Julius Roberge

Design trends don’t emerge in a vacuum; they’re shaped by life influences, reflecting shifts in our culture, values, and behaviors. Explore 6 sensory-driven design trends that transform how we feel about the future, inspiring new ideas and experiences.

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Oh boy, so a mysterious third-party is crawling and indexing your site and feeding that to Perplexity. How wonderful :) -> In response to plagiarism allegations, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas says the company “is not ignoring” robots.txt, but does rely on third-party web crawlers "Srinivas said the mysterious web crawler that Wired identified was not owned by Perplexity, but by a third-party provider of web crawling and indexing services. Srinivas would not say the name of the third-party provider, citing a NDA. Asked if Perplexity immediately called the third-party crawler to tell them to stop crawling Wired content, Srinivas was non-committal. “It’s complicated,” he said." #perplexity #google #seo #ai

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I'm nervous about tomorrow, but it gave me a little extra comfort to weigh in on this year's election. CBS Sunday Morning News was a chance to go mainstream with the perspective I can bring. I got the "walk and talk" shot with David Pogue and I got emails from my family and friends who watch the show. In this business I'm in, we're responsible for help shaping messages and experiences that define what people think about brands. Hopefully based on a truth. Can't say the truth piece feels quite as true anymore for political ads. Although that was probably debatable about marketing as a whole, unfortunately. And It's harder than ever to unify people around a message-- we've moved beyond the broad message to much more niche. In many ways good because there was an assumed bigger perspective that left many out. But we're also losing a shared narrative, which makes truth impossible. And in media today we must navigate the complexity of platforms and subculture to try to align people around a set of values and beliefs, if not a message. We must try and break through peoples' bubbles-- that they aren't even aware they are a part of. Or maybe they are and don't care. Luckily with brands we still have to play the long game. So we haven't gone all negative. We need to build the brand over time. In politics, fear of what could happen can be more unifying than the hope and belief of real change. It's an all or nothing for candidates, so they have to go all in. They don't just have a low sales quarter. The winner of the election controls the next 4 years. The loser gets nothing. However while fear can serve as a unifier or at least a barrier to voting for your opponent, it doesn’t work as well as a motivator for most. I just hope we've given people enough to show up for: pride, hope, optimism, joy--belief that moving forward is a good thing.

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This is a great perspective on the "path to purchase." In this latest report, Mars United Commerce presents a new approach to the classic “path to purchase” that starts with shopper mindsets rather than the more traditional focus on behaviors or tactics in this latest report. Download your copy here: https://lnkd.in/gCkj6Ysz #pathtopurchase #ecommerce #commercemarketing #strategy

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For brands, the highest honor, and greatest reward, is irrational love. The benefits are many. People are more likely to forgive you, pay more for your products, stay loyal when new competitors emerge and they'll instantly want your product...no. matter. what. As we dream up the next INNOCEAN USA, building and measuring irrational love for brands is critical to our mission. And the person at the heart of this is Cindy Scott, author of the Ad Age article below.

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Some good news for a Monday morning. ☀ We're working with Botā and their clean products. Current practices within the beauty and home products industries deplete natural resources, damage oceans, hurt wildlife, and produce harmful microplastics, but the biggest challenge is packaging waste. The beauty industry alone produces at least 120 billion pieces of packaging each year. Botā are helping you, us, everybody make clean choices via their online shop where they have curated the best of the best clean products. Please check this out. #cleanproducts #ecommerce #socialmedia #digitalmarketing

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How Consumers, Manufacturing, and Agencies Are Evolving in the Age of AI In today's episode of AI in Marketing: Unpacked, we talked with Lauren Morgenstein Schiavone, a former P&G executive, about how consumers, manufacturing, and agencies are evolving in the age of AI. Consumers are becoming more and more demanding, and they expect brands to be able to meet their individual needs. Manufacturers are under pressure to be more efficient and to produce higher quality products. And agencies are being asked to do more with less, and they need to be able to use AI to their advantage. Lauren's insights are invaluable for anyone who wants to stay ahead of the curve in the world of AI. Click the link below to listen to the full episode: 👉🏻 https://lnkd.in/g8UfYQ96 #AI #marketing #business

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This great article from my colleague at VaynerMedia EMEA, Su May Tan, highlights how social is shift what "good" creative looks like. A handful of people in the boardroom "crafting" perfection doesn't make effective work for a world where the algorithms enable people to organically discover content based in their interests. Check out the article below and find out more about why using niche social audiences to find right is a smarter move than going all-in on one objectively perfect aesthetic and hoping it works.

