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You Heard It Here First! | The ClickZ Digest

Introducing #BuildingBrands – The Real Stories Behind the Logos 🚀

Author

Zihan Lyu
April 19, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

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Hi there!

Highlights from today's newsletter:
🎤 10 questions on advertising... with Neverland CEO Josh Harris
🛍️ TikTok's impact on Amazon sales—revealed
📱 An ad format DTC brands are missing

EDITOR’S PICK

#BUILDING BRANDS SERIES
❝

Every shelf is a potential launchpad.

When we sat down with Simon Reznichky, interim CEO at Dripdash, we heard a story of resilience and innovation.

When Dripdash landed in over 1,000 retail stores, it wasn’t because they followed the rules of beverage growth.

They bootstrapped. They pivoted.
They nearly folded when a silent co-packer bankruptcy wiped out supply.
Then—one shelf, one random bodega—led to a brand breakthrough.

Porter Robinson discovered the can.
A few weeks later, Dripdash was co-sponsoring a 100,000-person music festival.

*This is the first story in #BuildingBrands —our new founder-led editorial series on what it really takes to build and survive. These are the honest, often messy journeys behind the logos.

#WEBINAR

Does your brand sell across DTC and Amazon? This webinar is for you!

Join Fospha and TikTok next Thursday to uncover groundbreaking new research revealing the powerful halo effect of your direct-to-consumer (DTC) TikTok ads on Amazon sales.

Learn how to measure and maximize this impact, transforming the halo effect from a marketing mystery into a powerful lever for growth.

Why attend?

  • Quantify TikTok's Halo Effect: Learn how to accurately measure TikTok's influence on your Amazon sales.

  • Discover Unified ROAS: Learn why traditional ROAS doesn’t tell the full story and why Unified ROAS is a game-changer.

  • Dominate on Prime Day: Get data-driven strategies to maximize revenue on Prime Day 2025 and beyond.

Thursday 24th April, 11AM - 11:45AM (PT) / 2PM - 2:45PM (ET)

WHAT WE ARE READING

Connected data allows brands to integrate behavioral, transactional, and demographic information, enabling precise consumer profiling and improved targeted marketing while emphasizing the need for compliant data practices.

Notably, brands achieved up to 25% growth in conversions and observed up to 30 times lift in brand awareness with advanced audience segmentation. As regulations tighten and media fragmentation increases, deploying consent-based connected data is essential for efficient audience targeting and compliance.

Josh Harris, CEO of Neverland, outlines emotional intelligence and adaptation to shifting media as critical qualities for agency leadership, informed by his extensive experience at leading agencies.

His responses provide practical insight for those entering or leading in advertising, emphasizing cultural impact and team accountability. These perspectives are highly relevant for professionals navigating evolving agency structures.

Digital ad revenue reached $258.6 billion in 2024, a 14.9% annual increase, with programmatic, social, and retail media segments experiencing significant gains due to regulatory adaptation and advances in AI-driven targeting.

Marketers are prioritizing omnichannel campaigns, advanced audience segmentation, and privacy compliance to mitigate risks associated with economic and regulatory shifts. These developments highlight the necessity for brands to remain agile, invest in data infrastructure, and monitor evolving compliance requirements to sustain digital ad growth.

TOP VOICE

💭INSIGHTS FROM JORDAN WEST

B2B marketers are eating your lunch. And they’re doing it with an ad…

DTC brands, B2B marketers are crushing it with an ad format you’re missing. The trick? Founder-first LinkedIn posts.

Forget the fluffy brand talk—share real product-building insights: prototypes, feedback, debates, and decisions. It sparks genuine engagement, builds community, and drives top-of-funnel traffic.

When founders speak directly to the audience, they convert. Why isn’t your brand doing this yet?

💭INSIGHTS FROM EMMA BAUDITZ HANSEN

The “Marketing & Communication Manager” Starter Pack 👩🏼‍💻

Included in the box:
💻 A MacBook that never closes
☕ Coffee, because ideas don’t come without it
🎧 AirPods (always connected to the wrong device)
🕶️ Sunglasses for the lunch breaks outside ofc
 📱 LinkedIn and Canva, where the magic (and mild panic) happens
 💄 A touch of lipstick for a perfectly practiced “I’ve got this” face
& a smile that means “This brand is in good hands”

💭INSIGHTS FROM JUAN CAMPDERA

Experience Over Possession, Gen'Z Luxury | Juan Campdera

Gen Z values experiences over owning luxury goods, favoring moments they can share and showcase on social media. This has driven demand for experiential luxury like exclusive events, pop-ups, and limited-edition releases that foster community and exclusivity.

+71% Gen Z say they would rather spend money on an experience than a product.

+75% Gen Z beauty consumers claim that "the brand’s values and storytelling" significantly influence their purchasing decision.

WHAT WE ARE LISTENING TO

🎙 AI-DRIVEN MARKETING

Dan Sanchez outlines a detailed framework for integrating AI into marketing workflows, highlighting three tiers—Faster, Better, Smarter—that address efficiency, customization, and advanced automation. The discussion clarifies how marketers can leverage custom GPTs and brand bots for rapid data analysis, personalized content, and internal process optimization.

Editorial

Contact an editor to create content for your business. [[email protected]]


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