Now What?
DIGIDAY
Last fall, lots of people started likened the pandemic to a time machine. Months of lockdown turned unprecedented numbers of American consumers into video streamers, digital shoppers, remote workers, keyboard activists, sourdough bakers. It glued us to our computers, and kept us up late, doom-scrolling.
The pandemic isn’t technically over, but it was briefly subdued enough that, this fall, many will resume pre-pandemic routines.
People will commute to and from their offices; those with children will drop them off and pick them up from school; concert halls and sports stadiums will throw open their doors. In short, those changed Americans will step out of that time machine, into...what exactly? We have all made it to the future, but what does it look like? If COVID really did cram five years of ecommerce growth into 15 months, then will live video shopping really take hold?
If 18 months of lockdown and hundreds of millions of streaming service subscriptions really flattened the fight for the future of TV, who is going to win? If an overnight surge in food delivery didn't make its leading startups profitable, what will? Digiday sought to answer some of these questions across its three brands with a fall preview package. The stories will roll out starting at the end of August; new installments will be dropped every day.
Future Of Tv
The final four months of 2021 will offer a test to see what the new normal looks like for the future of TV as the competition for people’s attentions heightens — and flattens.
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With ecommerce exploding, the publisher-created gift guide has never been more important to brands. They remain difficult to influence.
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The future of
gift guides
After dipping their toes in the NFT pool, publishers are newly bullish about blockchain with new initiatives and bigger teams.
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The future of blockchain
Under COVID-19 lockdown, Twitch became a fully realized lifestyle platform. As the pandemic recedes, these new types of Twitch streamers raise questions.
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The future
of Twitch
How we'll watch
How we'll shop
How we'll live
With most media and marketing professionals not fully recovered from 2020, the coming return to offices will test everybody even more.
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Another wave
of burnout
Over the past year, makeup and skin-care collabs and brands have been launching practically every week for anyone (or anything) with a following.
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Celebs as DTC
Though the fashion industry faced its ups-and-downs in 2020 and continues to deal with Covid-19 ramifications, one category greatly benefited during this period: resale.
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Future
of resale
So much for taking inspiration from amusement park-like international malls. In the pandemic world, malls are taking cues from Americans' newly realized comforts of home.
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Future
of Malls
With a longer, uncertain holiday season looming, retailers want job seekers to start thinking about their holiday plans before summer ends.
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Future of in-store
recruiting
A little over a year ago, DTC brands were said to be facing a reckoning. Thanks to the pandemic, it never came. Did it disappear forever, or was it just delayed?
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The DTC-pocalypse
Publishers are beginning to deploy new tactics to attract and retain subscribers as paywalls abound.
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Subs fatigue
With consumer mindsets in unprecedented flux (and cookies going away), agencies are building (or updating) huge audience panels to keep track.
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Agency
surveillance
As local responses to COVID-19 continue to evolve independently, marketers are being forced to think locally.
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Tale of
two cities
Private browsing used to be for the tin foil hat set. This fall, some of the largest tech companies in the world will try to make it mainstream.
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Logged Off
Startups like Doordash are hoping that making more of the food they deliver will bring them closer to sustainability.
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The future of food delivery apps
People will commute to and from their offices; those with children will drop them off and pick them up from school; concert halls and sports stadiums will throw open their doors. In short, those changed Americans will step out of that time machine, into...what exactly? We have all made it to the future, but what does it look like? If COVID really did cram five years of ecommerce growth into 15 months, then will live video shopping really take hold?
If 18 months of lockdown and hundreds of millions of streaming service subscriptions really flattened the fight for the future of TV, who is going to win? If an overnight surge in food delivery didn't make its leading startups profitable, what will? Digiday sought to answer some of these questions across its three brands with a fall preview package. The stories will roll out starting at the end of August; new installments will be dropped every day.