Hillary Williams, Director of Brand Leadership

Takeaways From CP’s Women’s Leadership Panel

Last week, we brought two of Boston’s leading minds in AI to CP for an honest conversation about how Language Learning Models (LLMs) are rapidly transforming our world on a day by day basis. 

• Jenna Switchenko, PwC Partner, FS Risk & Regulatory Data, Tech & AI Consulting 
• Lauren Murphy, COO at Maven AGI

I moderated the discussion with Jen Hansen, CP’s Director of Analytics, and over the past few days, five points have stuck with me.

1. Forget How to Work WITHOUT AI

Jenna shared that if her LLM wasn’t working during a business trip, she would pivot to a completely different task, avoiding computer work altogether. Why? Because doing the work without her LLM assistant would be three times as slow, and the time suck simply wasn’t worth it. AI is no longer a helper, it is a productivity requirement. Jenna working without her LLM would have been like trying to send emails with no internet connection … pointless. 

2. The Speed of Evolution Is Terrifying ( … and Exciting)

As part of our prep for the panel, we discussed how answers to each question would have looked different a mere four weeks ago. That’s how fast this space is moving. This mandates an “Always-Beta” mentality and as Lauren tells her team, “every day is your day one.” We can’t afford to wait for formal training. We must build time into our week to play, experiment, and constantly relearn or we’ll be left behind. 

3. The New Career Risk Is Stagnation

Stop stressing about AI taking your job. Jenna advises to instead, stress about someone who has embraced AI taking your job. If you aren’t actively digging in, testing new platforms, and refining your prompts, someone else certainly is. Career growth now more than ever depends on your curiosity and adoption, not just your tenure or intelligence.

4. EQ Is Your Most Valuable, Unautomatable Asset

In a world drowning in machine-generated content, humanity, empathy, and emotional intelligence have never been more important. AI handles the volume; we deliver the voice and the soul. Lauren’s advice for recent graduates? Take the time to master the art of connection, learning how to impactfully look someone in the eye and shake their hand. 

5. You Must Remain the Master of Your Craft

To use AI successfully, you can’t delegate your entire brain to the machine. You must remain the master of your content and your perspective. As Jenna said, your name is still on whatever goes out the door. The human layer of an effective prompt, editing, questioning, fact-checking, and strategic refinement based on expertise is what transforms a generic AI output into your brilliant, brand-safe piece of communication. The question will be how do current young professionals gain the necessary level of foundational knowledge through “learning by doing” what AI now does for them? This learning gap is one of the biggest challenges in our AI era.

When thinking about how to wrap this post up, I wanted to find a way to synthesize all five takeaways in a concise and meaningful way. I turned to AI and after effectively prompting, editing, fact-checking and refining, here’s where “we” landed:

The greatest lesson from our Women’s Leadership Panel? As AI handles the speed and volume, our human intelligence becomes our most valuable asset. Many thanks to Jenna Switchenko and Lauren Murphy for reminding us that EQ, expertise, and a master’s craft are the unautomatable difference-makers.

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.

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.

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.

Michele Hart-Henry, Managing Director, Connelly Partners Health

Imagine the following situation (purely hypothetical): Maria, age 58, has successfully managed her Type 2 diabetes for years. Recently, she stopped checking her blood sugar, not because she’s ignoring her health, but because after going down a rabbit hole with Instagram posts and TikTok videos, she felt overwhelmed. Online, she found conflicting advice about new treatments. On TV, pharmaceutical ads promised miraculous results while disclaimers scrolled by. Even her doctor’s recommendations seemed to conflict with what she read on social media. Unsure who to trust, Maria postponed her next appointment and decided that using a combination of ginseng and a highly restrictive diet was a better way to take care of her health. Far-fetched, you say? Not really.

Her story is not unique. In today’s fraught times, wading through health information has become even more challenging, especially for those who may not have high levels of health literacy. 

Across the country, patients pause care, second-guess medical advice, and turn to non-expert sources for guidance. The erosion of trust in “traditional” healthcare professionals and institutions harms people directly. According to reports published by the Kaiser Family Foundation, when patients hesitate, they let chronic conditions worsen, skip preventive care, and potentially drive up costs for everyone.

