As we approach 2025, the advertising landscape is poised for transformation, driven by rapid technological advancements, evolving consumer expectations, and regulatory changes, to name a few. At LocalFactor, we pride ourselves on staying ahead of the curve, enabling brands and their agency partners to navigate these shifts effectively. We’ve gathered insights from our team to highlight the key trends, channel-specific developments, and strategies that will shape the advertising landscape in 2025. AI-Driven Personalization & Automation AI has already begun to reshape advertising, and in 2025, it will become a cornerstone of how brands connect with their audiences. Predictive analytics and machine learning will drive hyper-personalized experiences, helping brands reach consumers with the right message, at the right time, in the right context. Chris Hemick, Vice President of Marketing, highlights how this evolution is already transforming the industry: “AI is transforming how brands understand their audiences. LocalFactor’s Geo-Graph™ machine learning capabilities are a prime example of new approaches to connecting with audiences at a granular level—helping brands identify not just where audiences are but also how to deliver relevant messaging effectively.” Expanding on the strategic importance of AI, Marc Rutchik, Vice President of Channel Partnerships, emphasizes its potential to revolutionize decision-making: “AI will continue to be a big trend as brands try to leverage it to be smarter about their advertising. It’s not just about targeting—it’s about using AI to better understand consumers, refine strategies, and make decisions in real-time. The future is about using AI to drive meaningful, personalized experiences.” At LocalFactor, our Geo-Graph™ technology leverages machine learning to identify and engage with audiences at a granular level. Additionally, the 2025 product roadmap contains some exciting updates for expanded AI capabilities, providing a blueprint for how AI will power smarter advertising in the years to come. The Evolution of Connected TV Connected TV (CTV) is on a meteoric rise, and 2025 will see the channel solidify itself within winning marketing strategies. Projections show U.S. CTV ad spend surpassing $35 billion, fueled by advanced programmatic capabilities and the rise of shoppable, interactive ads, CTV offers unparalleled opportunities for engagement. LocalFactor’s expansion of Attention+ technology into the CTV space empowers brands to deliver highly engaging and impactful ads, ensuring campaigns stand out in an increasingly crowded streaming landscape. By integrating data-driven insights with dynamic creative, CTV enables brands to meet consumers where they are—whether binge-watching their favorite series or streaming live sports. In 2025, brands that leverage these advancements will be poised to dominate the screen and capture attention like never before. Kristen McDonnell, Vice President of Customer Success, emphasizes the continued growth of this channel: “CTV’s demand will continue to soar as more consumers cut the cord. The ability to engage with viewers in a more targeted way through programmatic and dynamic creative optimization will keep brands ahead of the curve in an increasingly crowded space.” Omnichannel & Connected Experiences In an increasingly fragmented digital landscape, brands must create unified campaigns that span multiple touchpoints. Omnichannel strategies—seamlessly connecting CTV, social media, digital out-of-home (DOOH), audio and more—will be essential to delivering cohesive brand experiences in 2025. As Kevin Garrity, Vice President of Sales, explains, LocalFactor is uniquely positioned to help brands create these connected experiences: “Brands must focus on delivering cohesive campaigns across multiple channels to capture and retain consumer attention. It’s not just about showing up everywhere—it’s about showing up in the right places, with messaging that resonates.” LocalFactor’s holistic approach to omnichannel marketing ensures brands can maintain consistent messaging and guide consumers through a frictionless journey, from awareness to conversion. With a platform-agnostic strategy, we focus on selecting the right platform for each channel and letting performance metrics drive decision-making. This flexibility allows brands to quickly pivot to capture new trends or opportunities, ensuring they stay ahead in a rapidly changing market. Privacy-First Advertising The pivot to privacy-first strategies will dominate the advertising landscape in 2025, as regulations and consumer demand for transparency reshape the way brands approach audience targeting. Contextual signals and first-party data will replace reliance on third-party cookies, challenging advertisers to innovate without compromising user privacy. Kevin Garrity underscores the importance of this shift: “LocalFactor has always advocated for privacy-conscious approaches to advertising. We believe that brands can succeed with data-driven campaigns that prioritize consumer data privacy and transparency, helping them to both comply with regulations and deliver effective ads.” Chris Hemick adds that privacy challenges present opportunities for creativity: “The rise of privacy regulations is a critical challenge for advertisers, but it also opens the door for innovations in how we approach audience targeting. By focusing on harnessing all types of data in new ways, including first-party data and contextual signals, brands can still reach relevant consumers without compromising privacy.” LocalFactor’s commitment to privacy-conscious advertising ensures that brands can thrive in this new era. By providing cookieless LFID audiences, we help brands navigate privacy regulations while maintaining precision and impact. This approach prioritizes audience-infused geo-targeting, enabling meaningful campaign outcomes without compromising consumer trust. Attention Metrics Redefining Measurement Clicks and impressions on their own are no longer sufficient to gauge success. By 2025, attention metrics—focused on genuine engagement and brand