The Breefing Room

Augmented reality! AR is tech that superimposes computer-generated images or video onto a user’s real-world view. We’re seeing this pop up everywhere from a series of new Snapchat lenses celebrating beauty brands, to Bacardi’s “Do What Moves You” summer campaign.

The ability to use media to target and connect with specific individuals — as opposed to a large group of users. Why is it important? Addressability gives marketers the ability to customize communications to individuals to meet their needs and deepen the relationship.

How most brands / influencers / publications make money. A performance-based marketing channel in which an external website (the affiliate) earns a commission for any sales they drive for an advertiser.

It’s the hero for driving traffic, revenue and publisher relationships.

Agency Leads are here to support you through the Breef process! They’ll help find projects that are the best match for you and support you in pitching so you can put your best foot forward. Our Agency Leads have been on the agency side themselves, so they get it. They’re also always down for a good chat.

Promoting yourself on the shopping giant, Amazon. These seller advertising solutions are offered by Amazon to help boost sales and visibility — including Amazon Display Ads, Amazon Sponsored Products and Amazon Sponsored Brands.

BTW: Even if you’re not a brand on Amazon, you can still play with AMS.

Also known as ubiquitous computing, ambient computing is the integration of tech and AI into our everyday lives to automate tasks. What does it mean for marketers? Potential ease of data capture and analysis — among other things.

Apple’s built-in AI assistant — focuses on user privacy and utilizes personal context to offer features like writing assistance, image generation and improved Siri functionality.

The oversight and visual execution of the creative concept + strategy outlined via creative direction. Good art direction allows the brand to be easily identifiable.

The act of being known! The goal of gaining ‘more eyeballs,' spreading your message and establishing high brand recognition amongst your target market.

A chat between 2 or more members of #TeamBreef –– often includes memes. Our Co-Founder is Australian. What more can we say?

The opposite of brand differentiation, blanding is the phenomenon of brands adopting the same minimalist aesthetic across the market. The reason? Many feel blanding removes negative associations, attempting neutrality — the downside? It also removes positive associations and brand personality.

The value that comes from the perception of a brand name rather than the value of a product or service itself — i.e. the social value of a brand name.

Akin to buzz or hype, generating brand heat refers to igniting strong interest in a brand — who doesn't want that?

Any visual or verbal brand element that showcases the brand's desired image while telling a meaningful story. Essentially the tangible brand elements that create a business's identity: logo, brand mark, brand colors, type, etc.

Breef Tip: Sometimes if you don’t want to go all in on branding, opt for a brand identity project with an agency.

Merging the words “branding” and “performance”, brandformance is the idea that campaigns can (and should) be designed with the focus of establishing brand identity AND exceeding performance targets — i.e. building campaigns that work smarter, not harder, across the funnel is key.

What makes a business memorable — its DNA. A combination of design, mission + other elements to showcase what a brand does, who it serves and why it exists. Those with unique branding have an edge over their competitors.

Breef Tip: After a business plan, most brands start with this –– it’s that critical. Most also work with agencies for a branding refresh as the business evolves.

You guessed it: a tool to help us plan spending and investment accordingly to ensure a company is not over-spending and making a profit. If you don’t have one, you need one.

The process of distributing hard-earned cash to various projects or activities that will positively impact the business. Effective budget allocation will prioritize certain objectives and ensure that resources are used efficiently.

Over or under? The difference between the actual amount spent or earned and its budgeted amount for a time period vs. what was planned. Positive variance means that actual revenue or spending is higher than planned, and vice versa.

Intentional cushion for expenses or revenues in a budget. It can help in a pinch with unexpected expenses or help achieve targets more easily — but it can also lead to misallocation.

AKA Connected TV ads — video ads that are delivered via a streaming service while users are watching content. What's the big deal? Most ad platforms weren't built to handle the complexity that effective CTV advertising requires — with advertisers needing the capability to incorporate a combination of contextual placement and audience-based targeting. The solution? Ad platforms are currently working to innovate to accommodate these complexities — and it's thought that AI can help!

Short for customer experience, CX is the overall experience and impression a customer has of your brand after interacting through the buyer journey.

Owned by TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, CapCut is a video editing app with easy-to-use templates. In recent months, CapCut templates have been blowing up on TikTok, and we can’t get enough! Check out one of our favs here.

A brand that disrupts an industry — forcing larger players in the space to shift the way they do business.

The combination of channels a brand or company uses to communicate their messaging to their audience.

Can’t have a brand without it. The goal of building community not only fosters brand loyalty, but gives you the opportunity to tap into the perspective of the people that matter most — your customers!

P.S. We LOVE our Breef community!

