Some influencers never show their face -- a trend rising on Instagram -- keeping the focus strictly on the brand and relieving them of ongoing self-promotion, writes Katie Salcius, columnist and a marketing professional. This anonymity can pay off in other ways such as selling images and video as stock content to Packsia, which offers brands a library of videos created anonymously by creators.

Walmart is opening up access to its retail media business to smaller marketers, international suppliers and "non-endemic" marketers who don't sell through Walmart stores. Walmart Connect will enable search ads against brand terms, increase access to measuring how online advertising is affecting in-store sales, enable in-store campaign management through the Walmart Ad Center platform and expand its Roku and TikTok pilots in shoppable advertising to more advertisers.

WhatsApp's new design for Android phones moves the navigation tools to the bottom of the screen and replaces the app's green shade with white. The app's iOS version had already implemented these changes.

Lindsay Sanchez, Khoros' chief marketing officer, says Wendy's new AI-based loyalty program shows the effectiveness of the gamified approach to collecting customer data, especially for Generation Z and millennials. Using AI also can help personalize messages, rather than treating customers as "mere transactions," says Valuedynamx's Kelli Hobbs, a loyalty and rewards expert, adding, "Through consistent, personalized interactions, businesses foster deeper connections, ultimately enhancing customer lifetime value."

Most recent problems with promotions on social media occurred because advertisers didn't understand the medium's inherent risks, writes lawyer Gonzalo Mon. Challenges include managing user content and influencers, complying with platform rules and making appropriate disclosures in limited space or time.

In-app campaigns focused on branding can enhance long-term value, says Brave CEO Amir Sharer, and many digital advertisers have started combining them with performance-based metrics. Sharer discussed branding, performance and data with Data & Programmatic Insider and noted that apps "offer unique data points such as geolocation, device type, and app usage patterns" without third-party cookies.

Johannes Leonardo latest activation in its "La Dolce Velveeta" campaign is a "Velveeta Gold" hair dye that transforms tresses into the cheese's signature color. Actor Julia Fox showed off her "Velveeta Gold" hair at a New York Knicks basketball game, saying, "[I]t's a look I can totally get behind."

Brands came to play this April Fool's Day, including Tinder's search for a vice president of ghost hunting from Movers+Shakers and Duo the Owl hyping a four-hour, multilingual "Duolingo on Ice" extravaganza in partnership with SeatGeek. Crunch Fitness invited members to flex their thumbs with a 7-minute "Thoga" video (conceived by agency Familiar Creatures), while Zappos released a Soleful Scents candle range, inspired by the fragrance of well-worn sneakers.

You may be silencing the members of your team inadvertently by insisting on your preferred form of communication, writes leadership development facilitator and author Elaine Lin Hering, who suggests reducing that barrier and recognizing that if you want others to speak up, you must create a culture where it's rewarded. "The more we see people using their voices, talking about things that really matter, the more voice becomes the norm," Hering notes.

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