Pennsylvania is a key swing state in this year’s election.

It's also a travel invite, according to Visit PA’s new campaign tag: “The Great American Getaway Starts Here.”  The Keystone State may prove to be all things to all people.

The campaign, produced by its creative AOR Vault Communications, positions Pennsylvania as the best destination to enjoy autumn. Billed as the “fall-iest” choice, imagery capitalizes on the stunning fall colors of the Commonwealth, including Shady Brook Farm in Bucks County.

The seasonal push is due, in part, to Bucks County being named the No. 1 leaf-peeping destination, per Priceline, an online travel company.

The state’s cities, Pittsburgh, Gettysburg, Erie, Lancaster and Philadelphia, also offer an array of cultural, historic and outdoor options.

The creative, 15- and 30-second spots, is running in Baltimore, Cleveland, New York and Washington, D.C. markets on both broadcast and cable. In addition, there are OOH and digital ads on various platforms, including Disney/Hulu, Peacock,and Meta.

A mobile tour will be hitting cities, such as New York, D.C. and Baltimore. On social, Visit PA wants visitors and state fans to complete the Ultimate Fall Bucket List and win surprise getaways with Pack Up + Go.

“Fall travel has long been a cornerstone of Pennsylvania's economy, contributing significantly to the $76.7 billion impact that tourism generates for the Commonwealth,” said Ann Ryan, Deputy Secretary of Tourism, Dept. of Community and Economic Development. “Fall is just better in Pennsylvania. And this year, we plan to prove it and inspire the millions who live within a four-hour drive of Pennsylvania to plan their perfect fall getaway.”

There has been much hype about social media. But social sites are not doing a good job for publishers, judging by an analysis from Chartbeat, as reported by NiemanLab.  

Social traffic to publishing sites has fallen from 6% of all traffic in January 2023 to 4% today, it was revealed during the Online News Association conference last week, based on the experience of 700 news clients of Chartbeat. Facebook alone had a 40% drop in traffic in that period.  

During this same timeframe, external traffic not driven by search or social sites has jumped from 16% to 20%, the report continues. 

We’re not trying to give a product endorsement to Google, but Google search is pulling 1.5 billion pageviews per month, 10% more than it did in January 2023. 

Moreover, referrals from Google Discover, Google’s mobile product, have gone up by 13% during the same period.  

In fact, Discover is now the “largest source of traffic referral” for the Hill, even more than regular search, said Will Federaman, VP of audience and content strategy, according to NiemanLab.   

It’s rare to hear a good word about Google these days, between the antitrust suits it is fighting, the extended email summaries that now appear in emails and the settlement with California, which many observers have condemned because it appears to be giving Google a free pass. But the old search engine is still the traffic champ, even in this fragile environment, judging by Chartbeat’s analysis. 

Newsweek has chosen Headliner’s Disco, an AI-powered tool that provides readers with podcast recommendations, to drive discovery. 

Disco recommends relevant episodes next to the articles people are reading, Headliner claims. 

Newsweek seeks to leverage “the power of audio through a variety of news, political, and pop-culture themed podcasts that we launched over the years," says Jesse Edwards, director of radio and podcasting for Newsweek. "Disco by Headliner enables us to convert our website traffic into podcast listens, support new revenue streams, and connect with a new generation of highly-engaged mobile audiences that prefer audio and video-based storytelling and news consumption."

The firm cites a Pew Research Center survey showing that around half of U.S. adults listened to a podcast in the last year. However, only 20% did so with a podcast connected to a news organization. 

"Podcast discovery continues to be a major hurdle, especially for traditional publishers and news sites," says Neil Mody, CEO of Headliner CEO. "While YouTube, Spotify, and Apple are the leading podcast platforms, there is a great opportunity for Disco to fill the discovery gap for forward-thinking publishers like Newsweek.”

As the battle of QSR loyalty programs wages on, White Castle is upping its game with new perks, points and rewards for Craver Nation members.

The chain announced today that the program will now have a point and tier system, where customers can earn points not just through purchasing menu items but also by “completing quests, such as trying new menu items or visiting Castles during late night,” per the brand. As customers accumulate points, they attain new levels, starting at Adventurer, progressing to Champion and lastly rising to top tier Legend.

“While this newest iteration of our program still offers rewards, it lends itself to more engagement with our Cravers. It's more like a game where they complete quests to earn badges and unlock new tiers to get special perks, rewards and exclusive benefits not available to nonmembers," said Aaron Lahman, digital marketing manager at White Castle, in the release.

As incentive for engagement with the new program, new Craver Nation Rewards signups will receive $5 off their first order, while existing member get 20% off their first mobile order.

Separately the chain has launched a new Halloween-themed microsite for both those who order White Castle for pick up or heat up the frozen version at home. The new site, HauntedWhiteCastle.com, contains pumpkin carving templates, cocktail and mocktail recipes, as well as fun ways to turn the classic sliders into at home Halloween Treats.

For those hosting their own spooky celebration at home, White Castle restaurants also will offer $5 off a Crave Case of 30 sliders to go.

At retail, the brand is introducing its first limited-time Halloween holiday packaging in grocery stores nationwide for its 16-count Jalapeño Cheese Sliders. The brand cites a recent report for inspiration behind the themed packaging, where they found 63% of those surveyed indicated “they would be excited to find Halloween-themed White Castle Slider packaging on store shelves.”

Older consumers are more loyal to brands than younger people, and many of them switch when they are bored, judging by the 2024 Customer Loyalty Index from SAP Emarsys, conducted by Opinion Matters.  

Of the Baby Boomers polled, 74% are loyal to brands they like, but that number slips to 70% for Gen X, 68% for Millennials and 64% for Gen Z.  

Moreover, 45% of Gen Z has switched brands based on their sustainability practices, compared to 18% of Baby Boomers and 33% of consumers overall, while a separate statistic not included in the report shows that 43% of Gen Z will ditch brands they perceive to be boring.

In general, 61% of shoppers will switch from a brand they were loyal to because of costs and 56% over a reduction in quality. Another 53% have dumped a company when they had a bad experiences. 

Overall,, customers prefer to be contacted by email:

• Email — 68% 
• SMS/MMS — 57% 
• Direct mail — 52%
• Print — 42%
• Mobile app push — 39% 
• Advertising — 38% 
• In-context messages — 36% 
• Web push messaging — 25% 

Meanwhile, Gen Z is much more likely than Baby Boomers to use apps:

• Gen Z — 44%
• Millennials — 44% 
• Gen X — 42%
• Baby Boomers — 34% 

But beware: 22% of shoppers in general will block app messages for lack of timeliness and another 32% for general quantity.

Sixty-nine percent of shoppers will allow apps if they are helpful, 67% for the level of awards and incentives and 60% for relevance.  

Want to succeed at driving brand loyalty? The study offers these prescriptions:

1. Focus on personalization
2. Create memorable experiences 
3. Leverage mobile apps
4. Prioritize product quality and pricing 
5. Encourage active engagement
6. Enhance customer service 
7. Offer incentives and rewards

Opinion Matters surveyed 4,005 respondents in the U.S. June 12-17, 2024. 

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California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill that would have required browser developers including Google, Apple and Microsoft to offer a tool enabling consumers to easily opt out of online behavioral advertising across the web.

The measure (AB 3048) specifically would have prohibited companies from maintaining web browsers that lack an opt-out mechanism that's “easy for a reasonable person to locate and configure.”

The best-known universal opt-out mechanism is the Global Privacy Control, a tool created by privacy advocates that sends opt-out signals to every site consumers visit. Some developers -- including Mozilla, Brave and DuckDuckGo -- have already built the Global Privacy Control into their browsers.

When Newsom vetoed the bill, he expressed concerns about mandating tools for operating systems.

He said in a statement accompanying the veto that no major mobile operating system incorporates a global opt-out mechanism, and that most internet browsers either offer an opt-out mechanism, or allow for downloadable plug-ins.

“To ensure the ongoing usability of mobile devices, it's best if design questions are first addressed by developers, rather than by regulators,” he stated Friday.

The ad industry had opposed the bill, arguing it wasn't necessary.

The Association of National Advertisers cheered news of the veto.

“This bill simply created new regulations without improving privacy or helping Californians, and we hope the legislature will allow this worthy veto to stand," Chris Oswald, executive vice president of the organization stated.

The bill, introduced earlier this year by California Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (D-69th District), was sponsored by the California Privacy Protection Agency and endorsed by advocacy groups.

Consumer Reports, which supported the bill, called the veto disappointing.

“We strongly disagree with the idea expressed in the governor’s veto statement that it should be left to operating systems to provide privacy choices for consumers,” Consumer Reports policy analyst Matt Schwartz stated. “They’ve shown time and again they won’t meaningfully do so until forced.”  

California's privacy law currently gives consumers the right to reject “cross-context” behavioral advertising -- meaning ads served based on activity across different sites.

In the absence of a universal opt-out mechanism, people who don't want to receive ads targeted based on cross-site data can click on individual companies' opt-out links, or use a tool created by an ad industry organization to opt out of many ad-tech companies' behavioral-targeting platforms.

But advocates say those those methods can be cumbersome. Supporters of the bill said in a letter sent to Newsom earlier this month that the proposed law would “will help reduce opt-out friction and make it easier for California residents to control their data.”

Pixalate has expanded its Global Seller Trust Indexes, which rank open programmatic ad sellers across the web, mobile, and connected television (CTV) based on quality.

The Q2 2024 ranking features country-level seller ratings in more than 140 countries for more than 580 sellers, using SupplyChain Object (SCO) data. The latest features highlight Market Share, Supply Path Optimization (SPO), and Supply Chain Object (SCO) Verification scores, as well as a Bundle ID Integrity score for CTV.

AdX is named as an ad partner via ads.txt on 98.9% of websites with open programmatic advertising. It has the largest market share of open programmatic advertising in 77 of the 115 countries identified in the Q2 2024 Web Seller Trust Index.

But despite its dominant position in countries like Germany and the United States, it does not rank No. 1 for overall quality due to lower SCO verification scores and increased risk of Invalid Traffic (IVT).

For example, in Q1 2024 in the Web Seller Trust, which ranks 238 sellers, AdX had a final score of 78, and in Q2 2024 they received a final score of 93. 

The Mobile Seller Trust Index ranks 301 sellers, and the CTV Seller Trust Index ranks 120 sellers.

Pixalate added ad sellers from around the world to the index to expand the industry's view beyond traditional leaders in the U.S. market. The rankings aim to foster economic fairness, encourage competition, and highlight a wider range of sellers for buyers. 

AdX did rank No. 1 in Q2 2024 in the U.K. and Japan for the Web, but OpenX ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and China. Outbrain ranked No. 1 in Germany.

In the Mobile Seller Trust Index, AdX ranked No. 4 in Japan. Verve Group ranked No. 1 in the U.S., Digital Turbine ranked No. 1 in the U.K., Mintegral ranked No. 1 in China, Anzu ranked No. 1 in Japan, and Verve Group ranked No. 1 in Germany.

For the CTV Seller Trust Index on Amazon Fire TV, AdX ranked No. 1 in Mexico. Magnite ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and U.K. PubMatic ranked No. 1 in Canada. The ranking also looks at Roku, Samsung, and Apple’s tvOS.

The ranking also lists high-risk websites under Made for Advertising. It ranks theindiantimes.in as the No. 1 domain. Others that followed in Q2 2014 include mlbsport24.com, newsdailymedia.com, thedivision.fandom.com, and deadoralive.fandom.com.

Despite the turbulence that has marked mobile advertising’s brief history, one element has always remained constant: the need for a symbiosis among advertisers, publishers, and users. The mobile ecosystem is undergoing growing pains, but new research demonstrates a brighter, more cooperative future.

A new study from Verve,  which surveyed 4,000 U.S. and UK consumers, reveals that users are increasingly open to sharing their data—so long as they receive something valuable in return. That concept of value exchange is far from new, but it’s becoming more critical than ever as the mobile landscape and technology that underpins it undergoes a privacy-first transformation.

As Verve’s findings illustrate, 58% of users are now more willing to share data than before. Why? It’s all about relevance and reward. When users perceive the ads they see as helpful—offering deals or content tailored to their needs—they’re more willing to engage. In fact, 75% of respondents said they appreciate free content because it’s supported by relevant ads.

This increasing openness offers a fantastic opportunity for advertisers and publishers to collaborate in creating experiences that work for everyone involved.

The Power of the Value Exchange

Today, app publishers have moved beyond simply showing users any ad. They are curating ads that offer tangible value, whether that’s a reward within a game, an exclusive discount, or content that directly appeals to the user’s interests. Verve’s research backs this up: 81% of consumers say relevant ads help them find products they didn’t know existed, and 69% say it makes shopping quicker and more efficient.

These insights point to the future of in-app advertising—where the value exchange is both clear and mutually beneficial. For example, in a mobile game, users running low on lives could be presented with an option to watch a short, relevant ad—perhaps for a product they have already been considering, such as a new set of wireless earbuds. In exchange, users receive extra lives without paying, and the ad they engaged with is one that aligns with their interests. This exemplifies the kind of win-win-win scenario emerging in the mobile world.

Aligning Your Strategy with the Future of Mobile Ads

So, how can advertisers make the most of these changes? Here are a few tips for aligning strategies with the win-win-win model of reciprocal advertising:

Emphasize relevance: Users are open to ads, but only if they’re relevant in the moment, and if they’re ready to engage. Leverage contextual signals and interest-based cohorts to ensure ads are in line with the user’s current needs or environment.

Offer real value: Today’s mobile users expect something in return for their data or attention. Whether it’s an exclusive discount, extra game lives, or premium content access, make sure the value exchange is clear and attractive.

Go ID-less when possible, especially asprivacy regulations tighten. Contextual advertising can be just as effective as user-specific targeting, especially when combined with real-time app interactions.

The future of mobile advertising is one of collaboration and shared value, and by embracing this shift, publishers and advertisers can work together to create an ecosystem where everyone thrives.