Culture

The pandemic turned work-life on its head. We’re caught in the tumbling load of a never-ending workday, pinballing between Zoom and Slack, duking it out with the family for WiFi, dishes piling up around us in our office…er…kitchen, and just trying to hold it together while we just. take. a. minute. to. remember. what. day. it. is.

Of all the common themes in science fiction – spaceship battles, alien invasions, colonized planets – the most tenacious might be the question of what happens when machines become more like people.

Last year was the year we lived vicariously through social media. Cooped up indoors, it was our portal to the outside world, removing the miles between us and our friends, family and colleagues.

Years from now, when historians and cultural anthropologists look back at the 2021 Super Bowl ads, what will they glean about our culture today?

Within the advertising world, there is an inherent stigma associated with targeting older consumers. Too often marketers believe their next job lies in reaching young, hip consumers rather than focusing on the customers that are going to translate to the most sales today.

Times of crisis lead to spikes in innovation and enterprise. And times of global crisis lead to global changes.

The Super Bowl is the single biggest entertainment event in the United States, and has always been a cornerstone strategy for brands to reach a massive audience in a brand-safe environment (wardrobe malfunctions notwithstanding).

Concept testing, whether it’s for early ideas or for alpha and beta testing of new products and devices, can help companies avoid expensive failures and maximize new revenue streams.

Amanda Follit knows the effect of hearing the wrong words at the wrong time: “Many moons ago, I was put off anything to do with computers by just one teacher, and that changed the path I took for a while,” she recalls.