Recent surveys confirm this pattern. Forty-five percent of adults say they delayed or avoided medical care because conflicting information confused them. Sixty-five percent report they feel overwhelmed by contradictory health messages (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2024). Confidence in hospitals and physicians dropped significantly over the past decade (Gallup, 2024). Meanwhile, misinformation spreads unchecked and deepens confusion (Edelman, 2024).

Case in Point: HPV Vaccine Hesitancy

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine rollout shows just how trust problems can stall public health progress.

After health officials introduced the HPV vaccine, myths about safety and necessity spread widely. Holman et al. (2014) documented how social media amplified worries about side effects. Lower vaccination rates resulted in population-level protection being behind schedule and delayed reductions in HPV-related cancers (Walker et al., 2021).

Misinformation did not act alone. Providers gave inconsistent explanations, and anecdotal fears gained traction. Despite extensive research and monitoring by health organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), misinformation about the vaccine’s safety remains a significant barrier to its widespread adoption. Unsubstantiated claims linking the vaccine to serious health problems like autoimmune diseases, infertility, and chronic pain syndromes have circulated, often amplified by social media.

This example proves a simple point: even well-supported interventions fail when people do not trust the messages or the messengers.

Why Healthcare Marketing Matters

Healthcare marketing shapes how people perceive treatments and institutions. When marketers serve up ambiguous messaging, they fuel skepticism. Lyles et al. (2023) found that 35 percent of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical ads used conditional or unclear claims, which undermined consumer trust.

The internet magnifies the problem. McKinsey (2024) found that 72 percent of consumers struggle to navigate online health information, and half rely on non-expert sources. In that environment, misinformation spreads faster and patients lose confidence in legitimate medical guidance.

Strategies to Rebuild Trust

As Marketers and communicators, we can take concrete, evidence-based steps to maintain or restore trust:

1. Be transparent. Disclose benefits, risks, and uncertainties up front, and use easy-to-understand language.
2. Use patient voices. Share authentic, diverse stories that humanize clinical evidence and humanize treatments, conditions and solutions.
3. Simplify and align messaging. Across all platforms and audiences, remove jargon and ensure consistency of your messages.
4. Rely on traditional, trusted messengers. Feature clinicians and community leaders to boost acceptance of messages and messaging. If you’re going to use Influencers, thoroughly vet those influencers to ensure that their corpus of work doesn’t conflict with your messages.
5. Counter misinformation quickly. Monitor all channels and mediums, not just yours,  and correct false claims in real time 

Confusion and lack of trust produce measurable harm. We’re all hit daily with an onslaught of information. Knowing who and what to trust is hard, especially for consumers who don’t work in the industry. They may delay care, skip prevention, and struggle to make informed decisions. 

One thing is clear: from vaccine hesitancy to skipped treatments, individuals and the health system share the cost.

Healthcare leaders must earn trust, not assume it. When marketers prioritize clarity, transparency, and empathy, they can restore confidence and help people make better health choices. 

Ready to learn more about our anthropological approach to moving consumers through their healthcare journeys? Reach out to us to see how we can bring clarity and empathy to your needs.

References

• Blendon, R. J., et al. (2024). Public perceptions of health institutions in the era of misinformation. Health Affairs, 43(3), 123-131. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2023.0142
• Dempsey, A. F., & O’Leary, S. T. (2018). Human papillomavirus vaccination: narrative review of studies on how providers’ communication affects vaccine uptake. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 14(6), 1475-1487. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2018.1442153
• Edelman. (2024). Edelman Trust Barometer 2024. Edelman Intelligence. https://www.edelman.com/trust-barometer
• Freeman, D., et al. (2021). Transparent communication of uncertainty: Effects on trust and engagement. Medical Decision Making, 41(7), 822-832. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989X211004586
• Gallup. (2024). Confidence in Healthcare Providers in the U.S. Gallup Poll Report. https://news.gallup.com/poll/
• Greenhalgh, T., et al. (2019). The impact of patient narratives on health behavior change. Social Science & Medicine, 234, 112348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112348

Media fragmentation has made it essential that marketers paint a clear picture of their consumers using data. Look no further than the host of ad agencies developing data offerings this year, such as WPP’s purchase of InfoSum in April.

