ClickZ Digital Ad Platform Newsletter | Ad Strategies That Win Hearts & Clicks 💖

PLUS: Social commerce & personalization are shaping the future of eCommerce advertising

Author

Nandini Sehgal
February 13, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Heads up! To ensure you continue receiving our newsletters, please add [email protected] to your contact list!

Welcome to ClickZ Digital Ad Platform News, your essential newsletter for digital marketers and eCommerce professionals.

Editor’s Pick 🌟

MARKETING SPOTLIGHT
How Seraphine Unlocked 13X Growth in Pinterest

Seraphine, a leading maternity brand, harnessed full-funnel measurement to unlock huge revenue and efficiency gains.

The key? Identifying opportunities in underutilized channels.

With Fospha, Seraphine saw that Last Click had massively undervalued Pinterest, capturing just 3% of their conversions from the channel.😲 They scaled Pinterest rapidly and saw incredible returns: ROAS nearly doubled and channel revenue soared by 13X. 🎉

This story isn’t unique – Fospha’s latest research shows that 12-23% of a brand's budget should be spent on underutilized platforms like Pinterest, Snapchat, and YouTube for optimal efficiency. 🎉

Ready to unlock your brand’s growth potential?

Sector Spotlight 🎥

AI AD INSIGHTS

Voyantis, an AI-driven growth platform, has secured $41 million to revolutionize digital marketing through ad platform optimization. By leveraging predictive AI, it enhances customer acquisition and retention, providing significant improvements in lifetime value and cost efficiency. This positions Voyantis at the forefront of leveraging data for strategic, sustainable marketing growth and ad platform performance.

AI-POWERED ENGAGEMENT

Evergrow Digital and Haptik unveil an AI-driven WhatsApp business solution in the Middle East, unlocking real-time, multilingual customer engagement. This strategic innovation enhances lead generation and efficiency, particularly vital for eCommerce platforms seeking to revolutionize customer acquisition and retention while adapting to dynamic ad platform trends and technological advancements.

AD EFFECTIVENESS INSIGHTS

DAIVID’s Super Bowl LIX analysis shows NFL’s "Somebody - It Takes All of Us" leading as the most emotionally resonant ad, stressing the growing shift towards impactful messaging in marketing. This highlights a rising opportunity for ad platforms to prioritize meaningful content, suggesting strategic reevaluation in response to reduced humor effectiveness.

ECOMMERCE DISRUPTION

eCommerce transformations spotlight marketplaces and social platforms as key drivers of consumer engagement. Personalization, rapid delivery, and sustainable practices are pivotal. Marketers must strategically adapt to these dynamics, leveraging ad platforms to enhance personalization and community interaction, ensuring agility and innovation in meeting the high standards set by tech-savvy consumers.


Influencer Corner 📣

How real-world data drives brand advocacy

The best marketing connects, educates, and drives action. These campaigns prove it:
🔹 Heinz tapped into Dutch food culture with ketchup-flavored sprinkles, turning local insights into innovation.
🔹 IKEA reimagined its iconic bag to promote sleep health in Singapore, aligning product with purpose.
🔹 LinkedIn x UEFA made female role models visible, proving that representation drives change.
🔹 Malibu tackled alcohol-related drownings, using Tom Daley’s influence to turn awareness into action.
Understand your audience, tap into their reality, and create emotional connections. That’s how you build advocacy.

Lara Acosta on LinkedIn: My most important personal brand rule: tell your story.

People don’t just buy products—they buy from people they relate to or aspire to be like. That’s why storytelling isn’t just a personal brand strategy—it’s a playbook for businesses too.
Educational content earns trust, but stories of transformation, lessons, and values build connection. Consumers care about what a brand stands for, not just what it sells.
Brand story is your differentiator, and tell it.

Optimization Hub ⚙️

MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

Valentine’s Day marketing isn’t what it used to be. This year, brands ditched clichés and delivered campaigns that sparked conversations—some through cultural influence, others by flipping the holiday on its head.

From SKIMS tapping into the power of fandoms to LEGO redefining Valentine’s gifting, and even brands like Publix celebrating love beyond romance, these campaigns prove that standing out requires more than heart-shaped products.

ClickZ breaks down the smartest Valentine’s Day strategies, including the rise of Anti-Valentine’s campaigns and last-minute marketing tactics that still drive results. Which brands nailed it? Let’s dive in.

PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING

Programmatic advertising is evolving with key trends shaping 2025: AI enhances personalization and predictive bidding; data privacy and transparency are prioritized; CTV and OTT growth offers targeted ads; contextual targeting and sustainable practices gain traction. These strategies enable marketers to deliver efficient, relevant, consumer-first campaigns.

Social Media Marketing

📍 Seattle, Washington, USA

Marketing & Comms

 📍 Austin, TX, USA

ClickZ is a Contentive publication in the DTC Ecommerce division