Gen Z Is Redefining Wellness, While Food, Beauty Brands Race To Keep Up

Ever passed a window that made you whip a u-ie, just to take a peek inside? Maybe you’ve snagged a bag of BOGO tortilla chips, ever-so thoughtfully placed in a display next to your usual salsa? Chances are, it’s happened more than once. From alluring window displays to the tiniest of shelf talkers, few elements deliver more impact for a brick-and-mortar locale than in-store signage. In a consumer study conducted by Brigham Young University, products with signs outsold products without signs by 18%. Think of it this way: Signage presents an opportunity to influence consumer behavior at the very moment it matters most – at the time of purchase. And with retail traffic up 44% since the beginning of 2021 (Forbes), it’s prime time to consider how you’re communicating with customers in store. What would Starbucks be without the iconic green mermaid? What would McDonalds be without the infamous, golden arch? These businesses are prime examples of how signage can work with key brand assets to build recognizable spaces, displays and products. Even when the logo appears on a sign without the business name, we still know precisely which brand it refers to. Incorporating custom signage that serves as an extension of your brand (through consistent use of color, fonts, and imagery) builds brand awareness. The more recognizable your brand is, the more it stands out amongst competitors, and the higher the likelihood it stays top of mind at purchase time.

Two Midwest summer mainstays joined forces on a new product bringing together two flavors long associated with each other. Wisconsin brand beer Leninenkugel’s and sausage company Johnsonville partnered on the Summer Shandy Beer Brat, a grilling sausage infused with the flavor of Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy (a shandy is a style of beer mixed with lemonade). The beer brats will be available for sale through late July at participating retailers across 19 states in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest, and Southeast. Johnsonville is also making it available for sale to consumers outside these regions through its website, while supplies last. It’s a partnership with an air of inevitability, bringing together two brands often served alongside each other.

Invalid traffic (IVT) in open programmatic advertising averaged 17% globally across the desktop web, mobile web and mobile apps in this year’s second quarter, according to the latest report from fraud prevention/analytics firm Pixalate. The desktop web had the highest average IVT rate, at 21%, followed by the mobile web at 16% and mobile apps at 13%. Overall, 57% of invalid clicks were generated by click farms and datacenter IVT. On mobile apps, 20% of all invalid clicks were generated by click farms.