Google’s New ‘Unsubscribe’ Tool Puts Direct Mail Back in the Spotlight.

A new Gartner, Inc. survey1 found that 87% of business leaders expect to increase organization investment in sustainability over the next two years. As packaging professionals, we can help customers reach their sustainability goals while continuing to meet day-to-day business needs. As companies prioritize sustainability, its importance grows across organization departments – all of which have different day-to-day business needs to consider. Understanding customers’ unique motivations and needs will help guide impactful conversations. What are their goals? How do they measure success? What keeps them up at night?

Measurement is one of the industry's biggest challenges. The IAB State of Data 2022 report released Tuesday reveals that many executives are less prepared for the deprecation of third-party cookies than first believed, and there is a great deal of work to be done to mitigate the risks to revenue, brand visibility, and customer relationship management. The IAB called on the industry to form universal measurement standards during the company's annual leadership study, citing Meta's $10 billion revenue hit based on changes in privacy standards. The data concludes that advertisers “are on the brink of losing their ability to measure advertising campaigns.” As the industry’s sense of preparedness grows, implementations have made little progress.

Tackling a global health crisis has looked different for different retailers. For United by Blue, an outdoor brand that sells through its own site as well as retail partners, it looked like holds on order shipments, followed by cancellations on those orders. It proved a tough position to effectively run a business. Mike Cangi, co-founder of United by Blue, said the company swiftly noticed that its peers were also struggling in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, and thought there may be a solution in them all banding together. The result was a joint sales event between some 15 to 20 mission driven brands in April, dubbed "I Stand With Small," in an effort to drive traffic — and hopefully sales — to each other's businesses. "It was really just a joint marketing and sales tool for us to help get through what was a really tough time with a lot of uncertainty in April of this year," Cangi said. "And it was really successful." For the brands, it did what it was supposed to do: give them a lift at a much-needed time. But for consumers, it was also a plus, by introducing them to new brands that held similar values to the ones they already bought from, according to Cangi. After the initial sale's success, the companies started talking about working together again, and thus, the effort was renamed the Mission Brand Alliance and a website launched to showcase the brands in July. more at: https://www.retaildive.com/news/why-20-brands-are-sending-out-a-joint-holiday-catalog-this-season/591499/