A full-time job — literally. Building + growing an authentic online community around a brand or a cause. This community usually comprises customers, partners and even employees.

TL;DR: Community is crucial when prioritizing brand transparency + authenticity (Which is what consumers want to see!).

The idea that there is more content being created than humans are able to consume, i.e. people simply can't absorb past a certain amount of information.

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‍Note: This is where quality vs. quantity comes into play — with all the content out there, ensure that what is absorbed delivers!

Getting your customer to do something...most of the time a sale (that makes you money). In short, it’s driving consumers to respond to your call-to-action.

This year, Google Chrome is phasing out third-party cookies — resulting in marketers scrambling to identify alternative data solutions. The solution rising to the top of discussions? Old-school IP addresses.

The rise of CPMs as a result of Google's cookie phase-out.

If done right, it’s unforgettable. A goal-driven way of using smart + persuasive text to sell products. Using a carefully thought-out voice + tone, good copywriting can compel readers to take a specific action to drive conversion.

The shift from consuming traditional cable TV to streaming. Those who make this shift are referred to as "Cord-Cutters" — most brands are shifting ad spend along with them.

Bringing a vision to life. An area of brand development that determines the overall creative vision of a business or project. Through art, design + strategy, that creative vision manifests in logos, advertising campaigns, marketing materials, etc. Our dream job.

A deep, data-driven understanding of a customer at any given point of the customer journey. Integral to giving marketers the ability to deliver the right message(s), at the right time.

A group of customers who share similar characteristics and needs. Identifying and understanding segments can help specify marketing and product offerings, upping customer satisfaction and revenue. Everyone is part of one!

Short for 'demand side platform' — a software that allows advertisers to buy and sell ad impressions with the help of automation. The big DSP news this week? Kroger's retail media network (KPM) struck a deal with Yahoo Advertising to give marketers the ability to access their audiences programmatically through Yahoo's DSP.

Not sexy, but needed. The analysis of raw and diverse data to gain meaningful insights in the form of trends, patterns + relationships.

The act of separating a day into segments for the purpose of scheduling commercials or ads at appropriate times throughout the day. Most often used in TV advertising.

An organization's ability to quickly respond or react to opportunities in the market based on ever-shifting technology. The goal being to create value for consumers through new technology fast enough to have an advantage over competitors in your space. With AI's rise to prominence, digital maturity has become a big topic of conversation as companies race to become early adopters.

Refers to two brands who dominate the market in a certain space, for example, Meta and X or Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

The amount of time a user spends on a particular piece of content — high dwell time = more engaged users.

We could argue that the world is a better place because of eComm. The online equivalent of a brick-and-mortar store, eCommerce is the trading of goods + services over the internet.

Breef Tip: There’s a lot we can help you with in this space, like strategy, build-out, Shopify optimization, etc.

Any publicity or brand exposure that a brand did not pay for or create themselves.

Content intended to both entertain and educate — many revered CeraVe's recent Super Bowl campaign with Michael Cera as an incredibly well-executed piece of edutainment.

You probably know what this is — just don’t unsubscribe ;). A permission-based channel that helps provide personalized interactions with high-intent customers.

TL;DR: Use this to engage with your customer (almost daily).

Connecting with a user's emotions through brand touchpoints — crucial for building meaningful community, recall and trust.

Any type of content that is visible for a limited amount of time, i.e. Instagram Stories and Snapchat images.

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Note: When ephemeral content was introduced on Instagram, it roughly doubled the time users spent on the app. Why? Users didn't want to miss anything! Used right, ephemeral content is a key tool to drive engagement.

A type of advertising that many credit for Ryan Reynolds’ recent billionaire status. Fastvertising is the rapid creation and distribution of ads that smartly use trending topics in media and pop culture to create a viral moment. Think Aviation Gin’s ad starring the viral Peloton actress — this ad went live 48 hours after Peloton’s ad went viral across media channels.

Predictable, stable costs which stay the same regardless of production or sales — you can always count on them — and they’re key to keep in mind when building a budget.

Step aside ‘superfan,’ fluid fans are a segment marketers should be paying attention to. Fluid fans are people whose interests / fandoms cross between a wide variety of areas. What does this mean for marketers? Fluid fans’ engagement is broad, but passionate, giving brands more touch-points and opportunities to connect.

A financial projection used to assist decision-making which estimates future revenue and expenses based on current trends and assumptions. Essentially, a way to see into the future, if you play your cards right.

Free + a premium — a pricing structure where a basic model of a product or service is free of charge, but additional features or quality improvements cost money.

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‍Note: E.g. a free photo editing app that charges for additional tools.