recall—will take center stage. As consumption fragments further, brands will need to shift their focus toward capturing and sustaining consumer attention. Marc Rutchik explains the growing focus on attention as a critical metric: “Brands will continue to emphasize capturing consumers’ attention as consumption continues to fragment. It’s no longer just about clicks—it’s about staying top of mind. The emphasis will shift toward truly engaging consumers in a way that drives long-term brand recall and loyalty, particularly as channels like CTV and DOOH see more competition for eyeballs.” Through LocalFactor’s Attention+ offering and ability to integrate any measurement partners, brands can exceed traditional KPIs to measure meaningful outcomes that drive long-term recall and loyalty. Preparing for 2025 The key to thriving in 2025 lies in intentionality. As Marc Rutchik advises:“Be intentional about where you show up. Whether it’s the right channel or creative, being purposeful will
Redefining Seasonality: How Marketers are Breaking Free from Traditional Holiday Cycles
In the fast-paced world of marketing, the concept of seasonality is undergoing a significant transformation. Gone are the days when holiday and promotional cycles were strictly confined to their traditional timeframes. Today, savvy marketers are reimagining the calendar, seizing opportunities to engage consumers year-round. This shift reflects both changing consumer behavior and the evolving strategies of brands seeking to stay ahead in a competitive landscape. The Shifting Landscape of Seasonality Historically, the marketing calendar was defined by predictable peaks: Back to School in late summer, Halloween in October, and Christmas in November/December. However, these once-clear boundaries are now blurred. For example, this year’s Prime Day in July saw retailers promoting Back to School deals earlier than ever, while Christmas promotions are creeping into the summer months. This shift is driven by changing consumer behaviors, with people shopping earlier and more frequently throughout the year. In fact, 49% of consumers plan to start their holiday shopping before Halloween this year, up from 41% last year. What’s more, 25% now consider holiday shopping a year-round activity, highlighting a significant change in how people approach these seasonal events. The traditional Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend is no longer the dominant starting point, with only 27% of consumers waiting until then to begin their shopping. The Early Bird Advantage The motivation behind these extended promotional cycles is clear: brands are eager to capture attention as soon as possible, often in an attempt to outpace competitors. Advertisers are increasingly moving their messaging and product placement up, sometimes well before the actual season. This strategy not only allows brands to stand out but also offers financial benefits, such as cheaper CPMs during less competitive periods. For instance, one brand launched its Father’s Day campaign a week earlier than usual, capitalizing on lower advertising costs while boosting awareness, traffic, and impressions. This incremental shift may seem minor, but it’s part of a broader trend of stretching seasonality to maximize impact. As traditional seasonality fades, it’s being repurposed as a tool for understanding and targeting consumer behavior. Brands are now adjusting their marketing cycles based on when consumers are most likely to be receptive, rather than sticking to historical timelines. This adaptive approach allows brands to align more closely with consumer needs, whether that means promoting Back to School items during Prime Day or launching holiday sales months in advance. Consumers Drive the Change It’s not just brands that are shifting their approach; consumers are also playing a crucial role in redefining seasonality. Social media platforms like TikTok and Pinterest are fueling this change, with influencers and content creators posting Back to School hauls and holiday inspiration months ahead of time. This early exposure prompts consumers to start shopping and planning earlier, further blurring the lines between seasons. Moreover, the economic pressures of recent years have made consumers more budget-conscious, leading them to seek out deals and inspiration well in advance of traditional shopping periods. This shift in consumer behavior is pushing brands to rethink their promotional strategies, ensuring they remain relevant and top-of-mind throughout the year. How LocalFactor Can Help Marketers Adapt As the lines between seasons continue to blur, marketers must adapt by embracing flexibility and creativity in their strategies. That’s where LocalFactor comes in. Through our advanced Attention+ technology,, brands can seamlessly repurpose creative assets across multiple channels, ensuring their messaging stays relevant no matter the time of year. Attention+ provides valuable insights into what content resonates most with audiences, enabling marketers to make real-time adjustments to optimize performance. In this new era of stretched seasonality, it’s crucial for brands to activate and optimize their campaigns across the channels that are driving results, whether that’s CTV, Audio, or DOOH. LocalFactor’s Performance Engine is designed to provide seamless cross-channel activation and comprehensive data on campaign performance, helping brands identify the most effective channels and adjust their strategies to meet consumers wherever they are. The Future of Seasonality in Marketing As the traditional holiday cycle fades, marketers have an opportunity to break free from the confines of old timelines and create lasting connections with consumers year-round. By leveraging flexible, data-driven solutions like Attention+ and our Performance Engine, brands can stay ahead in this evolving landscape, delivering impactful campaigns tailored to today’s consumer behavior. At LocalFactor, we’re committed to helping brands navigate these shifts and thrive in the new world of marketing. Ready to redefine your approach to seasonality? Let’s talk.
