic uncertainty, increased politicization, and significant financial pressures have also weighed down some businesses’ supplier diversity programs.
On the other hand, evaluating the benefits of a supplier diversity program and then implementing (or improving upon) such a program is fairly straightforward. Agencies are tasked with driving revenue for their clients by connecting with target audiences via resonant, strategically placed and personalized messages. As consumer demographics grow more diverse, investing in media inventory and data providers that help marketers reach these audiences often calls for partnerships with diverse-owned suppliers.
Tapping into diverse suppliers is an impactful strategy for both reaching target audiences and engaging new clients. As such, staying ahead in the industry requires agency leaders to understand this evolving landscape and cultivate diverse-owned supply partnerships thoughtfully and proactively.
While they may seem like a newer part of marketers’ strategies, supplier diversity programs—which are established by businesses to encourage partnerships with women-owned, ethnic or racial minority owned, veteran-owned, LGBTQIA+-owned, or disabled-owned suppliers—are nothing new for many legacy brands. GM, for example, was one of the first to establish a formal supplier diversity program in 1968. The program, which serves to drive “economic parity, social relevance, and business value,” is still in effect today.
In more recent memory, 2020 was a critical year for brands’ engagement with DEI, as many brands committed or re-committed to working with diverse-owned suppliers (and, in particular, Black-owned suppliers) in response to the George Floyd protests.
Since then, research on the industry’s progress in terms of integrating diverse-owned supply has shown mixed results. For example, while spending on diverse-owned media by holding companies and leading independent media agencies increased by over 50% in 2022 (as measured by SMI), total spending on diverse-owned media made up less than 2% of all the spend that year. Similarly, an ANA survey found that both interest and investment in diverse suppliers grew from 2022 to 2023, but businesses’ investment lagged behind the broader industry’s interest. Along the same lines, a June 2024 ANA study concluded that the industry has progressed in its inclusive marketing efforts, including its efforts to integrate diverse-owned supply, but “the gap between intention and industry-wide impact remains significant.”
At the same time, some brands’ DEI programs were dialed back in recent years, and diverse-owned publishers have reported slowdowns and cuts to marketing budgets dedicated to diverse-owned supply. This backtracking can be attributed to both economic instability and a shifting political climate, marked by events like the US Supreme Court overturning affirmative action in college admissions in 2023, the backlash Target and Bud Light received to their Pride month engagements that same year, and a rise in criticism of DEI programs from conservative legislators and activists. In this context, some agency executives experienced clients withholding portions of budgets allocated for diverse-owned media spend until the outcome of the 2024 US Presidential Election was determined.
Despite these fluctuating sentiments around DEI and supplier diversity programs, embracing supplier diversity enables agencies to achieve multiple goals: meeting the rigorous standards of major clients, differentiating themselves to mid-market brands, and driving revenue for their clients by connecting with an increasingly diverse consumer base.
Current industry discussions around DEI may distract from the fact that curating diverse-owned supply is a profitable proposition for agencies.
For one thing, it can be table stakes for working with major brands. “Supplier diversity is deeply embedded in the business strategies of many larger enterprise clients,” says Lois Castillo, Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Basis. “It has become a critical expectation for the partners they collaborate with, reflecting a commitment to inclusive and equitable practices throughout the supply chain.” Many of these businesses—like GM, for example—have thoughtful procedures associated with how they engage with diversity, equity, and inclusion within media execution, media buying, and marketing. As such, any agency that wants to work with these clients must be able to offer a curated selection of diverse-owned supply, as well as the ability to leverage those partnerships to help clients meet their DEI spending commitments.
While mid-market brands may not have the same degree of specifications around supplier diversity, curating diverse-owned media can help give agencies a competitive edge. “If an agency can develop a strategic plan with an audience strategy and an inventory strategy that has diversity built into it, and they’re able to tell a meaningful story about the impact of that strategy, that can be a significant differentiator to mid-market clients,” says Dan Wilson, Group VP of Integrated Client Solutions at Basis.
Political discussions around DEI aside, marketing investment in diverse-owned media inventory and data partners is informed by consumer demographics, which are growing increasingly diverse. Advertisers who aren’t working to connect with diverse audiences could be ignoring close to half of the impressions available to them, leaving the significant buying power of diverse audience segments on the table. While partnering with diverse-owned suppliers isn’t the only way to connect with diverse audiences, it’s often the most authentic way to do so.
“For brands, genuine organic growth stems from authentically connecting with audiences beyond their traditional targets,” says Castillo. “Any forward-thinking CMO or leader focused on driving sustainable business growth understands the importance of reaching new communities. This requires not just showcasing the value of their product or service, but also fostering meaningful connections with diverse audience segments.”
Ultimately, by thoughtfully curating partnerships with diverse-owned suppliers, agency leaders can set themselves up for success when going after larger brands, differentiate themselves to mid-market brands, and drive more revenue for their clients across the board.
While some advertising platforms come with a curated selection of diverse-owned suppliers, agencies will likely want to curate additional partnerships that meet their clients’ particular needs.
Proactivity is key here, because if agencies don’t have a repository of diverse-owned suppliers in place before meeting with a potential client, they may lack the organization, fluency, and measurement capabilities to satisfy that company’s supplier diversity requirements. “If you take a proactive approach to building your partnership structure,” says Wilson, “you’ll be better prepared to activate for your clients depending upon how they want to engage with the space.”
Of course, agencies must curate these partnerships thoughtfully and intentionally. The goal is to integrate diverse-owned suppliers, with ownership spanning a variety of diverse identities, across the entire supply ecosystem—from publishers, to data providers, to measurement partners and beyond. It’s worth noting that some brands may prioritize working with certified diverse-owned suppliers, so agencies will likely want to do the same.
The process of finding and vetting these partners shouldn’t look any different than an agency’s process for evaluating any other partner. “Have conversations with people at these companies,” says Wilson. “Ask questions, see whether they’re aligned with your organization’s core values, and use that information to evaluate whether to move forward.”
Finally, agencies should ensure they have some kind of reporting system in place for tracking their clients’ spend on diverse-owned supply. For example, tools like Supplier.io can help agencies track their media spend with diverse-owned suppliers.
Though supplier diversity programs have been around for decades, many agencies are still refining their approaches to curating partnerships with diverse-owned suppliers, integrating those partnerships into their strategies, and demonstrating their value to clients.
This is an area in which agencies should strive to excel, given that diverse-owned supply is a “must-have” for many larger brands, and a great way for marketers to connect with key target audiences. Ultimately, by approaching supplier diversity with proactivity and thoughtfulness, agency leaders can drive new revenue and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
In today's dynamic advertising landscape, media buyers must navigate a complex web of partner relationships, buying decisions, and shifting industry trends. In this episode of Adtech Unfiltered, Shelby Saville, Chief Executive Officer at Starcom US, shares valuable insights from her time serving as Chief Investment Officer at Publicis Media US.
Together with host Noor Naseer, Saville discusses her approach to partner engagement, what drives investment strategies, and how buying teams can adapt to stay ahead. Her candid perspective offers actionable lessons for both buyers and sellers looking to succeed in an ever-evolving ecosystem.