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businessJun 8, 202642:37pending

How marketers should reconsider culture and short-term strategies — with Thinkbox's Elliott Millard

About this episode

Ask marketers what they hope to accomplish and, as part of the effort to drive sales outcomes, these days, many will say they want their brand to contribute to and sit within culture

But that begs the question: how do you define culture?

There is a sense that culture is youth-driven and based on social currency – are you up to date on the latest trend? On what people are talking about right now? Are you speaking their language?

But a new study presented at a Thinkbox event last week found that marketers might just be thinking about culture in too narrow a way, and a change in framing might cause them to rethink their media investment.

Elliott Millard is the chief strategy officer at Thinkbox. He sits down with host Jack Benjamin to discuss how brands are advertising through macroeconomic adversity, and how they should reconsider how to best make a cultural impact through their advertising. 

Highlights:

3:36: Adversity facing advertisers: Are CMOs actually embracing brand advertising again?

10:32: Brands aren't doing short-termism the right way

15:54: The media channels that are the biggest drivers of culture

22:02: The cultural half-lives of online trends

28:14: The power of predictability and the ability to plan reactivity

38:07: Brand dynamics as a network effect

Related articles:

Brands could double their media investment and still generate a profitable return, claims WPP Media report

The cultural moments that will matter to media in 2026

Go woke, go broke? Brands on the front line of the culture war

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How marketers should reconsider culture and short-term strategies — with Thinkbox's Elliott Millard

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