Influencer marketing is one of the hottest trends in the industry right now. Brands are teaming up with celebrities, artists, athletes, and more to reach consumers in a way that feels genuine and native to the social platforms they spend all their time on. But all too often, brands jump into these relationships without the proper vetting, which can lead to disaster.

At the 2019 ANA influencer conference, we spoke with Richard Plansky and Benedict Hamilton of Kroll, a corporate investigation company, about brand safety in influencer marketing. Richard and Ben discussed the right way for brands to approach influencer vetting, shared some influencer horror stories, and shed light on one of the biggest misconceptions brands have about “micro-influencers.”

It’s one thing to be agile and innovative when your business is a 10-person startup, “growth hacking” its way to success. It’s another thing entirely when your business has more than 17,000 employees, and a family of more than 20 brands, many of which are household names. David Lee and Ryan Reis of MillerCoors gave the Marketing Futures Podcast a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to make bold ideas work in a multi-billion-dollar company, and discussed why some ideas that seem like “no-brainers” from the outside look at lot different from within. 

The fourth installment in the Future of Brand Activation miniseries features the first Chief Innovation Officer to grace the Marketing Futures Podcast: Lisa Hurwitz, CMO and CIO of Grassroots Cannabis. Lisa welcomed us inside the Grassroots “Herbmobile” to share what it’s like growing a brand for the long-term in the midst of the “gold rush” market of legal cannabis. She discussed the challenges of reeducating consumers about cannabis after decades of stigmatization, and what a typical day looks like for the head of marketing and innovation in an emerging market.

We all get by with a little help from our friends. Today, we're talking with Joel Walker, Group Creative Director at BlueChip Marketing, as our miniseries on the Future of Brand Activation rolls on. Joel and his team have worked with brands ranging from challengers fighting for market share, to category leaders looking to evolve with the times, helping to infuse their marketing with the innovation necessary to drive growth.

Learn what Joel looks for when hiring new team members, and which trend he thinks is about to change the game.

For decades, Barbie has been one of the most iconic toy brands on the planet. However, recently the doll that played an integral role in the childhood of millions began to struggle to keep pace with the changes in society, and relevance (and sales) suffered as a result.

Enter: Lisa McKnight, a 20-year veteran at Mattel, who stepped up to bring the Barbie brand into a new era, creating new revenue streams in the process. Lisa shared her journey that led her to become the Global Head of the Barbie brand, and discussed the key insights that led to the transformation of an icon.

The Marketing Futures Podcast is proud to present a special miniseries on The Future of Brand Activation, recorded on-site at the 2019 Brand Activation Marketing Conference in Orlando, FL. The miniseries showcases brands that are driving growth using key elements of Brand Activation, including influencer marketing, retail activation, commerce marketing, and more.

In 2014, Alvaro Luque was hand-picked to become the first president and CEO of Avocados from Mexico, a not-for-profit organization charged with coordinating the marketing activities for all major Mexican avocado farmers. Just six months later, the brand introduced itself to the world on the largest possible stage for advertising: the Super Bowl. In each of the five years since, Avocados from Mexico has taken either the No. 1 or No. 2 spot on Merkle’s “Digital Bowl Report,” which evaluates Super Bowl advertisers’ digital marketing efforts. Luque shared his philosophy behind the brand’s bold debut strategy, and discussed the omnichannel activations that amplified the brand’s Super Bowl efforts beyond the TV screen.

Innovation takes many forms -- using cutting-edge technology to engage customers, forging unconventional partnerships to bring your brand into new spaces, and taking a bold stand on something you believe in, to name a few. We were lucky enough to speak with the head of marketing for Bacardi, a brand doing all of the above and more.

Ned Duggan, Global SVP of Marketing at Bacardi, talked company culture, the importance of music to Bacardi's brand, and why the company is vowing to eliminate the use of 1 billion single-use plastic straws by 2020.

In the quest to keep up with technological advancements, brands are beginning to enter the world of venture capitalism to "get in on the ground floor" of the next game-changing innovation. But what type of partnerships make sense for brands, whose objectives aren't quick profit, but learnings and competitive advantages? And how does a brand even enter this space? We spoke with Jessica Peltz of MDC Ventures, who shared her journey into the world of Corporate VC, and discussed some tech developments marketers should keep an eye on.

The Hershey Company, celebrating its 125-year anniversary in 2019, was founded by Milton S. Hershey, a serial entrepreneur on a mission to “democratize chocolate,” which at the time was considered a luxury good. Over the years, what began as a simple candy bar has become a globally recognized family of brands, an amusement park, a school, and an entire town. But even a brand as established and beloved as Hershey isn’t impervious to disruption. We spoke with Charlie Chappell, Head of Integrated Media and Comms Planning at The Hershey Company, about the company’s philosophy on innovation, what it took to “digitally transform” its legacy media strategy, and some of the hits—and misses—that the brand experienced along the way.

Artificial Intelligence is already a significant part of most marketers’ toolkits. Whether it’s email automation, product recommendation, programmatic media buying, or data analytics, AI touches a majority of the marketing function. But did you know that the commercial application of AI is still 10 years behind what the technology is actually capable of? We spoke with Michael Trapani, Director of Marketing at IBM Watson Marketing, about the “now, new, and next” of AI, including the future of personalization, the importance of data security, and what the next decade of AI developments has in store for marketers.

A recent study that looked at the 3,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. found that businesses that hire and retain a diverse workforce across the ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation spectrum were better at developing innovative products and services. We spoke with Netta Jenkins, VP of Global Inclusion at The Mosaic Group and Ask Applications, about the importance of not only hiring, but training and empowering underrepresented employees. Netta shared how brands could take active steps to create an inclusive environment for their employees, and laid out the business benefits that come from a broad and dynamic marketplace of ideas.