Brands have no shortage of disparate data sets, but often struggle to derive meaningful insights from them, said Alejandro Fuenmayor, Chief Media Officer at Tombras. That challenge is only magnified as users opt out of sharing personal data and regulators scrutinize the collection and sharing of such information.

What brands often don’t realize is that meaningful consumer insights can be tucked away in unexamined data sets. AdAge spoke with data experts to identify four sources of consumer insights marketers frequently overlook.

Geospatial Targeting as an Alternative to Demographic Profiling

Marketers are focused on identity and demographics, and agency partners have indulged them with things such as AI offerings that test against synthetic audiences. But there is plenty of information on real humans that is being underutilized, including geospatial data, which refers to information gathered from a person’s location and movement.

Marketers have viewed the technology as more of a vehicle for gimmicky activations than a serious source for consumer insights, Fuenmayor said. However, as consumers become more savvy about data privacy, marketers are having a harder time finding a one-stop shop for demographic, psychographic and transactional data. That challenge has made geospatial data more enticing, as consumers still show a willingness to turn on location services that offer key insights about their behavior.

“People are carrying a GPS on their phone 24/7, so you can get a pretty complete picture of what people are doing at different times,” Fuenmayor said. “If you’re an advertiser and you’re thinking about a holistic campaign, suddenly understanding people’s migration patterns can give you a lot of insights.”

For example, seeing commuting details could inform investment decisions in media channels such as audio or out-of-home.

“These are things that can help you build a more logical explanation than what most advertisers do, which is just create an audience roughly based on demographic patterns and then put that into a Meta or Google to try and reach as many of them as possible,” Fuenmayor said. “That may have some degree of success, but it depends on your scale.”

Tombras recently leveraged location data for a grocery and gas client that was challenged by consumers who stopped in for gas without buying food. After launching a geospatial analysis, it found that consumers would get food and coffee at neighboring restaurants after stopping in to get gas. Seeing that consumers were indeed visiting the client while hungry informed the decision to begin marketing food and coffee more heavily.

The Less Popular Use Case for Retail Media

Retail media is by no means overlooked in marketing. However, advocates say it’s still underutilized relative to its potential for providing insights about consumer behavior leading up to a purchase. Marketers are accustomed to pulling insights from Amazon’s data clean room, but take less advantage of similar offerings from retailers such as Walmart and Kroger, said Tavo Castro, Executive VP and Head of Strategic Planning and Investment at Tinuiti.

Walmart offers marketers a data analytics product suite called Scintilla, and Kroger has a similar consumer insights platform called Stratum, which it runs through its loyalty program data business, Kroger Precision Marketing.

“Those are incredibly rich data sets that help us understand customers,” Castro said. “Marketers may see it as just purchase data, but there’s information about how customers shop and how they navigate and find products.”

Marketers typically haven’t searched these data sets for insights as often as they could because brand teams and strategists usually lack the technical know-how to navigate data fields, Castro added.

The advent of AI has lessened this problem, however, as marketers have been able to deploy agents to mine data reports and translate consumer insights into plain language. Tinuiti has been developing agents internally so it can navigate a variety of retail media spaces and program the tech to weigh first-party data more heavily than third-party sources or information coming from the open web.

Having tech that can navigate different retail data sets is key, as marketers still struggle to stitch together reports from different providers to create a coherent picture of their consumer base.

Retail networks are attempting to simplify their complexity, particularly for mid-sized and small brands. Last Tuesday, Kroger Precision Marketing launched an in-house team that will help marketers with off-site programmatic advertising across audio, connected TV and dynamic creative optimization for display ads. The managed-service offering will also include retail media measurement.

“It shouldn’t be that difficult for a brand to run what they need to run in the spaces where their audiences are,” said Christine Foster, senior VP of Commercial Strategy and Operations at 84.51°, the retail analytics subsidiary of Kroger.

“There are a lot of mid-sized brands and teams that don’t have the expertise to activate self-service programmatic on their own,” added Brian Spencer, Marketing Director of Kroger Precision Marketing. “This layer of managed service is really about helping those smaller teams and brands tap into retail data they haven’t been able to work with before.”

What Brands Can Learn From Health Data

Marketers can learn a lot about a consumer by looking at the health data they’ve opted into sharing with health tracking companies, said Kevin Dunn, Senior VP of Brands and Agencies at Liveramp. Health data can inform the types of foods, sleep products, clothes and even beauty products a person likes. It can also reveal social conditions that may affect their health, like their job, income, education or neighborhood.

