Travel Marketing, CTV Ad Spend Acceleration, & More | Weekly Marketing News

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This week in marketing news, everything from the rise of travel marketing in 2021 to the acceleration of Connected TV ad spend has been making headlines. To make it easier to keep on top of the most important stories, we compiled this roundup of the articles that caught our attention. 

In digital marketing news, travel brands are gearing up as the world looks forward to reopening as the pandemic seems to wind down in many parts of the globe. Many consumers are looking to take advantage of their newfound ability to travel and take vacations – and according to Expedia Group’s 2021 Travel Trends Report, 44% of travelers are planning to take more trips in 2021 than 2020, with roughly one-third of respondents expecting their next trip to last a week or longer. Expedia Group has some recommendations for travel brands looking to stand out from the pack, including capitalizing on the rise in popularity of go-to destinations and providing trip-cancellation insurance for those still wary after a year of uncertainty. 

And in Connected TV news, as CTV impressions continue to soar during the pandemic, many advertisers are looking to up their stake in this growing channel. New research from TVSquared found that 65% of the marketers surveyed plan to make “moderate” increases to CTV spend this year (increasing by 5-20%), while one in five plan to grow their CTV spend by more than 20%. These marketers cite the incremental reach driven by the influx of new streaming services as the primary reason for this increase in spend, along with the ability to engage with audiences beyond linear. And it looks like travel marketers are also taking advantage of Connected TV this year, taking over the number 2 spot for highest CTV ad spend across various industries. 

Check out the rest of the marketing news from this week below.

DIGITAL

In the Cookieless Future, Personalization and Prospecting Will Walk Hand-in-Hand – As the marketing world moves into a cookieless reality, the importance of strong first-party data is being emphasized on a number of fronts.

Google Delays Cookie Removal to Late 2023 – Google delayed its plan to scrap a widely used technology to track web-browsing habits amid regulatory scrutiny and concern from privacy advocates and the advertising industry over the search giant’s approach to replacing the tool.

5 Travel Boom Trends for Marketers to Watch in 2021 – From hotel operators to RV parks to online booking companies and all points in between, a diverse range of companies suddenly has the opportunity to come back stronger than ever.

Amazon Prime Day’s Ripple Effect on Retail Advertising – Now that this year’s shopping event has shifted back from its Black Friday/Cyber Monday time slot last year, it’s not only customers who are taking notice, but retail advertisers at large.

It’s Time to Start Measuring ‘Return on Creativity’ – Ad-Lib.io’s Adit Abhyankar advocates for data-driven approaches to expand to creative teams and campaigns, and urges marketers to add creative testing to their toolbox.

CONNECTED TV & STREAMING

Ryan Reynolds Explains the Sale and Future of His Agency, Maximum Effort – This week, Performance TV platform MNTN added Maximum Effort Marketing as its creative wing. Adweek caught up with Reynolds and Dewey to learn more about how the deal came together and what’s next for Maximum Effort.

This Part of fuboTV’s Business Could Get Bigger in 2021 – Advertising is a small but growing part of fuboTV’s overall business. In 2021, it could take on even more importance. According to a report by GroupM, spending on CTV ads is estimated to grow 25% this year.

Connected TV Ad Spend Set to Accelerate as US Continues to Adapt to Covid-19 – Connected TV is one of the most rapidly growing markets when it comes to ad spend, and CTV impressions continued to soar during the Covid-19 pandemic, with even more growth on tap for 2021.

Guest comment: Premium video will prosper in the new identity landscape – Identity in advertising is evolving rapidly, meaning content producers and distributors must find a balance between connecting identity mechanisms across platforms and ensuring consumers feel comfortable about how their data is processed.

NBCU Gives Peacock Major Role With Live Coverage of Gymnastics and Men’s Basketball – With exactly a month to go until the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, NBCUniversal is slowly lifting the curtain on its plans for the biggest sporting event of the year. Streaming service Peacock will factor into NBCUniversal’s Olympics coverage for the first time.

MOBILE

Facebook Adds Shops To WhatsApp, Intros Shops Ads, Plans Visual Search On Instagram – Facebook has announced three more updates designed to advance its aggressive, ongoing push into ecommerce.

Twitter Trains Brands for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo – The pandemic-delayed 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo will finally get going July 23, 2021, and Twitter vice president of global client solutions Sarah Personette shared some insights and best practices for brands looking to feel the glow of the Olympic flame. 

Ford Teams With TikTok For AR Maverick Challenge – Ford Motor Co. is continuing to use TikTok to reach a young and diverse audience, which is the target buyer of the new Maverick compact pickup truck.  

WE’LL KEEP YOU UP-TO-DATE

That’s it for the roundup this week, next week we’ll be back with another list of what’s making news in marketing.