Digital Connect April 17, 2025

Welcome to DCW Media’s April 17^th edition of Digital Connect, our bi-weekly rundown of platform updates and vertical trends affecting our industry.

Platform Updates

Attention shoppers! DCW now offers in-store retail audio placements through one of our media partners. Retail audio is a great way to reach shoppers while they are in the stores they could immediately make purchases in. Placements and rates vary from store to store and can include networks that span multiple sellers or be single-store proprietary networks. This is the perfect fit for CPG prospects looking to get noticed at the lowest possible part of the funnel. 

We take attribution a step further - DCW can offer in-depth brand lift studies through Dynata, the premier provider of panel studies, which includes niche audiences and omnichannel measurement. Brand lift studies are an important way to measure campaign impact, especially when the KPI is awareness and recognition. This can be added to any DCW digital campaign, with polling occurring during or after the flight.

Meta is introducing a new ad type - Facebook notification ads. Users who receive notifications from Facebook on their mobile devices will soon be receiving ads in this space. Notification ads will re-target users who engage with an advertisers other Facebook ads but did not clickthrough and will also raise awareness to new audiences. Meta ads continue to not only be versatile but also keep generating higher and higher CTRs. DCW is well versed in Meta ad campaigns and will be taking full advantage of this new feature. 

Google is now adding clickable links to its AI overview results. This is a big sigh of relief for publishers who saw Google's AI answers and results as bypassing publisher content on search result pages. It remains to be seen if these AI link placements will ever become monetized. For now, DCW can offer existing and prospective clients the SEO tools they need to show on such AI results and other parts of the Google search engine result pages (SERPs). 

Vertical Trends

Voice commerce continues to become more important as more and more people use devices like Google Home and Amazon Alexa in their daily routines. While this space is far from crowded, retailers should act now to improve their visibility on these voice search devices in anticipation of future trends. DCW has worked with the non-profit LSAC to create custom Alexa content and can work with retailers to be heard in this emerging marketplace. 

Homebuilders are embracing TikTok in order to reach younger audiences. Home Improvement brands need to think outside the box to reach younger audiences and first-time homebuyers. Content includes question and answer videos to educate, raise brand awareness, and drive business. DCW is no stranger to this trend as we partnered with roofing materials manufacturer GAF to bring their brand to life on TikTok, the first building materials company to utilize the video platform for paid media.