Consuming in a World of Contrasts It appears many (if not most) Americans are living one life with two contrasting mindsets. Understanding these mindsets is the first step in understanding how consumers are evolving and creating challenges and opportunities to retailers.

A few of the panelists started showing organization charts, discussing how they were restructuring their organizations to improve results. Each chart showed hierarchies of boxes, each with a functional name. Some showed how they were restructuring sales and marketing, moving to a Revenue structure. The presented the “before” and “after” org charts, the only thing that seemed to have changed is the CRO role and a RevOPs hierarchy combining marketing and sales ops.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) forecasts a 14% growth in digital video ad spending in 2025, reaching $72 billion. This growth presents a significant opportunity for local media salespeople to tap into new revenue streams by selling video ads on their websites. The shift towards digital video is driven by its ability to deliver engaging, personalized, and shoppable experiences, despite economic uncertainties. As digital video is set to capture nearly 60% of total TV/video ad spend, local media salespeople can leverage this trend to enhance their sales strategies and offer more value to advertisers.

Traditional media—radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, cable, and outdoor—continues to play a vital role in building brand awareness and trust, even as digital platforms dominate the advertising landscape. Despite the rise of programmatic and targeted digital ads, traditional channels offer unmatched transparency, broad reach, and credibility. Growing concerns over digital ad fraud, which costs advertisers billions annually through tactics like click fraud and domain spoofing, are prompting marketers to rebalance their media strategies. Leading brands are integrating traditional and digital media to create full-funnel campaigns that combine mass exposure with precision targeting. As younger audiences rediscover analog experiences, traditional media is proving its resilience and relevance in a hybrid advertising future.

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Every season has its attractions and unique vibe, but the summer is particularly appealing. Nature is alive and green and the sun is warm, providing the perfect landscape and climate for endless fun, family gatherings and opportunities to relax and drain some stress and anxiety from our complex, busy lives. Some might think watching TV is the antithesis of summer compared to being physically active, enjoying the abundance...

AI can write emails and summarize meetings, but it cannot detect emotional nuance, disengagement, or the subtle signals that require human leadership. Strong communication—not automation—is what drives productivity, trust, and team cohesion, especially in high-touch industries like media and advertising. For local media sales reps and ad agency professionals, relying too heavily on AI risks weakening client relationships and team dynamics that depend on empathy, accountability, and real conversation. Smart leaders use AI to support their work—but they lead through human connection, not machine-generated messages.

Industry Press Highlights, Media, Retail, Advertising and the Economy

Lead Change is a leadership media destination with a unique editorial focus on driving change within organizations, teams, and individuals. Lead Change, a division of Weaving Influence, publishes twice monthly with SmartBrief. Today’s post is by Michelle Ray. Six days before the world shockingly and unexpectedly shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was enjoying a lovely breakfast with a young woman named Chelsea.

Mark Zuckerberg’s journey from a Harvard dorm room to leading Meta showcases his visionary leadership, product-first mindset, and resilience under pressure. He built Facebook by prioritizing user experience, embracing bold risks like acquiring Instagram and pivoting to the metaverse. His management style emphasizes mission-driven culture, strategic delegation, and long-term thinking. Case studies such as the Cambridge Analytica response and Meta’s global expansion highlight his ability to lead through crisis and scale effectively. Local media sales reps can learn from his approach by innovating, embracing technology, building trust, and thinking beyond short-term wins.

Whether you are a seasoned executive or simply starting your professional journey, investing in communication training is an investment in yourself that will pay dividends throughout your career. Embrace the power of effective communication and watch as your professional opportunities flourish.

This article provides valuable insights for local media salespeople in newspapers, magazines, billboards, TV, and digital platforms. It covers recent developments in the automotive industry, including tariff adjustments, technological advancements, and production shifts. Understanding these changes can help media sales professionals tailor their strategies to better serve automotive clients and capitalize on new advertising opportunities.

AI Learning Made Easy

In many industries — particularly “white collar” ones — the era of “bosses” is in decline. There is a rise in the need for leaders, guides, coaches, mentors, role-models, creators and builders, but less of a clamoring for bosses, managers, controllers, monitors, evaluators and paper pushers. This shift has been driven by changing demographics, the spread of technology, the rise of unbundled and distributed work, new behavior expectations and a re-definition of what “work” is — including the rise of fractionalized

The new world of work that we face in 2022 requires new leadership competencies. For example, many employees are struggling with mental health issues. As leaders, you must develop the competency of emotional intelligence so that you can create authentic and deep connections with your employees and support their mental well-being. In this new video, learn more about this and the other leadership competencies you need to lead in 2022.