Our second favorite day of the week ;) aka Thursday. On this day we get pumped and go all out to end the week strong.

The #TeamBreef motto! Most often used next to a bunch of emojis. Go wild.

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media, GARM, was launched in 2019 with the purpose of addressing the challenges of harmful digital content and its monetization — in hopes of creating online safety for both consumers and advertisers. This year, GARM has expanded their focus to sustainable media — with the goal of lowering carbon emissions that result from media campaigns.

Any piece of media or art that exists across genres, or combines elements of multiple genres — defying traditionally established genre distinctions. A popular trend in podcasting right now, the podcasts that are topping the charts tend to naturally genre-bend, something audio advertisers should take note of.

Delivering targeted content to consumers based on their geolocation — critical to ensuring you're reaching your target audience.

A popular form of influencer marketing where brands gift free product to influencers, creators or celebrities — with the hope that they will be spotted with the product or share it with their community on social.

It’s everywhere: social, billboards, website, decks, signs, you name it. Composing and arranging visual elements of a project by manipulating graphics, media + typography. Graphic design uses visual hierarchy to help enhance a message. Often created with tools like Figma or Adobe Illustrator.

Breef Tip: If you have a ton of graphic design needs (Most of us do!), turn to an agency to help get it done fast.

The trend of luxury fashion brands making their mark in the food and hospitality spaces through activations, pop-ups and partnerships. The goal? Engaging with younger consumers by creating photo opportunities that will go viral on social platforms. Examples include Chanel's Lucky Chance Diner pop-up in NYC, The Prada Cafe in London, and the Dior Spa on the French Riviera.

The process of gaining insight into how users interact with a webpage via heatmaps — a visual representation of where users click, scroll or dwell on any given webpage.

The method of leveraging data and AI to tailor marketing messaging individually in order to meet a customers wants and needs.

An unconfirmed program Amazon is (quietly) working on as a data solution to win in the post-cookie world.

Color me mine? A unified + distinct medium that tells a story in a way that photography and icons cannot. Illustration can help support or tell the whole story while creating an on-brand emotional connection.

Measures an event that wouldn't have occurred without an action being taken (ad click, social interaction, etc.), that leads to a desired outcome (website visit, purchase decision, etc.). Incrementality is used to measure the growth that can be attributed to marketing efforts above growth that would have occurred without said marketing efforts.

Some love to hate it. But no brand should go without it. Influencer marketing is a relationship-based marketing tactic built upon partnerships between brands and influencers to build increased awareness + conversion.

Breef Tip: There are soooo many ways to do influencer marketing these days. Connect with an agency to explore options best for your brand.

An economy increasingly focused on intangible assets and ideas that generate value as opposed to tangible assets and materials. In recent decades, the American economy has continued to shift this way, with growing importance on intangibles like patents, copywrites and brands.

Refers to a combination of artificial intelligence and process automation — sometimes called cognitive automation.

A form of video that supports (and often encourages!) user interaction. Many brands are currently tapping this trend to support eComm conversion through tech like Tolstoy.

The ability of different computers, devices and applications to coordinate communication and connection in order to work together without help from the end user. How does this affect marketing? Data improvements — many marketing execs are looking for tools that offer interoperability between tools for data management.

The fun part! You’ll have an intro call with a potential brand partner to share details about your project proposal and learn more about the brand’s immediate needs, timeline and goals.

A fancy way of saying goals. Short for "key performance indicators," KPIs are used to track a business' performance over time against its strategic goals.

P.S. If you don’t have clear KPIs, it’s hard for an agency partner to know how to plan, execute and ultimately stay on track — they're *key*.

Game time! You’ll begin work with your selected agency through their unique kickoff process. Usually, this includes a meeting with their greater team so that both parties can align on project goals and how to maintain a collaborative relationship. You’ll discuss the fundamentals of working together, from day-to-day communication to each side’s distinct responsibilities. Kickoff will set you up for a successful partnership!

Let’s freaking goooo! Our vibe when a brand finds their *perfect* agency match.

This year Cannes Lions is introducing Lions Creators — an event happening alongside the main festival, dedicated to providing learning and networking opportunities all about creators and the creator economy.

A strategy used to encourage customers to become (or continue to be) repeat customers. Common loyalty programs include rewards, points, discounts and insider perks.

A hero moment. A blast around your brand / product. Basically, a strategic + organized effort to promote a business through multiple mediums. Most brands plan a few campaigns per year and bring in agencies to help.

Your dedicated strategist here at Breef! They’re here to help you with project planning, scoping and budgeting — and of course, making sure you find a great agency. Our Marketing Strategists were marketers (or on the agency side), so they get it. They’re also always down for a good chat.

