Lindsey Giardino
Lindsey Giardino is a freelance writer based in Iowa. She's worked with clients ranging in industries from higher education to healthcare to technology and beyond. She dubs herself a lifelong learner, an avid reader, a sub-par cook, and a tries-her-best mom to two little boys.
Meta’s Scam Economy: Advertisers Are the Only Ones Who Can Stop It
Meta has been doing nothing but accepting revenues from the scams its consumers fall for. With more than a billion users operating two to three social media platforms—while innocently claiming to connect friends and families—and raking in millions and billions of dollars, Meta continues to think less of brand safety and trust. And you know what’s most infuriating for advertisers in all…
Holiday Marketing Campaigns 2025: When Festive Buzz Finally Delivered ROI
Holiday season is everyone’s favorite, but in 2025 it wasn’t just about twinkling lights and feel-good stories. Brands went beyond festive cheer and focused on what actually works. With pickier consumers, tighter budgets, and fiercer competition, campaigns had to be smarter, sharper, and performance-driven. 2025 holidays were full of smarter Christmas narratives and precision-built Black Friday funnels; this year’s holiday season sent a clear…
The Rise of Athlete Autonomy: What Marketers Can Learn from Jutta Leerdam
For decades, the trajectory of elite sport followed a predictable progression. Federations set the direction. Systems defined the pathway. Athletes adapted. But that familiar order is quietly undergoing a profound shift—one defined by athlete autonomy—and Jutta Leerdam’s run-up to the Olympics is one of the clearest signals of that transformation. As the road to Milano Cortina 2026 begins, Dutch telecom brand Odido with TBWA/NEBOKO has…
Marketers Have Spoken: News Sites Outperforms the Rest of Digital
News sites are quietly reclaiming their place in digital media plans—and the shift is no longer theoretical. A fresh global study from ad tech verification heavyweight DoubleVerify shows that advertising alongside news content is giving credibility as well as beating off other digital placements in performance. Let’s dive in because for journalists and publishers, this isn’t subtle for trendspotting. This is a…
Why Your Feed Feels Stuck on Rewind: The Rise (and Risk) of Nostalgia Ads
If you feel that your feed has been stuck on reverse lately, you are not simply imagining this strange phenomenon. Brands have increased their use of ‘nostalgia’ in advertising by tapping into the emotions and feelings that come with reliving fond memories from previous pop culture (think Y2K aesthetics, childhood mascots, or even the very same music…
Tired of Trends? The Marketing Playbook Brands Are Quietly Using in 2026
If 2024 was about jumping on trends and 2025 was about automating everything, 2026 is the year marketers quietly step back and ask a dangerous question: Is any of this actually working anymore? Because somewhere between AI-generated sameness, viral-first thinking, and “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” campaigns, audiences didn’t just get distracted—they got exhausted. Welcome to the era of marketing trend fatigue. And that’s exactly…
Consistency, Familiarity, and the Super Bowl: Vanessa Chin on Brand Trust in 2026
Brand Trust in 2026 In 2026, trust won’t belong to the brands that try something new every time. Brands that show up recognizable give trust a head start. As brands enter another year of economic pressure, AI-accelerated creativity, and shortened attention spans, consumer trust in brands isn’t eroding because advertising lacks ambition. It’s eroding because it lacks familiarity. Talking…
CPG Branding in a Digital-First World: Daring vs. Dull
Walk down any grocery aisle or scroll through any ecommerce app, and you’ll notice the same trend: CPG brands fighting for attention in a world that scrolls faster than it shops. The rules for the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) industry have changed. Today, visibility is no longer won by shelf placement alone. It’s earned through relevance, personality, and digital…
The Risk of Looking Wrong: TBWA\NEBOKO’s CCO on Centraal Beheer’s Typo Play
When Brands Break the Rules: What happens when a mistake becomes the idea? Some of the best advertising ideas don’t look right—until they are. When Brands Break the Rules explores campaigns that challenged internal expectations and redefined what “good” creative looks like. In this edition, TBWA\NEBOKO’s CCO explains how Centraal Beheer turned a typo…
Who Defines Lululemon Now? A Boardroom Battle Over Brand Direction
Lululemon has been in a pickle since Chip Wilson, the founder, jumped the fences and publicly vented against the brand’s policies in a Wall Street Journal ad. Lululemon experienced a challenging period from 2024 to 2025. However, Lululemon didn’t lose its footing because athleisure fell out of fashion or because consumers suddenly balked at premium pricing. The…