The LFG Performance Engine: A Better Way to Plan, Activate and Optimize Omnichannel Campaigns
LocalFactor launched in 2021 as a response to a series of industry trends that were reshaping the advertising landscape. Market oversaturation, a rapidly changing data environment, underperforming creative content, and operational inefficiencies were just a few of the challenges brands and agencies faced. Our mission was, and continues to be, to tackle these issues head-on. What began as a small team with a big vision has evolved into a tech-enabled powerhouse. At the core of our growth and success is the LFG Performance Engine, designed to help brands and agencies operate more efficiently and effectively. As we celebrate our three-year anniversary, it’s the perfect time to share our perspective on the industry, our vision, and the exciting advancements in our solutions. What is the LFG Performance Engine? LocalFactor is dedicated to helping brands and agencies plan, buy, optimize, and measure omnichannel campaigns across TV, video, display, digital out-of-home (DOOH), audio, and social media. The LFG Performance Engine is our comprehensive system that streamlines the entire process from planning to activation, offering a seamless experience. The engine integrates audience, creative, inventory, and performance data to deliver optimal results. Audience Discovery: Our cookieless audience planning tool identifies where your audience is located. Campaign Delivery: We use geo-based IDs to ensure your campaign reaches the right audience with the right creative in the right inventory. Performance Optimization: Data from campaign performance is fed back into our unified reporting platform, allowing our team to derive insights and make adjustments that impact the entire campaign, rather than optimizing within a single channel. We are continually enhancing our capabilities, ensuring every step of the way is delivering on our mission. Meet the Geo-Graph™: The Foundation of the LFG Performance Engine To address the limitations of legacy identifiers and new alternative ID frameworks, LocalFactor developed the proprietary Geo-Graph™. Unlike traditional device graphs that map attributes to individual identifiers, the Geo-Graph™ stitches data to specific geographic areas. The aim is similar—identifying an advertiser’s target audience—but our approach ensures future-proofed, privacy-focused audience data and consistent cross-channel performance. For each campaign, we activate the Geo-Graph™ by creating LFIDs (LocalFactor IDs), using a brand’s specific audience factors. LFID algorithms use these factors to select localities that best match the target audience. The output is a cookieless segment that is easily activated across all channels. Where We Go Next By creating an LFID audience, campaigns are pre-optimized, setting the stage for efficiency and higher campaign ROI. With the Geo-Graph™ in place, our focus is now on integrating creative and contextual performance data. LocalFactor’s custom Attention+ format dynamically serves tailored content to LFID clusters, and robust creative reporting allows our team to leverage insights for ongoing optimization. Our goal is to enable real-time algorithmic optimizations based on these contextual performance signals, using the data surrounding every impression at the page or app level, to feed into our LFID algorithms. Maintaining a Human Element While AI and technology play an increasingly significant role in the advertising industry, we firmly believe in the creativity and innovation that people—especially our dedicated LFG’ers—bring to the table. We are investing heavily in technology but always ensure we have the right teams to support what we build.. This commitment to a human element is why so many of our clients continue to partner with us, confident that they will always have a dedicated team looking out for their best interests. Their team is fantastic – easy to work with and attentive to details. We look forward to continuing our partnership with them! Supervisor, Horizon Media As we celebrate three years of LocalFactor, we are proud of the progress we’ve made and excited about the future. Our LFG Performance Engine represents a significant leap forward in how brands and agencies can navigate the complex advertising landscape. With innovations like the Geo-Graph™ and a steadfast commitment to maintaining a human touch, we are well-positioned to continue driving success for our clients. To get the most performance out of digital campaigns in 2024 and beyond, advertisers can’t rest on the old way of executing campaigns. Solutions like the LFG Performance Engine do not require significant tech investments or ramp times, and can start delivering real results now. If you’re ready to see how, contact our team to schedule a demo or to learn more!
