Kelsey Chickering
Principal Analyst

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From Breakup To Makeup: e.l.f.’s Creator-Led Media Strategy Spins Sorrow Into Sales
E.l.f. exemplifies a creator-led media strategy with premium content. Discover how the brand hit the mark with their TikTok couple collab.
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The Rise Of The Creator Economy: Creators Displace Advertising Paradigms
With more than 300 million creators worldwide, the creator economy has grown exponentially over the last several years and shows no signs of slowing down. Creators — individuals who make and monetize social media content — matter to brands because they wield the power to make ideas, trends, songs, or products go mainstream overnight. They […]
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Safety Shouldn’t Mean Censorship: Maintain Section 230 And Incentivize Moderation
If a party guest made a racist comment at the dinner table, would you blame the host? What if the host remained silent and did nothing to stop the guest? How about if the host gave that guest a microphone? These are the types of questions that the Supreme Court is tackling via two cases […]
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Twitter Needs Advertisers, But Advertisers Don’t Need Twitter
Recent concerns around brand safety should prompt advertisers to test elsewhere.
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CMOs Drive Growth With Media Inclusivity
After the 2020 murder of George Floyd, brands and agencies swiftly made bold commitments to invest in Black-owned media companies. The goal? To better reflect the diversity of brands’ audiences and create a more equitable media ecosystem. While well intentioned, it too narrowly focused media dollars solely on minority-owned media groups and away from other […]
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Consumers Haven’t — And Don’t Plan To — Shop Via Social Media
US consumers have little interest in doing their shopping — let alone holiday shopping — on social media platforms.
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Grounding Twitter Ad Dollars Is Common Sense, Not Activism
Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover has been — at best — chaotic and tumultuous. Advertisers are uncertain about what direction the company will take: What will happen with content moderation? Will Twitter become a mainstream Gab with a steady flow of disinformation? While Musk has tweeted that “nothing has changed with content moderation,” racist tweets have surged […]
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Advertisers Pause In Twitter Purgatory
When Twitter first announced its intent (back in April) to be acquired by Elon Musk, Forrester said that disinformation and hate speech are ultimately at stake — and that ad dollars are at risk. In the days following last Friday’s closing of the deal, GM paused its paid advertising on Twitter. Soon after, IPG’s Mediabrands […]
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Predictions 2023: Facing Economic Headwinds, The Media Industry Will Consolidate
CMOs will face mounting pressure to demonstrate ROI, pushing media companies to innovate and consolidate in order to protect their share. Read our media predictions for 2023.
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The EU Strikes Again As A Global Leader In Mindful Media: Updated “Code Of Practice On Disinformation”
The EU announced an updated Code of Practice on Disinformation, aimed at combating the online spread of disinformation via regulatory measures, including “demonetizing the dissemination of disinformation.” Forrester’s research shows that the monetization of disinformation is a vicious cycle in which the ad supply chain infrastructure supports and funds — often inadvertently — the spread […]
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The Entire Ad Supply Chain Is At Fault For Disinformation
Brands fund misinformation and disinformation with their ad dollars, whether they know it or not. Top brands have served immeasurable impressions on sites containing misleading content, from Russian propaganda fueling the war in Ukraine to COVID-19 conspiracy theories. This vicious cycle, driven by bad incentives, lack of coordination, and marketer ignorance, fuels geopolitical unrest and […]
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Spotify Rebounds From #DeleteSpotify
The Joe Rogan controversy that rocked Spotify this February now feels like a hiccup on the company’s ascension to top global streaming audio platform. As of January 2022, Spotify commanded the largest global market share of streaming audio services at 31%, which is close to double that of Apple Music (15%). All signs point to […]
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Twitter: Elon’s Battle Over Free Speech Is A Fight Against Content Moderation
What will actually happen to Twitter if Musk takes over is mere speculation at best. But we do know that users are polarized.
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Les Annonceurs Financent Involontairement La Désinformation Russe
La désinformation alimente la guerre et les annonceurs financent le problème par inadvertance. Il est temps de combattre l'inertie et d'agir contre la désinformation.
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Werbetreibende finanzieren unbeabsichtigt russische Desinformation
Die russische Invasion der Ukraine wird durch Desinformation untermauert und angeheizt. Es ist an der Zeit, Trägheit zu bekämpfen und gegen Desinformation vorzugehen.
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Advertisers Are Inadvertently Funding Russian Disinformation
Disinformation is fueling war, and advertisers are inadvertently funding the problem. It's time to fight inertia and take action against disinformation.
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Brands Swagger Into 2022 With Bullish Media Moves
Timidity is giving way to confidence as brands rediscover their mojo.
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Spotify Will Rebound From A Few Bouts With Cancel Culture
Spotify is the latest brand to contend with cancel culture. Over the last few days, the company made marginal concessions to address concerns (and boycotts) about the spread of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform: On Sunday, Spotify published its content moderation rules and is planning to add disclaimers to any podcast episode that discusses COVID-19. […]
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