I’m far from a meme expert, but this from Seb Joseph makes sense:

Whether it’s a visual gag, an absurd tagline or a quirky prop, marketers are designing for memefication – baking internet culture into the DNA of their campaigns to ensure they resonate in a world where memes and controversy are the currency of relevance.

“Marketers, if they weren’t already, are now thinking about their brand’s personality with the same nuance they’d use to craft a character in a novel,” said Brundage.

Brands with personalities aren’t just gimmicks – they’re closer to culture than the naysayers think.

Personality is how you stand out.

Also, mass culture is dead:

Subcultures aren’t niche anymore – they’re the culture.

COWEN: I don’t know. There are still democratic incentives in the system. I think people think in generational terms, maybe more than is warranted by the data. I’ve had this discussion with Peter Thiel. He talks about boomers and millennials and Generation X and Z. To me, it’s a continuum, and it’s the events at any point in time that matter a bit more, but I think people disagree on these questions. I don’t think it’s settled.

SCANLON: In terms of?

COWEN: How different different generations are, whether it’s a continuum or you have these fixed start and stop points.

SCANLON: Well, I think it’s in the cult-y thing that we were talking about earlier, where it’s like people want to belong to a certain generation. It’s easy to put yourself in a box that way.

COWEN: Yes, I’m never convinced that’s the right way to look at it.

SCANLON: I don’t think so. I think it creates more problems than answers.

Because generations are garbage

The core intuition is simply that you should be asking more questions.

-Tyler Cowen

Economics views homo sapiens as rational animals (probably my primary beef with the topic of my major).

But we might be better thought of as rationalization animals.

Meet Effort Justification.

Effort invested = increased perceived value of an outcome.

The IAB has put together a handy podcast ad example gallery.

Could be especially useful when talking to decision makers to show the difference between pre-roll and mid-roll, for example.

Personal consumption expenditure index drop day:

From the preceding month, the PCE price index for November increased 0.1 percent
Prices for goods increased less than 0.1 percent and prices for services increased 0.2 percent.
Food prices increased 0.2 percent and energy prices also increased 0.2 percent.
Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.1 percent.

From the same month one year ago, the PCE price index for November increased 2.4 percent

The September dip has been reversed.

2024 saw the streaming TV ad market start to look a lot more digital and less like traditional TV, mostly thanks to the Amazon effect.

A dream combo for advertisers:

Ad-tier subscribers are up

ad-supported streaming “grew dramatically.” In the U.S., the proportion of ad tier users grew from 5% to 17% for Netflix, from 10% to 30% for Disney+, and from 0% to 80% for Prime Video.

Costs are down

That influx of inventory helped bring streaming prices down in the most recent upfront, with buyers saying CPM (cost per thousand viewers reached) discounts ranged anywhere from the mid-teens to 45%, depending on where the pricing started.

What’s 2025 looking like?
Bundles and build outs

via Adweek

Gabe the Bass Player with yet another great post. (Music is a great place to look for marketing inspiration and lessons.)

So hook us in with a great song or two

This is demand creation and capture—where most brands focus their energy.

and keep us hanging around by being consistent.

This is retention—less sexy, way more valuable in the long run.

Everything is customer service. Or you won’t have customers to service.