“When you think about building a whole consumer profile, those social determinants of health are a big part of that profile,” Dunn said. “They naturally fit into what a person buys, what they do and where they spend their time. Does a person just buy items through an AI agent or take their time to go to a health company’s website? Marketers need to know this information to paint the story that continues to make a person feel loyal to that brand.”

There are risks to using this data, however. For one, it typically does not come packaged in the same ways that other marketing data does, making it difficult to slot into consumer behavior modeling environments. Certain kinds of healthcare data are also protected under privacy laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which may intimidate marketers, Dunn said.

He pointed to the importance of having clean rooms to handle information like health data.

“A health data collection company might be very interested in sharing a lot of the signals that their things collect, but it doesn’t want to share them with certain kinds of AI agents,” he said. “Having the ability to control when and how your data is shared is the advancement that’s going to make it possible for marketers to use so many more signals.”

Pulling Consumer Insights From Creator Marketing

Marketers need no convincing about the value of creators. Bullish brands are increasing spend year after year. U.S. annual spend on influencers is now projected to climb from $7.3 billion in 2023 to $13.7 billion by 2027, with the overarching creator economy expected to reach $480 billion by 2027. Companies such as Unilever, which plans to increase its influencer marketing spend twentyfold and allocate half of its total ad spend to social media, are leading the charge.

Creator marketing measurement is still in its growing stages, but early efforts already yield valuable consumer insights that go unnoticed, said Jen Hansen, Head of Data and Analytics at Connelly Partners. Earlier this year, the independent agency discovered that creators can share organic and paid performance data directly with their agency and brand partners on Meta by clicking into advanced settings and toggling branded content before posting.

This toggle sometimes gets ignored due to perceptions that social media algorithms deprioritize branded content. By forgoing proper tagging, creators lose the option to share performance data within the platform. Instead, they have often shared screenshots of posts and dashboards, or brands have paid third-party influencer analytics companies to relay performance information.

Accessing this information directly within Meta is both cheaper and faster, and has allowed Connelly Partners to make timely creative decisions. For one client, seeing Halloween-related content perform well in early July informed the decision to launch campaigns tied to the holiday ahead of the brand’s typical schedule.

“We’re starting to watch what our data is doing and then change the behavior of our marketing,” Hansen said. “Instead of that client waiting and holding content, we saw that the market was ready for it and we launched it.”

Learn more on AdAge

Katie Coughlin, Associate Media Director
Matty Habersaat, Media Planner

At the recent Digiday Retail Media Summit in New York, one thing was clear: retail media has moved from a rising trend to an undeniable force. With more than 200 retailers now running their own media networks and global investment projected to hit $60 billion in 2025, it’s reshaping how brands connect with consumers and how retailers grow revenue. Walmart’s recent earnings call underscored the stakes: advertising now accounts for nearly a third of their operating income.

But while the category is still growing, expansion is slowing. What was once explosive is entering a new, more mature phase – one where scale alone isn’t enough, and differentiation, measurement, and consumer-first thinking become the true levers of success.

From Fragmentation to Integration

A common thread from the summit: the landscape is too fragmented. Each retailer’s network comes with its own audience, tools, and measurement framework, leaving brands to juggle multiple approaches. Leaders from Mars and RoC Skincare emphasized the same starting point: the consumer. Retail media strategies that begin with how people actually shop – whether that means impulse purchases, replenishment cycles, or curbside pickup – are better positioned to succeed.

The next evolution will depend on breaking down silos. Brands don’t want dozens of disconnected platforms; they want an ecosystem where planning, activation, and measurement feel seamless across partners.

New Growth Levers

With growth rates cooling, retailers are turning to new channels and tactics. Connected TV, “ownable moments”, and alternative placements are helping brands stand out while avoiding costly competition. At the same time, emerging disruptors like AI shopping tools are forcing both brands and retailers to rethink how consumers discover and purchase products – and how to keep ad dollars working in that journey.