Basically, your guide / map / roadmap. It’s a business' overall marketing game plan for reaching + retaining customers. Strategies can be innovative, or they can be previously tried + tested.

Our co-founder always says...make sure your strategy covers the ‘w’s’ - who, what, when, where and why.

A group of technologies that marketers leverage to optimize marketing activities.

The acronym for "out-of-home advertising" — refers to any type of advertising that users experience outside of their home. Examples include billboards, signage and public activations.

A consumer who shops when they want, how they want and where they want. Today's shoppers value quick and effortless experiences across channels — marketers who are rethinking their strategies to meet the needs of these shoppers are driving big results.

OG social media. Any "free" content posted on social media to drive brand awareness + engagement with current followers. More time and effort is invested to achieve longer-lasting results.

Breef Tip: Nail your organic social media strategy before you push your brand out into paid channels. A great branding agency or social media agency can help.

I.e. Performance Max campaigns, PMax is an automated campaign type within Google Ads, that uses AI to drive conversion across channels — including Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail and Maps.

The best packaging makes us swoon. The design of the physical container ("packaging") that holds a brand's product and helps enhance the customer experience. Ideally, the product's appearance matches the brand's positioning.

Breef Tip: This is a big industry. There are agencies for almost all types of packaging: consumer goods, suitability, shipping, you name it — take advantage of niche expertise.

‘Pay to play’ with Google? Kinda. But really, it’s intent-driven digital marketing strategies that allow advertisers to pay to place a targeted ad at the top of a specific search results page.

How will it save the day? Honestly, it will make sure you’re seen when searched — and deliver high intent customers.

‘Show me the money, honey!’ A form of digital advertising that relies on social platforms and advanced targeting to reach custom audiences, expanding the reach of a brand and its core offering.

Breef Tip: Paid social can be complex (but it works). Start with strategy and get really good at one channel. Most brands have an agency supporting them (Of course, we can help with this!).

A fictional character that represents the characteristics of your larger target demographic — incredibly helpful in identifying your audience's wants and needs.

Smile! Created in-house or retrieved from a stock site, photography is strategically used to curate a specific look and feel that helps ensure branding is defined + distinct.

How an agency puts their best foot forward. It’s everything you need to know about a team to make you ‘swipe right.’ A pitch on Breef will include an agency introduction, their approach to the project as well as links to their website, portfolio and social handles.

Pitches serve as high-level expressions of interest, and starting points for conversation. A good pitch should make you want to meet with the agency.

An agency's 1-page submission to show you what you’ve got! A pitch will include an introduction and project proposal, as well as links to a website, portfolio and social handles. Pitches serve as high-level expressions of interest in a project and a starting point for conversation. On Breef, pitches take < 15 minutes to complete (The RFP process? We're over it.)

A planning call is typically step one in the Breef process. On this call, you’ll meet with your Brand Lead who can help scope, budget and ideate projects. Planning calls are free and are a great way to learn more about Breef.

Where the cool kids are. An audio-first channel that can reach niche audiences and increase brand awareness. As modern "talk radio," podcasts serve content about specific topics + subjects to high-intent listeners. Podcast advertising strategies allow advertisers to pay to place a targeted audio ad within a podcast.

Why you should try it? It’s great for brand awareness — and you can get pretty niche with targeting.

A subconscious reaction to something (an ad, social post, email, etc.) that influences or triggers conscious behaviors (i.e. making a purchase, engaging on social, etc.). Crucial in the customer journey to ultimately making a purchasing decision.

Google's post-cookie advertising platform. Though the timeline of cookie deprecation continues to change due to the intricacies involved in the data shift, the current expected rollout is mid-2025.

We call it making magic. Overseeing a campaign, event or photoshoot from A-Z. Those in production work closely with creative + art directors to execute designs and marketers to make sure their strategy comes to life. They help with everything from casting to location scouting and run-of-show.

When would we need a production agency? Large events (i.e. NYFW) or even big video shoots.

Automated media buying — i.e. purchasing ads using automated tech and algorithms. The benefits? Low-cost, large-scale reach and real-time data.

A project refers to any marketing need. A project can be one-time initiative or ongoing ‘retainer’ with an agency partner. We have over 50 project types on Breef.

Some common projects are social media management, paid ad support, branding and influencer marketing.

All projects start here. It’s a high-level overview of your project needs inclusive of goals, budget, timing + key considerations.

Traditionally, it was called an RFP (’Request for Proposal’) and was a pain to write — it could take hours and was the most hated term by marketers. We’ve completely re-invented this process. On Breef, scopes takes only minutes to create, and if you’d like extra support our team can help.

A good scope = a good agency.