5 Ways to Elevate Connected TV Campaigns in 2024
The digital advertising landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, with Connected TV (CTV) emerging as a dominant force. Consumers are rapidly abandoning traditional cable for the freedom and control offered by CTV, with projections placing nearly 50% of viewing time on CTV platforms by 2024. Recognizing this trend, advertisers are gearing up, with CTV ad spend anticipated to reach a staggering $26.7 billion. This explosive growth presents an unprecedented opportunity for brands to connect with highly engaged audiences on the big screen. However, simply saturating the market with ads is no longer acceptable. To truly maximize your CTV success in 2024, a refined and strategic approach is key. Here are five key tactics to unlock the full potential of this dynamic platform. Diversify the Inventory Mix Perhaps one of the most significant evolutions of the past year was within ad-supported TV streaming, with both traditional TV networks and newer players jumping in. Advertisers should embrace the ability to reach high-value audiences on powerhouses like Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video. Another area advertisers need to be aware of is the growth in free ad supported TV (FAST) platforms like Pluto TV (Paramount) and Tubi (Fox), which offer cost-effective ways for cord-cutters and cord-nevers to consume content. While both platforms have a strong presence in the US, Tubi currently holds the lead with 51MM users. However, Pluto TV’s global reach of 80MM users suggests a substantial US user base as well. Both platforms, along with other popular FAST platforms, continue to see steady growth, making them attractive options for advertisers seeking to reach large audiences in the US. But premium platforms come with premium prices, and balance is key. Don’t underestimate the power of niche apps that have dedicated communities with passionate viewers, even if their audience size is smaller. Break Down the Silos Connected TV doesn’t exist in a vacuum and integrating CTV campaigns with other advertising channels can create a powerful omnichannel experience that boosts reach, engagement, and return on investment (ROI). Here are some tactics to consider: Social Media: Retarget viewers who saw your CTV ad on social platforms for deeper engagement or website visits Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Use keywords based on your CTV ad to drive relevant searches and capture viewers at the consideration stage. Analyze search queries to inform CTV ad targeting and messaging. Mobile: Retarget viewers engaged with your CTV ad on their mobile devices with relevant ads while they’re on the go. Offer location-based promotions or use geofencing to trigger mobile ads near stores. Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH): Combine the mass reach of OOH with targeted CTV ads to create a memorable, multi-sensory experience. Use OOH to drive viewers to streaming platforms or specific programs featuring your ads. Successful integration requires planning and coordination, but doing so effectively will create a cohesive brand narrative across platforms, reinforcing your message and driving deeper brand recall. Choose channels that align with your target audience and campaign objectives. Leverage unified reporting systems to ensure seamless messaging and track campaign performance for optimization. Integrate New Audience Data and Insights With CTV serving as one component of cross-channel campaigns, it will be important to utilize new data approaches that enable consistent audience targeting, regardless of the channel. The old way of audience targeting quickly falls apart when trying to sync audiences across platforms and tools. Find a partner that can provide scalable audiences that can operate within these environments. LocalFactor’s Geo-Graph™ and customizable LFID audiences are one option for you. Beyond activation, you will also need a way to unify siloed performance data from the platforms. This is something that many brands or agencies opt to do in-house, but to do so requires ample time and resources, and unforeseen challenges tend to arise. Finding a partner who has pre-built connectors across platforms is going to be the fastest way to gain valuable insights. Elevate Your Creative Game While Connected TV still operates largely as a branding medium, there are exciting opportunities for customization compared to traditional TV, allowing you to craft more relevant and engaging ad experiences for viewers. Doing so leads to increased relevance, stronger performance, and deeper consumer insights. Dynamic creative optimization (DCO) is a popular method for customization, which automatically personalizes elements of your ad like the product featured, call to action, or the featured store locations. With this approach you have additional optimization levers based on real-time audience response and engagement metrics. Another popular approach is to add interactive features, like clickable or shoppable elements, that drive viewers to more product information, your website or landing pages. Other engagement driving options include polls, quizzes, and the option to view more videos. There is a ton of flexibility and customization options available that can be tailored to your brand and campaign. Another way to get more out of CTV investments is to dynamically repurpose social media posts for CTV use. LocalFactor seamlessly pulls in any public social posts or stories from a brand, and creates a branded CTV video unit, enabling brands to get more out of their existing assets, at no additional production cost. Successful CTV ad customization brings together audience segmentation, relevant messaging, and seamless integration with the platform and content environment. By utilizing these methods, you can create personalized ad experiences that resonate with viewers and drive desired results for your campaigns. Embrace Uncertainty and Experimentation Pushing into new territory will always come with some uncertainty, which causes some brands to miss out on unique opportunities for growth. Brands should lean into this, understanding some tactics will work, and others won’t. The key is to have a plan and to adapt quickly. A/B testing has been a cornerstone of data-driven marketing, and the same holds true in the realm of CTV. By strategically comparing different versions of your campaign elements, you can unlock insights to maximize engagement, conversions, and overall effectiveness. Here’s a quick guide to get you started: Define goals and metrics: