Samuel Burghardt, Media Planner
Nichole Bloise, Media Planner

We recently attended a panel discussion on the evolution of Connected TV (CTV)  advertising featuring insights from top talent, including Connelly Partners’ very own Michelle Capasso. The conversation was centered on how CTV has transformed from a “nice to have” channel into a strategic backbone for modern video advertising. Here are our top takeaways from the panel. 

The Rise and Impact of CTV in Modern Advertising

CTV has moved away from an “awareness only” myth, to a way of driving meaningful lower-funnel results. With the advent of more advanced multi-touch attribution, advertisers are able to better track how CTV campaigns drive customers to conversion. This evolution has pushed more marketers to consider CTV as a core component of their omni-channel strategies.

Measurement, Targeting, and the Challenge of Frequency

Measurement remains a challenge — incremental reach and frequency management are key KPIs, and understanding the cost per unique viewer is critical. Nielsen’s “Big Data” is providing more stable and accurate measurements, allowing marketers to solve the co-viewing problem by using panel based models assigned to person level demographics. ONE Ads has a solution for frequency and increasing the efficiency of CTV Buys. This allows marketers to see reporting on large frequency fluctuations and react to financial waste of high frequency.

Creative Collaboration and Storytelling on a Bigger Canvas

Creative teams are producing content specifically designed for CTV placements, recognizing that this is an area for storytelling and high impact spots. Customized, context-aware creative helps brands connect meaningfully with audiences during premium content moments and connect with the audience when they are captivated. For brands like USAA, CTV enables deeper audience education, telling membership eligibility stories that drive awareness and conversion. 

Looking Ahead: Closing the Gap Between Eyeballs and Ad Spend

Linear is still king, delivering 6x more ad impressions due to lighter ad loads and the prevalence of ad-free tiers, but it’s a broad brush without targeting. It has its place, but CTV is the more surgical support needed to reemphasize your message with your key audiences.

As targeting improves, creative strategies evolve, and measurement becomes more robust, CTV is poised to attract larger budgets. Future innovations could include deeper contextual targeting, digital insertions, and AI-driven creative enhancements, all aimed at delivering personalized and impactful experiences.

Our major takeaway from the panel: CTV has evolved from an experimental channel to a strategic necessity, but the industry still has to work on standardizing measurement, inventory availability, and creative execution.

The Hatch Awards is New England’s premiere creative advertising awards event. Holding company agencies to start-up boutiques, in-house groups, production companies, and design firms, come together once a year to commemorate the best in the industry. This year, Connelly Partners was awarded 27 total accolades across 7 different clients and the most gold and silver level bowls than any other organization represented.

“Everyday, we pour our heart and souls into releasing the absolute strongest creative so the end viewer feels something. Not to pile on awards. But because we know creative that is entertaining, empathetic, unique, resonate, or culturally-relevant, breaks through the noise. Great creative results in business success. Industry awards are a nice byproduct of those efforts.”

-David Onessimo, Creative Director, CP

After more than doubling our results of 4 gold, and 4 silver wins in 2024, we’re proud of our momentum in an industry championing great creative and excited to keep pushing for better into the future.

Learn more about the award-winning work:
Seva
Bombazine Oysters
New England Aquarium
Carhartt
Whetstone Beer Co.
Let’s Move People
Helping the Planet Work

Seva Canada has been announced as a winner of the Communication Arts Advertising competition. The work is one of 117 projects selected from over 1,200 entries.

Seva Canada delivers life-changing eye care programs to some of the most underserved regions in the world. To drive support, we put the spotlight on the patients themselves, sending cameras to Nepal and Tanzania to be given to those who had just undergone sight-restoring surgery. We asked one simple question: “Now that you can see, what do you love most?” These photographs answer the question for Suk Maya, a 72 year old, and Arush, a seven year old—both of whom had just had their eyesight surgically restored.

Read more from Communication Arts here.

