Latest news with #MillerMcCoy
Forbes
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
How To Make Seamless AI-Driven Streaming Ads: 12 Expert Tips
Netflix is experimenting with AI-powered advertising that mirrors the visual tone and storytelling style of its original content. For brands, this offering presents a new frontier: less intrusive, more immersive marketing that fits into the viewing experience instead of interrupting it. Of course, this opportunity comes with a creative risk: Will a brand integration feel like part of the story or disrupt it? Here, 12 members of Forbes Agency Council share how they envision this AI-ad innovation evolving. Check out their insights and advice below to get it right. 1. Tell A Coherent, Cinematic Story This new model marks a broader shift: Brands are no longer inserting ads into content—they're becoming the content. Audiences reward coherence and craft, not disruption. The future lies in cinematic storytelling where brands feel native, emotionally resonant and worth rewatching. - Sebastian Bondo Petit, WHY CGI 2. Create Emotional Alignment In Immersive Scenes If done right, it could make ads feel more like immersive scenes than interruptions. The key is emotional alignment—if the tone, lighting and pacing match the show, the viewer stays engaged. I don't think it's about being louder; I think it's about being 'invisible' while still leaving a mark. - Miller McCoy, Limitless MFG 3. Add Value To The Viewer Experience Brands have a unique chance to engage audiences in more immersive ways, including content that includes brand integration. This strategy focuses on adding value to the viewer experience, allowing brands to enhance the entertainment rather than interrupt it and contribute meaningfully instead of competing for attention. - Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Hawthorne Advertising 4. Don't Try To Steal The Spotlight This is a great idea that is doomed to failure. AI-generated promotion woven into the style of a show or movie will make consumers much more likely to accept and enjoy the advert. However, CEOs and marketers will hate the idea of their product not being the star of the show. They'll jump on the new format, but ruin it by doing everything they can to make their product stand out like a sore thumb. - Mike Maynard, Napier Partnership Limited Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify? 5. Insist AI Train On Brand Guidelines AI-driven, in-world advertising has real potential, but only if Netflix provides robust brand tools to train AI with each brand's visual and tonal guidelines. An on-demand creative strategy can match the narrative context, but without structured inputs, the result risks tonal dissonance. If executed right, this becomes a seamless, dynamic layer of storytelling. If not, it breaks immersion. - Cagan Sean Yuksel, Dreamspace 6. Make Ads Visual Parts Of The Storyline We, as humans, are inherently visual creatures. Give us images or video, or give us death—not death in reality, but all text and no pictures make your advertising dull. Ads need to be compelling, intriguing and entertaining to capture your audience. It's far easier to gain acceptance by making your ads unobtrusive. Be a part of the storyline. There's huge potential when it's done right. - Terry Zelen, Zelen Communications 7. Adopt It Early And Get The Context Right This is product placement on steroids. Brands that jump on it early and nail the context will win big. The key is blending in so well that you feel like part of the story, not a distraction from it. If your brand can entertain and sell without breaking immersion, you'll crush it. The future of ads isn't interruption; it's seamless and subtle integration. - Tony Pec, Y Not You Media 8. Be Memorable Without Breaking Immersion It could be a game-changer for brands that align creatively with the content. Ads styled like the shows create a seamless experience that feels less like marketing and more like storytelling. If done right, it can boost engagement and brand recall without disrupting the viewer's experience. The key is blending in while still being memorable. - Guy Leon Sheetrit, Guac Digital 9. Extend The Story, Don't Interrupt It If done well, AI-integrated ads could become story extensions instead of interruptions. For brands, the key will be creative alignment and staying true to the show's tone while offering value to the viewer. It's a powerful opportunity, but authenticity and restraint will separate the leaders from the noise. - Mary Ann O'Brien, OBI Creative 10. Prioritize Meaning, Not Mimicry If brands use this to blend in, they'll disappear. Disruption doesn't come from mimicking style—it comes from using context to make meaning. Brands that prioritize resonance over placement here will win. Make something that shows effort and values the viewer's time (thoughtful, not lazy), and they'll reciprocate—not because it targeted them, but because your AI-driven ads earned their attention. - Shanna Apitz, Hunt Adkins 11. Bring Narratives That Feel Native If Netflix pulls this off, it will reset expectations. The brands that benefit most will be those with a clear narrative and strong creative systems in place. This isn't about fitting into someone else's show; it's about showing up with content and stories that feel native to the world you're joining. - Kyle Arteaga, The Bulleit Group 12. Make Ads Feel Like Subplots, Not Pauses For brands, this unlocks a transmedia branding opportunity: embedding their narrative across entertainment layers. Success will hinge on narrative continuity. The ad must feel like a subplot, not a pause. When brand storytelling mirrors the emotional arc of the content, resonance becomes retention. - Vaibhav Kakkar, Digital Web Solutions