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#CauseAndEffect #BurdenOfProof #BetterSafeThanSorry Unsolicited advice for advertisers making claims about net-zero emissions, bamboo products, or recyclability: Until there is clarity on what qualifies as an “internationally recognized methodology,” it’s probably best to stop making environmental claims - not just in the oil and gas sector -, or have a chat with legal.

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Who will the merger between Omnicom and IPG be good for? Not for employees - Expect to see layoffs and for those that remain, a huge amount of busywork adapting to new corporate policies and procedures. Not for the work itself - Consolidating creative agencies and media buying will further water down creativity and disincentivize innovation. Not for clients - See above. It's a survival move with shareholder value being the primary consideration. Could these holding companies have saved themselves by other means? I've worked at big brands and small startups, big holding companies and small agencies -- and I can tell you that the best work, the most creativity and the most innovative solutions are coming from the smaller outfits. If you're a brand of any size looking for an agency partner that will deliver outsized value, consider these smaller guys, to name just a few. nmbl, Public Display of Affection (PDA), Magic Camp, Darkroom, X&O, QRY

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Whiskas playfully challenges the "dog vs. cat" debate, highlighting the benefits of feline friends without alienating dog lovers. 🐶🐱 This approach demonstrates how to integrate context and shape expectations in a way that resonates with a broader audience. #Campaign #Marketing #BrandPurpose #Brand

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Great article from my friend Ted in the New Yorker. “The companies promoting generative-A.I. programs claim that they will unleash creativity. In essence, they are saying that art can be all inspiration and no perspiration—but these things cannot be easily separated. I’m not saying that art has to involve tedium. What I’m saying is that art requires making choices at every scale; the countless small-scale choices made during implementation are just as important to the final product as the few large-scale choices made during the conception.” https://lnkd.in/gPRRy47z

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Want to know what it's like to work with 3 strategists from 3 different agencies on your brand? Partnering with Wes Henstock of Confid3ntial™ and Ash Rathod of DFC Studio (Digital Focus Creatives) feels a bit like when the Avengers come together for that big fight... We merge our forces to solve complex problems with simple outputs... and once the world is safe again, we return to our main storylines. For us, this collaboration is a no-brainer because 1+1+1=33. That’s three times the value, speed, impact, and fun! Check this vlog to dive deeper into the behind-the-scenes of this global rebranding project, and if that sounds good, DM for a free consultation. ___________ What’s next? Well...you can do 4 things: 1 - Hit the bell icon on my profile to be notified when I post. 2 - DM me to chat about all things brand, design and beer. 3 - Say “brand and beer” three times and then decide what’s next. 4 - Ignore all the above and start working on your brand. ___________ #branding #b2bmarketing #strategy

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Figuring out your brand story/foundation/essence/platform — whatever you want to call it 😝 — makes *everything* easier. It helps you make defensible decisions at every stage of the game. This is why it's worth the investment. Thanks to our client 🥰 Kathryn Shah at Spring & Mulberry on this Entreprenista interview for articulating it so well. We at Letter A love being your secret weapon. #branding #brandstrategy

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With a world focused on instant gratification sometimes the importance of consistent brand presence goes unnoticed. Chief Brand Officers are the unsung heroes that keep the ship from hitting that iceberg. This is a good read if you are interested in finding out how instrumental branding is to your success.

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Sustainability; the marketing mountain few have summited and upon which many have died. From packaging alternatives that fail to perform in the same way as conventional, to premium pricing strategies that prompt consumers to wonder why they need to pay for the privilege. The unfortunate reality is that few sustainability initiatives have proven to work broadly in market. A new study from Protobrand shows that there are four distinct ways in which consumers' relationship with earth is framed, and each of these provide fertile ground for brands to activate. Which consumer persona does your brand activate? The reckless destroyer? The symbiotic transactor? The responsible guardian? The Nature tranquilizer? We invite you to explore these mindstates, even if you do not have a sustainability strategy! Every brand activates at least one of these mindstates. And that is worth a chat.

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Oh, brilliant advertising, how I miss you so -- annual Labor Day post. Vita est lavorem = Life is a job #whenadvertisingtriedharder #creativitymatters #adsworthsharing #ohbrilliantadvertising https://lnkd.in/dA-vjAT6

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This is going to be a real challenge. Recognizing the importance of authenticity in brand story telling is critical. And as the author states..."The key is to blend the innovative capabilities of AI with the irreplaceable value of human insight, ensuring that your brand tells authentic stories that resonate with your audience." #authenticity #authenticcontent

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