This story is the third in a series on women leaders working to increase brand investment in women’s sports.

In 1995, Nike released an ad called “If You Let Me Play,” which emphasized the benefits of sports for girls and women at a time when fewer of them were encouraged to be athletes.

Kate Johnson remembers it well. At the time, she was a teenager in Oregon (Nike’s home state), and she had recently taken up rowing. The ad had a big impact.

“It was the first time a brand made me feel seen as a young teenage girl,” Johnson told Marketing Brew.

It was around the same time that Johnson wrote in her journal that she wanted to go to the Olympics, and she did, in more ways than one. In 2004, she won a silver medal in rowing at the summer games in Athens, and a couple years later, she went on to work for IMG Consulting, where she eventually led an international team responsible for executing Olympic sponsorships for brand clients.

Now, she’s a member of the International Olympic Committee, as well as the director of global sports, media, and entertainment marketing at Google—perhaps no surprise considering the impact the Nike campaign had on her at such an early age.

Becoming a brand marketing exec wasn’t always an easy path, Johnson said, but eventually, she worked her way into leadership positions that allowed her to make change not only at the companies she worked for, but in the world of women’s sports more broadly.

Continue reading here.—AM

E-commerce + online shopping is a booming biz, but consumer expectations vary a lot.

Wanna get a clearer picture of what keeps shoppers coming back? Start here: Rokt commissioned The Harris Poll to conduct research with 6k consumers across global markets. These include the UK, Japan, the US, and France, to name a few. Say hello—or bonjour—to some timely insights.

Rokt x The Harris Poll’s report highlights trends among young consumers, the role of relevance in e-commerce, and business blindspots you may be missing. To nurture long-lasting consumer relationships, you’ve gotta take a peek at the latest shopper deets.

Stay on the pulse—and stay relevant—with a free copy of the report.

It’s December, which means execs across industries are thinking about how to log off for the holidays as soon as possible what’s to come in 2024.

Forrester’s marketing analysts took a look at the media and advertising landscape—including the agency world in particular—and are anticipating that next year will be defined by big wins for big tech companies like Google, Meta, and TikTok, gains for gaming, and, of course, plenty of AI discourse.

David and Goliath? As the Forrester analysts note in their predictions report for media and advertising, 2023 was somewhat rocky for the big media and tech companies, but they’re well positioned to “further cement their value with advertisers” entering 2024. TikTok specifically is on track to potentially claim the majority of ad budgets that marketers targeting Gen Zers are diverting from linear TV, Forrester predicts.

Google will lean into generative AI to “sustain its dominance as the No. 1 search engine,” the analysts wrote, and they encouraged marketers to keep their SEO and search marketing strategies from falling by the wayside as they focus on Gen Z and TikTok.

The fastest-growing media channel in 2024, according to Forrester, will be in-game advertising. Almost half of online US adults who use smartphones said they regularly play games on their phones, and although “gaming remains a laggard medium for advertisers,” media giants like Microsoft and Sony are leaning in, which could help convince some advertisers to follow suit, according to the report.

AI errors: While AI presents opportunities for tech companies and advertisers, it also poses risks. Brands and agencies generally tend to disclose when they use AI in creative, but some “unscrupulous advertisers” have been less transparent, Forrester noted. With the 2024 election on the horizon, the report predicts that “deepfake ads will become the primary accelerant for election misinformation.”

Read more here.—AM

Is your neighborhood market using ChatGPT this holiday season?

A new report from American Express found that a quarter of small businesses surveyed planned to use AI to expedite tasks like social media posts, marketing campaigns, seasonal hiring, and customer emails amid the year-end shopping rush. The survey also clocked a 7% bump in the number of business owners who said they were “generally prioritizing AI” from a similar midyear report.

Small businesses see these tools as a way to stretch limited resources and compensate for smaller staffs amid what’s often their busiest time of year, according to Brett Sussman, VP and head of marketing and sales at AmEx’s Business Blueprint and Banking.

“One of the things they consistently tell us is they always feel like they’re potentially a little bit short-staffed,” Sussman told Tech Brew. “And they’re always thinking about, ‘How can I hire and how can I retain my employees?’ And so I think they’ve really taken AI as a tool for them to become more productive with their existing staff.”

But Sussman said there’s also a sizable contingent of small business owners who are wary about tapping into AI because of risks involved. Younger small business owners tended to be more willing to take the dive; 50% of Gen Z owners and 36% of millennial owners planned to use the tech, according to the AmEx report.

“There certainly is a bifurcation that there is one group who are very excited about the productivity benefits, and there’s a second group that’s very skeptical about AI and worried about some of the data-sharing and the privacy elements of AI,” Sussman said.

Keep reading on Tech Brew.—PK

Level up your career with these resources from our sponsors!

• The Fidelity Advantage 401(k)SM team debunks misconceptions surrounding a small business’s 401(k) options

• Take a glimpse at this year’s consumer spending trends before you finalize your Black Friday and Cyber Monday strategy

• Understand the psychology behind customer decision-making during Marigold’s free webinar

• Connected TV is poised for advertising greatness—here’s how to unlock its possibilities

• Unlock the secret to elevating your TV advertising game with this white paper

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

ABC: What Gen Z professionals are looking for from the agency world.

Clone: This infographic has suggestions on training ChatGPT to reflect brand voice.

Metacognition: A Meta exec weighs in on “what separates a good marketer from a bad one.”

Workshop: It’s not too late to add one more skillset to your resume before years’ end. We’ve partnered with no-code app expert Tara Reed, to bring you another FREE workshop December 12th @ 8 pm EST. Learn how to use drag & drop no-code tools and structure a business model around your app idea. Reserve your spot now!

Shoppers have spoken: Keeping up with consumer expectations is essential for retail success. Make sure your relevance isn’t at stake by checking Rokt x The Harris Poll’s research with 6k global consumers.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

Executive moves across the industry.

• Leslie Berland, former CMO of Twitter and Peloton, was named CMO of Verizon.
• Kevin Warren, the CMO of UPS, is leaving the role at the end of 2023, at which point the role will be eliminated.
• Laurie Curtis, most recently VP of marketing and menu innovation at Denny’s, is the new CMO at Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux.

Heinz, The Coca-Cola Company, Levi’s, and other leading brands are testing the waters with generative AI to create unique social campaigns.

Insider Intelligence curated an actionable cheat sheet to help marketers plan for success in 2024 and to quickly understand how AI can help with campaign creation. Find out how tools like ChatGPT can inspire fresh ideas, generate captions for improved accessibility, and incorporate consumers into brands’ organic social campaigns.

Download your copy today.