U.S. Ad Market Expands For 11th Month In March (mediapost.com)

Question #1: WHAT ARE DIGITAL COOKIES? Digital cookies are text files with small pieces of data used to identify your computer when you visit a website. This data is labeled with an ID unique to you and your computer. Cookies let websites remember you, your website logins, shopping carts and preferences. They can also be used to serve you ads after you leave the website. Question #2: WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH COOKIES? Online privacy has been a widely debated topic in recent years. Overall, consumers want increased privacy and control over how their data is used. In response to these privacy demands, Google announced it would stop supporting the use of third-party cookies by 2023. Safari and Firefox have already blocked third-party cookies. Question #3: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR MARKETERS? In short, marketers will need to find new sources of data or new targeting methods.

President Mary Anne Hansan shared more about the phaseout of the industry marketing initiative. Corporate and market changes, and difficulty aligning the shifting priorities between paper and packaging stakeholders, contributed to the recent move to shut down a more than decade-old paper packaging marketing campaign, explained Paper and Packaging Board President Mary Anne Hansan. “Every referendum, it’s been increasingly more difficult to keep people on board,” Hansan said. “And many times, just like this time, it really has to do [with] what’s going on in the economy. The paper market has been contracting for years,” she said. On the corrugated side, companies are concerned about extended producer responsibility, Hansan said. Additionally, there’s been a lot of leadership turnover from the executives who were in charge when P+PB was developed and launched. “We’ve had an awful lot of CEO change,” Hansan said.

Fast-growing grocery chain Sprouts Farmers Market has its sights set on opening stores from coast to coast, which would more than triple its location count. The Phoenix-based retailer surpassed 450 stores in 24 states this year and hopes to eventually reach 1,400 stores throughout the U.S, its CEO Jack Sinclair said Monday during a presentation at the Groceryshop conference in Las Vegas. Sinclair did not share how long it could take to reach that potential scale. Over the past few months, Sprouts opened new stores in Utah, Texas, Tennessee and Maryland, among others. It plans to open at least 35 new stores by the end of this year. The retailer is growing financially, as well, with an 18% increase in net sales to about $4.5 billion in the first half of the year, according to financial statements. Its net income grew from just over $209 million in the first half of 2024 to almost $314 million a year later.