Today's consumers are beginning to place a greater emphasis on experiences in lieu of possessions. This is due, in part, to their desire to interact with the world and disengage from the devices they hold so dear.

In last year's holiday season, sales increased 2.9% over the previous year. While year-over-year growth is encouraging for brands, it actually fell short of National Retail Federation projections (4.3 - 4.8%). Looking at the growth more closely, it's clear that consumers are starting their shopping earlier than ever before. Holiday sales grew at a 5.1% rate during the first half of the season, but gained only 0.9% in the second half. Which days does your brand need to capitalize on this holiday season? Let's take a look!

This September, in honor of National Childhood Cancer Awareness month, our team is participating in the annual Alex’s Million Mile initiative. This month-long event, hosted by the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, calls for teams from across the country to walk, run, and ride a collective total of one million miles before the month is up in order to raise awareness and funds for pediatric cancer research.

For brands, connecting with younger consumers remains one of the most tried-and-true methods for building a loyal following. However, in today’s increasingly cluttered digital landscape, it’s getting more difficult to reach younger audiences en masse. Whether it’s through ad-blocking while surfing the internet or avoiding commercials by watching streaming services such as Netflix, younger consumers are seeing fewer and fewer traditional advertisements.

Last year, Instagram reached one billion active monthly users, surpassing that of parent company Facebook and once-competitor Snapchat. But. between constant algorithm alterations, experimental changes, and a surplus of daily content, it’s becoming more difficult than ever to create engaging posts for your audience on “The ‘Gram.” And, with more than 80% of businesses considering engagement to be their most important metric, this poses a major concern for brands and influencers alike.

This football season, it's likely that you'll see plenty of commercials depicting men on a couch. The reality, though, is that women are big sports fans, too. Driven by expanded youth sports participation and the rise of professional women's sports leagues, female sports interest is on the rise. Here, we'll take a look at the age breakdown of female sports fans, their favorite sports/leagues to watch, their favorite athletic brands, and where to reach them while they're watching the game.

Whether it's at work, play, or leisure, millions of Americans have bought into the wellness movement in an attempt to live a healthier life. One such way is with physical activity, and that has led to a rekindling of the flame between Americans and the outdoors. Here, we shine a light on the outdoor enthusiasts among us in an attempt to understand who they are, what they like, and how brands should communicate to them in order to separate their products from the rest of the pack.

In the fast-paced world that is the internet, keeping up with all the latest trends can be a challenge. Even those of us who fancy ourselves as trend-spotters, your author included, will recognize that there are plenty of blind spots to be uncovered on the world wide web.

We know that experiential marketing can be an extremely effective way for brands to make one-on-one connections with consumers, build brand awareness, and increase brand loyalty. However, you can take the buzz around your activation to the next level by getting the media involved.

According to analysis from UBS, the hard seltzer category is currently a $550 million business, and it could be worth up to $2.5 billion by 2021. Likewise, Nielsen tells us that the category has grown 200% over the past year, with 164.3% of that coming from the month of July alone. Added together, these numbers seem to confirm what we’ve already seen with our eyes this summer: hard seltzer is here to stay.