As TikTok, Instagram, and other social media platforms grow and evolve, brands have new ways to engage with consumers. 

Yes, the “Instagram/TikTok made me buy it!” trend is real, and it’s certainly not just about ads, which many users have gotten great at ignoring. These days, it’s influencer nudging that often pushes customers to buy. Thanks to the widespread use of these platforms and massive followings, influencers are driving sales. Recent studies show social media users (that is, most people) trust influencer promotions more than celebrity ones. And nearly 50% of social media users say they’ve bought a product after seeing an influencer advertise it.

Topics: Innovation, Social Media Strategy and Best Practices, Content Marketing, Branding and Brand Value, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices, Brand Activations

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing the way businesses operate and interact with customers. Brands that invest in AI technology can gain a competitive edge by automating repetitive tasks, improving decision-making, and providing personalized experiences for customers.

Topics: Digital Transformation and User Experience, Content Marketing, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices, AI, Artificial Intelligence

“Ours is a banal sort of apocalypse,” Amanda Hess wrote recently in her New York Times essay “Apocalypse When? Global Warming’s Endless Scroll.”

“From Don’t Look Up to Greta Thunberg videos to doomsaying memes, we are awash in warnings that we are almost out of time. But the climate crisis is outpacing our emotional capacity to describe it.”

Topics: Innovation, B Corporation, Climate Change, Inspiration, Branding and Brand Value, Sustainability Marketing, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices, Climate and Social Justice, Sustainable Brands

2021 sure has thrown the agency world its fair share of curveballs. But with it came new opportunities. We just had to find the right places to take some swings. Among the most notable: a shift in our staffing approach, and how we’ve been able to leverage the MAGNET Global Network, 40 of the most innovative, independently-owned agencies located around the globe.

For the past four decades, KSV has had two addresses. One in Burlington, VT, the other in New York, NY. Employees either lived in VT or NYC. Or close enough to one of those two places to work from the KSV office located there. Not unlike the rest of the industry, if there was an office you go there and work.

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, Digital Transformation and User Experience, Branding and Brand Value, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices

The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed a marked shift in the average consumer, highlighting health and well-being as a top consideration for consumer purchasing decisions while simultaneously creating a shift in how consumers made those purchases. The growing urgency of the call to act on climate change, coupled with awareness around environmental justice and true commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion, also meant that consumers significantly changed how and where they were spending their money. 

Topics: B Corporation, Climate Change, Branding and Brand Value, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices, Climate and Social Justice, Sustainable Brands

Changing customer needs, shifting client expectations, rapidly evolving technology, unforeseen global circumstances and long overdue social awakenings… plain and simple, marketing is not what it “used to be.” The classic marketing mix of product, price, place and promotion - the 4 P’s seared into the memories of those of us who may have majored in marketing and communications back in the day - has become much more nuanced and a whole lot more complex. 

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, Digital Transformation and User Experience, Branding and Brand Value, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices

Today’s consumers are clamoring for the brands they support to be a part of creating a better, more sustainable future. This is readily apparent when it comes to the beauty industry, which after decades of creating countless enemies and being one of many major contributors to the climate crisis, has undergone a period of serious self-discovery and a very public, consumer-driven transformation journey.

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, B Corporation, Climate Change, Branding and Brand Value, Sustainability Marketing, D2C, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices, Sustainable Brands

An annual quick Google search will tell you that customers are different. They have different priorities, different concerns and higher expectations. Those differences significantly affect the customer journey, or the total sum of experiences that customers go through when interacting with your company and brand. 

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, Digital Transformation and User Experience, Research, Branding and Brand Value, Sustainability Marketing, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices

To say that a lot is happening in the world to inspire change right now would be an understatement: a call for social justice, an all-out last-ditch effort to gain a sense of normalcy back from the hands of COVID-19, and more momentum than ever before to take action against the effects of climate change and reverse the impact of centuries of environmental damage caused by waste generation, overconsumption, and rampant pollution. 

All around us, we are seeing change happen on a massive scale. But if there’s one thing we know from years of working to trigger individual behavior change, it’s that small choices add up to create impact over time. Choosing to use reusable bags over plastic, switching out a fossil fuel heating system for an electric heat pump, opting to compost instead of trashing food waste, taking the first step to learn about community solar, or even making the effort to purchase clean beauty products over those with potentially harmful and toxic ingredients… all of these choices add up in the long run, even if, at the most individual level, it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, B Corporation, Research, Climate Change, Sustainability Marketing, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices, Climate and Social Justice

Last week we introduced the topic of pushing past fear to authentically and clearly communicate your brand’s values, discussing the power that fear holds over us and why, in actuality, fear is a liar. This week, we’re continuing the conversation, taking a deep dive into the “how” of pushing past fear to effectively message your brand’s mission.

Topics: B Corporation, Climate Change, Branding and Brand Value, Sustainability Marketing, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices, Climate and Social Justice