Forbes
11-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How To Market Local Brands In Uncertain Economic Times: 10 Expert Tips
U.S.-based companies producing domestic goods have a unique opportunity to stand out as global supply chains face ongoing disruption and the cost of imported goods continues to fluctuate. When such market forces are at work, it may lead consumers to seek out locally sourced products that are produced and distributed closer to home. During times of global economic uncertainty, smart local brands can create powerful marketing campaigns that resonate with buyers by leveraging real transparency and building trust. Here, members of Forbes Agency Council share strategic ideas for marketing domestically made goods and seizing the opportunity to achieve a win for both businesses and customers. Highlighting the benefits of buying domestically made goods, especially in light of shifting import and export economics, can help businesses stand out. They should emphasize how purchasing locally supports the economy, avoids import taxes and keeps money circulating within the community—reinforcing the idea that reinvesting income into local businesses benefits everyone and creates a stronger and more sustainable economy. - Jacquelyn LaMar Berney, VI Marketing and Branding Businesses should highlight the delays and costs of overseas goods, then position their product as the faster, smarter alternative. One idea is to run a 'No Boats, No Borders' campaign—emphasizing speed, reliability and pride in locally made goods while others wait on ships. They can use current headlines to fuel urgency and trust. - Miller McCoy, Limitless MFG Amid shifting global trade, what's always worked still works: Tell the 'why' behind American-made goods and services. You should spotlight your makers, your materials and your mission. Customers want transparency and values they can stand behind, and storytelling turns the supply chain into brand pride. - Mary Ann O'Brien, OBI Creative Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify? Businesses will gravitate toward campaigns that either highlight the cost advantages of domestic production or that play to a patriotic desire to 'buy local.' This is wrong. Brave companies will talk about the reasons why their products are better; they'll highlight benefits and then offer the financial and speed-of-delivery advantages as an aside to make the product's superiority shine. - Mike Maynard, Napier Partnership Limited Local influencers are able to reveal the value and significance of a domestic product. They know the audience well, so they can build in native storytelling about the brand, revealing all its advantages. This will generate interest and trust in the product. - Michael Kuzminov, HypeFactory I recommend focusing on storytelling over slogans. Instead of waving the 'Made in the USA' flag as a reaction to tariffs, you should spotlight the people behind the product—local makers, family-run shops and skilled workers. In uncertain times, customers respond to stability, transparency and the feeling that their purchase supports real people, not just a brand. - Jimi Gibson, Thrive Agency Businesses can run a 'Tariff-Free Guarantee' with promotional locked-in pricing for 2025. They could go a step further and provide a limited-time swap-out of their existing foreign-made product (in-store only) for a new domestically made product for an additional discount. How far a brand wants to push this comes down to making sure the promo tone aligns with the brand's messaging. - Bernard May, National Positions You should focus on highlighting what's close to home. You'll want to build a campaign around transparency: who made it, how it was made and why that matters. Consumers today aren't just looking for the next hot thing. They want brands that reflect their values, their beliefs and their story. You should live the narrative your brand presents. - Monica Alvarez-Mitchell, Pulse Creative, LLC Businesses shouldn't just say their product is made domestically. They should emphasize that its components are also sourced or built in-house or within the country. This signals that their pricing will remain stable and will not be impacted by tariffs or global supply chain issues. In uncertain economic times, buyers value reliability, and full domestic production becomes a key trust signal. - Austin Irabor, NETFLY Being clever is less important than understanding that these economic shifts can lead to fundamental changes in consumer consumption. For example, during Covid, brands that quickly adapted consumer experience strategies to new consumer expectations captured market share. Predicting these changes, especially using first-party data, helps brands thrive (or at least survive) in uncertain times. - Tate Olinghouse, Acxiom