We’re excited to announce the launch of our work for 826 Boston, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting young writers through tutoring and publishing. Their Fall Annual Appeal campaign, “Why I Keep Coming Back,” centers on the students, volunteers, and staff who make 826 Boston thrive. A true collaboration, this project leveraged our team’s skills across strategy, copywriting, brand management, and production. We conducted interviews and shot footage to capture the community’s stories, creating the final hero film which will anchor 826 Boston’s upcoming fundraising and effectively capture the spirit of their mission.

CP team members attended 826 Boston’s signature fundraising gala on October 23, where the video was showcased among a room full of 300 donors, friends and community members. The event featured a lively series of 826 Boston student and alumni performances, keynote speakers, an electric fundraising auction, and networking conversations before and after the structured program. The evening also honored Sheena Collier with the Changing the Narrative Award and culminated in a conversation she moderated between author Jasmine Guillory and 826 Boston Youth Literary Advisory Board member Camila.

Built on a Connelly Partners core belief that emotion drives action, this campaign blends powerful emotional moments with bold, graphic bar graphs to create a compelling visual narrative that proves one simple truth: when people feel something, they’re more likely to act.

Connelly Partners was proud to launch a new sustainability initiative designed to reduce our environmental footprint and inspire meaningful change within our industry. This effort began with an effort to eliminate single use plastics for the months of May and June to see if long term change was possible. The results were outstanding and enthusiasm around the effort grew to help provide a framework for an approach that would affect change in 2026. The poster campaign was used throughout the office alongside fun signage that created awareness around the amount of single use plastics we use daily and other areas where we can create small  changes with lasting impact.

We teamed up with global nonprofit Seva Canada to showcase the transformative power of sight restoration – crafting an acquisition strategy and campaign to attract new donors.

Together, we launched the “Love at First Sight” campaign, featuring beautiful photography captured by Nepali eye patients. The images told the powerful stories of the people and moments they had missed most—now brought into clear focus following eye treatments, including cataract surgery and glasses.

Bringing the campaign to life: We equipped Nepali eye patients with cameras after their sight was restored. They received training on how to use the cameras and documented heartfelt glimpses of their world—families, friends, pets, homes, and even birds soaring through the sky.

Forging an emotional bond with our audience, the campaign drove a 55% year-over-year increase in new donors.

Even amidst the challenges posed by the Canada Post strike during the critical holiday giving season, the campaign achieved remarkable success.

The Seva Canada business was won via our Vancouver office and supported by a global creative team to bring the campaign to life.

Since 1889, Carhartt has been the go-to brand for tradespeople facing tough conditions. We collaborated with Carhartt to launch a fall campaign, titled “Tough Is Timeless,” featuring cinematic visuals and rich storytelling to showcase the brand’s enduring quality.

Read more here.

Credits:
Carhartt
Connelly Partners
Subprime films
@Cabin Editing Company
@Company 3

Women’s sports are surging in popularity, yet the coverage continues to fall short. Women only get 8% of U.S. sports coverage. We set out to narrow the visibility gap for female athletes by changing the way we cover women’s sports, in partnership with the USGA and Brae Burn Country Club.

When we learned the USGA’s Women’s Mid-Amateur tournament was coming to Brae Burn Country Club, one of the toughest courses in the country, we had one question: how do we get these women the coverage they deserve?

The event had never been televised, and we recognized the need for a new storytelling approach—one that captures the unique female narratives. Research revealed that social media is crucial for boosting fan engagement and increasing visibility for women’s sports.

We launched the “Let’s Shoot Their Shot” campaign. Using social media to turn spectators into storytellers, we rallied a community of attendees, content creators, and fans to post coverage from their own accounts.

We showcased the incredible golf – and also narratives around pregnant and postpartum golfers, matching outfits, the 9-5s these women work outside the sport, and more.

Our digital hub became a gathering place for all content, offering the world a chance to experience the Mid-Am championship & these athletes in a whole new way.

Born in a renovated train station, Whetstone Beer Co. brews 16oz beers designed for new adventures, scenic escapes, and well-earned downtime. Our “Punch Your Ticket” campaign designs celebrate train travel’s golden age, their spirit of adventure shines in stores, online, print, merch, and sales materials.

Learn more here.