Greetings!

Welcome to the September 2025 issue of Key Notes - Marketing Keys' monthly newsletter! With the new school year underway, we hope you’re settling in and finding your rhythm as routines start to fall back into place! Key Notes is an informative, quick-read newsletter to get you caught up on all things media and marketing. Our goal is for you to be informed and entertained with the latest media and marketing happenings quickly and efficiently. 

If your email strategy still revolves around open rates, it’s time to rethink. Apple devices account for nearly half of all email engagement, and changes in iOS have made opens a poor reflection of success. With iOS 18, users can get AI-generated email summaries, view messages in tabs, and even see bundled “Digest” emails without clicking at all. Early numbers show auto-opens increasing while actual click-through rates drop, proving that the old open rate metric is losing its value fast.

The solution isn’t to panic—it’s to shift your focus to engagement that drives real action. Metrics like clicks, website visits, conversions, and revenue are much more meaningful. Personalization and dynamic content are key: emails that update based on a user’s recent behavior—like browsing, cart activity, or loyalty status—perform far better than one-size-fits-all campaigns. Delivering relevant content at the right time ensures your emails actually get noticed and acted upon.

Some brands are already seeing the benefits. Testing multiple subject lines at once using AI and tailoring email content to individual behaviors can boost click-through rates significantly and increase revenue per send. Combining smarter segmentation with cross-channel tracking allows marketers to see exactly how email drives results across the customer journey—not just at the point of open.

In short, success is no longer about whether someone opens an email—it’s about what they do afterward. Every visit, scroll, click, and purchase matters. By focusing on outcomes instead of opens, your email campaigns can truly drive growth and deliver value to both your audience and your business.

Don't Fumble on This Opportunity

College football is more than just a sport—it’s a cultural touchstone that shapes communities and sparks conversations nationwide. Fans are fiercely loyal, proud of their teams, and highly active both online and offline, making them a uniquely valuable audience for brands looking to connect in meaningful ways.

Fans of college football aren’t just passionate—they also have significant spending power. Many earn well above the national average, with a large portion making six figures or more. Their financial stability, combined with strong credit profiles, makes them prime candidates for brands seeking customers who can and will spend. Beyond the stadium, these fans engage across TV, radio, and digital platforms, with even smaller regional markets showing surprisingly high levels of devotion.

College football fans are far from uniform. Some are urban professionals who use football as social currency, others are loyal community-centered fans in the South and Midwest, and younger, digitally savvy fans merge lifestyle and fandom on social media. Each group presents unique opportunities for brands—from luxury and financial services to apparel, food, and influencer campaigns. Engaging this audience now gives brands the chance to build long-term loyalty with one of the most enthusiastic and culturally influential fan bases in the U.S.

Even with the rise of digital and social media, TV remains the place most U.S. adults are comfortable seeing ads. A recent survey found that 43% of adults view TV advertising as acceptable, compared with 29% for social media and 28% for online ads in general. Traditional broadcast and cable TV also seem more effective than ads shown alongside streaming content, proving that classic television still has significant marketing power.

TV ads also have a strong influence when it comes to trying new products. About 43% of adults say TV advertising motivates them to make a purchase, with Baby Boomers leading at 55% and Gen Xers at 51%. At the same time, some viewers feel disconnected from advertisers—37% think TV brands don’t understand them, and 59% rarely remember the sponsor behind the shows they watch, highlighting a gap between influence and engagement.

While linear TV viewing is slowly declining, it still captures the attention of older generations. Over half of U.S. adults (52%) watch TV daily, including 82% of Baby Boomers, 57% of Gen X, and just 26% of Gen Z. Research shows that even as audiences shift toward digital platforms, TV continues to hold a unique place in influencing consumer behavior.

Mom influencers play an essential role in marketing today, guiding shoppers from their very first introduction to a product all the way to becoming loyal customers. They bring credibility and authenticity that traditional ads often lack, speaking directly to the needs of modern parents in spaces where they’re already engaged—scrolling TikTok, browsing Pinterest, or chatting in online groups.

Different types of creators shine at different stages of the funnel. Influencers with strong social followings help create excitement and awareness, while bloggers and SEO-focused creators meet moms during their research phase, when they’re searching for trusted solutions. Once purchase decisions are on the table, commerce-driven influencers step in with product demos, affiliate links, and storefronts that make it easy to click “buy.” Together, they bridge the gap between curiosity and conversion.

Beyond the sale, loyalty grows when brands foster a sense of community. Mom ambassador programs, private Facebook groups, and live events help parents feel more connected to the brand and to each other. By choosing influencers whose values align with their own, companies can build lasting relationships—not just transactions—turning everyday customers into enthusiastic advocates.

The out-of-home (OOH) advertising market kept building momentum in Q2 2025, climbing 3% from last year to total $2.86 billion, according to the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA). That puts overall growth for the first half of the year at 2.6%. One major driver? Early World Cup buzz. With the 2026 tournament set for North America, FIFA already poured more than $5 million into OOH ads last quarter to spark excitement.

Much of the growth came from digital displays, which surged 9.2% and now represent more than a third of all OOH revenue. Financial services led the pack with a 32.9% jump, followed by communications (+30.5%), insurance and real estate (+13.8%), and local services and entertainment (+10.4%). Well-known brands like Apple, Amazon, and T-Mobile boosted their outdoor presence, while sectors like transit and financial services also saw strong gains.

On the advertiser front, the biggest spenders in Q2 included Morgan & Morgan, Apple, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Verizon, Disney, Universal Pictures, Indeed, T-Mobile, and Comcast. Popular ad categories ranged from healthcare and banking to quick-service restaurants and higher education. With digital formats accelerating and global brands doubling down, OOH is proving it’s still a powerful way to reach audiences in 2025—and the stage is already being set for an even bigger year ahead.

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Whether you've been at your marketing position for 1 year or for 20 years, the pressure to produce and come up with the right strategies to reach your target audience is always there.

You no longer need to go about this on your own with 100% of the pressure. Now, you can collaborate with a media expert to help you with the latest, most effective and most efficient media strategies.

We can help by placing your campaigns in the right places, at the right times with the right frequencies. We'll make sure your campaign succeeds by examining the cost effectiveness, engagement potential and audience suitability of different media channels.

It is also critical to reach your customer on multiple platforms. This is how they are spending their media day. Therefore, it is critical that your messaging gets targeted and delivered in multiple online and offline ways.

As a 12 year former Disney executive with 30+ years in the business, I have discovered the best ways on how brands can cut through the clutter to reach their target.

By teaming up with us, we make the process enjoyable with minimal stress.

Furthermore, we will listen to you and always be committed to you. We strive to run our business with passion and humility all with the utmost integrity.

We look forward to empowering you to do your best work.

Until next month,

Roger Keys

Founder and CEO

Marketing Keys

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