Ad Market Decelerates Again In April, Weakest In 19 Months

Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. announced the formation of Konica Minolta Paper Solutions, a dedicated business unit delivering a comprehensive portfolio of paper products to customers across industries and around the world. The launch follows a strategic decision by parent company Konica Minolta, Inc. (KMI) to divest its shares in Konica Minolta Marketing Services Holding Limited (KMMS). As part of the transition, the paper division was excluded from the sale and is now fully integrated within Konica Minolta’s North American operations. Harris Atkins, a respected industry leader with more than 30 years of experience, has been appointed President of Konica Minolta Paper Solutions and will join the company’s executive leadership team. Most recently, Atkins served as President and CEO for KMMS in North America.

This year’s edition highlights the challenging environment that motor carriers dealt with in 2024, but in the end the industry still delivered more than 72% of all domestic freight tonnage in the U.S. Among the key findings in this year’s report: Trucks moved 11.27 billion tons of freight in 2024, down from the 11.41 billion tons hauled the previous year.  In 2024, the industry saw revenues at $906 billion, down from $1.004 trillion in 2023.  Trucking employed 8.4 million people in industry-related jobs, including 3.58 million professional drivers in 2024.  The industry remains one made up of small businesses, with 91.5% of carriers operating 10 or fewer trucks and 99.3% operating fewer than 100 power units.  Trucks moved 67% of surface trade between the U.S. and Canada, and 85% of goods across the Mexican border in 2024.

A new study from Interpublic’s Magna and the IPG Media Lab reinforces the idea—embraced by the industry for a number of years now—that ad personalization is one of the best techniques to help brands deliver more relevant and effective ad experiences. The study focused on three key ad categories—auto, retail and finance—and includes responses from more than 6,000 participants. Testing was conducted on two audience types: brand target demographics and high-value audiences based on people-based IDs created by precision targeting platform Kinesso. Six types of data sources for personalization were tested: demos, past purchases, location, life events, search terms and precision messages for high-value audiences. The study found that most forms of ad personalization had some value and that higher levels of personalization were more effective at shifting difficult-to-move metrics.