At first glance, halting brand advertising in the heat of a U.S. presidential election season might seem like a wise move. Political advertising sops up inventory and boosts costs for everybody, after all. But is going dark always smart?

Pocstock CEO Steve Jones sees serious flaws in the artificial intelligence platforms that marketers are using to find stock images of multicultural people.

Celebrities were among the earliest influencers, especially famous entertainers who enthralled fans and swayed consumers in person or print, over the air or on a screen. But that was eons before social media grew pervasive and reverse-engineered the process, changing life for generations born after the Internet shrunk the world. 

Nowadays, fame and celebrity aren’t prerequisites for mass persuasion; renown can grow as individuals become influencers on social media, helping brands connect to targeted slices of cyberspace. 

One hallmark trait of storytelling is research. Generally, journalists take a deep dive into the topic, issue or incident. While marketers lean into analyzing personas and targeted audiences when they conduct market research, the outcome is the same – to craft a compelling narrative. 

An important research tool to provide strategy and insights is focus groups. In the past five years, the SRB team conducted market research for our public health, energy and utilities and higher education business verticals. This blog is to unpack several tips you can use.

President George H.W. Bush inspired a national service movement in his 1989 inaugural address when he compared America’s many clubs and volunteer organizations to “a thousand points of light." He did not specifically mention employee-volunteer programs then, but three decades later, those company-sponsored initiatives are clearly sparklers in the nation’s firmament of generosity.