CPG

Pepsi cut ads, raised prices, and now must reverse both; YouTube is bringing interactivity to TV content; Instagram kills “link in bio,” sidelining publishers.

I’m keenly interested by emerging grocery aisle trends, snacks especially. So, I was quick to grab an interview with Andrew Thomas, head of marketing for the meat snack brand Archer, who was being offered to speak to a case study with GumGum regarding CTV pause ads.

The Winter Olympics show us how far streaming live sports has come – and how much linear viewership remains. Plus: CPGs are pulling back on ad spend, as they steer through economic challenges and the ripple effects of policy decisions.

When it comes to the red-hot retail media sector, history doesn’t have to repeat itself. Here’s how to add accountability and transparency to a space where those attributes are sorely lacking.

CMOs’ ad budgets are flat this year compared to last year, according to Gartner. As a result, CMOs are looking for efficiency wherever they can find it, and AI is a top strategy.

2025 is officially the year that GLP-1 solidifies itself as a force in the advertising world.

Ad industry growth will slow to single-digits next year; consolidation hits the CPG market; and predicting the future of the FTC based on a commissioner’s pitch to the president-elect.

Brands are getting back to basics. They’re rethinking their packaging and trying to figure out how they fit into the new world of retail store shelves. And while they are getting more data-driven, the data is not necessarily for advertising.

Ari Paparo’s Marketecture acquires another ad-tech publication; Spotify is launching an SSP; and CPG brands turn to “chaos packaging” to stand out among the crowd.

In today’s newsletter: How loosened ad restrictions helped snacks take over America; Brazil’s X ban dings stan culture; and Roblox partners with Shopify as it expands real-world ecommerce to all creators.

Social commerce is already huge in the Asia-Pacific market, and it’s poised to blow up worldwide. Here’s how the success of TikTok Shop forecasts the future development trends of ecommerce and social commerce in the US.

In the past couple of weeks, many of the world’s biggest CPG and grocery store brands have reported their latest earnings. One thing is clear: CPG brands are under pressure by retailers to squeeze their margins, lower prices and spend more on ads.

This week’s dispatch explores the new trend of false advertising class-action suits in the food and CPG industry and how the evolution of online, data-driven retail media could exacerbate the problem.

In today’s newsletter: AppLovin raises $144 million and buys video shopping app Flip; Google agrees to disclose that it collects data from Incognito users; and why Trader Joe’s is (and isn’t) the Shein of grocery stores.

Continued low concentration of brand spend in the mid- and long-tail retailer segments could pose an existential threat to grocery businesses, negatively impacting local communities.

Data has not only become the new oil for marketers; it is also the oxygen breathing life into TV advertising with new branding and performance opportunities.

Meta’s shares surged by nearly 15% after reporting Q4 earnings on Thursday. It was the company’s fourth consecutive quarter of revenue growth, following a dismal 2022.

Conagra-owned brand Birds Eye brings a new approach to online video, social shopping and first-party data.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Ring Airer Netflix is paying more than $5 billion for the rights to livestream “WWE Raw,” Variety reports. The 10-year deal is effective starting next January and represents Netflix’s biggest push into live content. Following a live sports debut with its “Netflix Cup” […]

As stiffer competition between social media companies shuts out publishers that depend on social traffic, BuzzFeed’s ad revenue drops 35%.

DTC brands bring sharpened audiences and keyword targeting to search-based grocery platforms. But can they beat the CPG giants at their own game?

How will gen-AI content resonate – or not – with consumers? That’s the big question, according to Todd Hassenfelt, Colgate-Palmolive’s ecommerce director.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. A Slow Slide WPP reported lackluster Q2 results during its earnings call on Friday.  The agency holding company saw a “shortfall” in the US, accounting for about 37% of WPP’s biz, which “took us a little bit by surprise,” CEO Mark Read told […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Overconsumed The 80/20 rule stating that relatively few people or causes create the vast majority of results isn’t new.  But there’s a CPG craze underway to capture narrow slices of outsized customers. For instance, a growing and vocal subset of Americans proudly own […]

Ibotta’s consumer-focused offering still makes up more than half of its business, according to CEO and founder Bryan Leach. But its performance marketing network is its future.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Rain or Shine Magna nudged its global ad spend forecast downward in its latest report, released over the weekend, but you can save the drama for your llama. The slide only amounts to a 0.2% drop.  Magna expects that ad revenue will grow […]

With a feared recession yet to materialize, GroupM is feeling somewhat optimistic. The holding company predicts in its midyear forecast, released on Monday, that global advertising is on track to grow 5.9% in 2023, in line with its projection from December.

David Sommer, Snap’s newly appointed head of US verticals, spoke with AdExchanger about how he’s applying his CPG knowledge to the tech space.

Trebel Music has released a ChatGPT-powered product called Trebel AI, which instantly generates personalized playlists in response to natural language queries. Advertisers on Trebel AI can target users in the moment based on their intent.

Hey readers! This is James Hercher, with the latest AdExchanger Commerce dispatch. This week, we’ll highlight a few recent CPG earnings reports, during which legacy food and beverage brands appear more optimistic about their staying power than their startup competitors.