In a world where consumers scroll, skip, and double screen, the challenge for brands to capture attention and win hearts and minds has never been more varied. Marketers need to balance the many ways that consumers can be reached with how to make the best ROI on those ad dollars. Fragmentation of media is becoming even more apparent, creating confusion regarding how to measure the here and now and the long-term brand equity of their campaigns.
Marketers have more platforms than ever to choose from, which requires a heighted, nuanced mastery to create impactful media and creative executions. And the brands that are doing this successfully dare to be distinctive, emotionally resonant, and culturally fluent. That's what it takes to break through and build lasting connections.
Conversations with various publisher and marketing leaders across Advertising Week and ANA Masters of Marketing all point to one key ingredient in creating this success: community. From cross-category partnerships to the types of new formats that are truly resonating with consumers, community is the defining feature in building campaigns that delight and deliver.
Partnerships: The Culture Engine
Marketers and platforms are increasingly focusing on partnerships and spending time and resources to ensure those partnerships are right. And with a big year in sports ahead of us, this comes as no surprise. Sports teams and players are massive drivers of community and create increasingly rare, live, in-moment opportunities for brands to connect and extend their own fan bases. Research from Kantar Sports Monitor finds that 86% of sports fans watch sports to help them feel part of something, even when they feel disconnected. That sense of community and connectedness is what makes the brand opportunities sports provide so powerful and impactful for brands.
The most successful brand sports campaigns are moving beyond transactional sponsorships to forge partnerships that shape culture, both with cross category partners, players, and creators. The collaboration between Samsung, TNT, and Unrivaled Basketball is an excellent example of how telco and entertainment are working together differently to deliver a sports campaign with extra punch. Combining forces, phones and fitness trackers were used to capture slo-mo videos and allowed WNBA fans to forge greater connections with players and coaches as well as feel closer to the action of a game. These brands worked together to not just sponsor a moment but to create one.
Brands are also thinking about how to market themselves in endemic environments. Duolingo is an excellent example of this, having recently created a partnership with a travel company using Duolingo’s in-app characters to market the company to users who may be using the app to learn a language in order to travel.
Successful partnerships help brands "fast track" awareness, by providing cost effective, relevant experiences to engaged audiences. And it’s hard to think of a more engaged audience than the fanbases of creators. Kantar research founds that 80% of people feel like part of a unique community when they follow content creator while 77% feel a deeper connection to brands that partner with creators they follow.
Today’s creators are professional studios, producing content that is data-driven, high-quality, and—most importantly—authentic. Creator-led content delivers two to three times higher ROI and up to four times higher purchase intent than traditional ads, Kantar research also finds. We also found that creator-campaigns build trust scoring better than 72% of ads on credibility. However, there is still a shocking number of advertisers who limit, script, or box out the creator from the campaign development process.
Whether marketers are working on a sports sponsorship or creator campaign, it’s key to develop a strong, active, working relationship with all stakeholders, especially talent. Partnership success requires a shared sense and commitment to community, pooling together to create value and cultural resonance, not just reach.
Video: The Discovery Engine
Video has evolved far beyond its origins as a passive channel—it is now the connective tissue of the modern consumer journey. It seamlessly links moments of inspiration, education, and conversion, and creates virtual third spaces and communities.
Kantar’s research shows that 70% of people watch how-to videos before trying a product, and 69% prefer video for learning purposes. This underscores video’s unique power to demystify products, build trust, and drive action at every stage of the funnel. It also speaks to a growing trend of consumers crowdsourcing and testing ideas against virtual communities.
Successful campaigns leverage video to spark curiosity, answer questions, and foster genuine connections. Shoppable video formats and live demonstrations do this and provide seamless experiences once interest is secured, allowing consumers to move from inspiration to purchase in a matter of seconds. While livestream shopping is a burgeoning format for people and brands, Kantar data finds that for consumers who do engage in it, 20% do so because they trust the comments on products and 14% want to chat with livestream hosts. This again speaks to both a sense of connection and a desire to seek trusted product information. Interactive features like polls, comments, and real-time Q&A also invite audiences to participate and co-create, again sparking active engagement.
Whether it’s short-form content that entertains, long-form tutorials that educate, or behind-the-scenes stories that humanize, video offers endless opportunities to showcase brand personality and values and tap into the community that it builds. The key is to design video experiences that are authentic, memorable, and tailored to the context in which they’re consumed. And to remember video should be used as a discovery engine that inspires, educates, and converts.
Fandom: The Growth Engine
Fandom is community to the nth degree, which makes sense why gaming and sports environments are the new frontier for brand growth. Fandom is an emotional/intrinsic motivator, which creates greater opportunity to "stick with" a brand who is engaging with their fanbase in an interactive and non-interruptive way. Kantar Media Reactions found that 70% of US consumers say they are more likely to buy from a brand that engages authentically with their favorite sports or gaming communities.
This type of engagement can help build loyalty to their brand and increase new user acquisition. Deeper and long-term fandom strategies will take time, so it is critical to maintain commitment here and keep a pulse on culture to capitalize on new opportunities and viral moments. But again, simpler interactions with fandoms need to make sense for the interaction and the brand. The most successful campaigns are those that engage with fan communities authentically, creating experiences that feel organic, not interruptive. This means listening to what fans care about, responding in real time, and building strategies that foster long-term engagement. Now, thanks to AI, creating real-time feedback and opportunity loops has never been easier.
While brands have a history of tapping into sports to generate this fandom, gaming still remains largely untapped. Kantar’s creative testing tools show that in-gaming ads are among the fastest-growing formats for ROI optimization, yet they remain underutilized compared to traditional media. Brands would do well to build resonance within gaming communities by forming a holistic picture of this community and making sure not to fall back on typecasting. Understanding the intersections of interests is essential when creating experiences and campaigns that enhance gameplay and grow genuine connections.
As community continues to redefine the boundaries of media and creative, the most successful brands will be those that listen deeply, collaborate boldly, and invest in experiences that spark genuine connection.
In a fragmented world, it’s not just about reaching audiences. It’s about inspiring them, earning their trust, and giving them something worth sharing. Whether through partnerships that shape culture, video that drives discovery, or fandoms that fuel growth, the path forward is clear: build with, not just for, your community. The brands that embrace this ethos will not only capture attention; they’ll win hearts, minds, and lasting loyalty.
Let’s create work that doesn’t just break through the noise but brings people together, with something truly worth watching and engaging with.