Measuring True Impact: The Power of Incrementality

As retail media matures, the focus continues to shift from simple metrics like ROAS to understanding the incremental impact of campaigns – the value a campaign drives beyond what would have happened organically. Brands and retailers are investing in studies and measurement approaches that show how advertising actually moves the needle, rather than just attributing sales to impressions.

Closed-loop sales lift analyses, along with “in-flight” measurement that allows campaigns to be optimized in real time, are emerging as best practices. This approach helps brands answer the critical question: Which ad dollars are truly generating new sales or engagement, and which are just capturing what would have happened anyway?

Incrementality-focused measurement is becoming the gold standard for proving value, aligning brand and retail goals, and guiding smarter investment decisions in a complex, multi-network ecosystem.

The Road Ahead:

Retail media is at a turning point. The era of rapid expansion is giving way to a phase defined by collaboration, consumer-first strategies, and smarter measurement. Success will come to those who focus on understanding and engaging the consumer, integrating campaigns across platforms, exploring new channels, and measuring impact in ways that reflect true incremental value. The brands and retailers that can align around these principles will be best positioned to thrive in this evolving landscape.

Enda Gallen, Senior UX/UI Designer

It’s More Than Just Compliance

Accessibility is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a legal requirement, a business advantage, and most importantly, a way to ensure everyone can interact with your brand. As regulations like the European Accessibility Act (EAA) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) continue to evolve, businesses that fall behind risk legal action, reputational  damage, and lost revenue.

But accessibility doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By treating it as a structured, step-by-step process, your business can not only meet compliance standards but also create digital experiences that are better for all users.

At Connelly Partners, we use an end-to-end process to help organizations embed accessibility into their design, development, and long-term strategy. Here’s how it works.

Understand the Law

Accessibility law varies depending on where your organization operates and who your users are. In the EU, the EAA will require digital products and services to meet accessibility standards from 2025. In the US, the ADA and Section 508 already require compliance for many businesses and public services.

The challenge? Regulations are often written in dense, technical language. We translate them into clear, practical requirements that make sense for your business. You’ll know which rules apply, what deadlines you’re working toward, and what “good” looks like in practice.

This first step turns a confusing legal obligation into a manageable starting point.

Map an Accessibility Strategy

Once you know the rules, you need a plan. Accessibility isn’t a one-off project – it’s an ongoing commitment that touches design, development, content, and operations.

We work with businesses to map a tailored accessibility strategy, including:

• Priorities: Which fixes or updates will have the biggest impact fastest?
• Timelines: How to phase improvements around your release cycles and resources.
• Ownership: Who in your organization is responsible for what, from testing to content updates?

This roadmap ensures accessibility doesn’t slip between departments or stall after launch. Instead, it becomes an integrated part of how your digital team works.

Prepare an Accessibility Statement

Transparency builds trust. Most regulations require an Accessibility Statement published on your website or app. But beyond compliance, this statement is an opportunity to show your audience that you take accessibility seriously.

We help businesses draft clear, user-friendly statements that:

• Outline your accessibility goals and progress
• Share contact routes for users who need assistance
• Commit to ongoing improvements as your offerings develop

Done right, this statement signals accountability to regulators and empathy to your customers.

Complete an Accessibility Audit

An accessibility audit is the heart of the process. It tells you where you stand and what needs attention.

We conduct expert reviews against the WCAG 2.2 AA standards, combining:

• Automated testing tools to catch common code issues
• Manual reviews by specialists to identify usability barriers that tools can’t see

This audit produces a clear list of issues, categorised by severity and user impact. Think of it as your accessibility health check, giving you the data to take action.

Start Fixing Issues

Knowing the problems is only half the battle – you need solutions. Many organizations struggle here, because accessibility fixes aren’t always straightforward.

Our developers and designers work through a prioritised backlog, tackling the most critical barriers first.

We provide:

• Practical guidance on how to implement changes for your developers OR implementation of accessibility fixes by our own development team
• Reusable patterns and components in accessible design systems for consistency
• Comprehension QA and UAT with accessibility experts and reviews with accessible technology users

The result is not just quick fixes, but long-term improvements that prevent the same issues from happening again.

Monitor Compliance and Regular Reporting

Accessibility isn’t “done” once you’ve fixed your site. New content, features, and updates can reintroduce barriers. That’s why the final step is ongoing monitoring and reporting.

We can provide:

• Regular audits to check compliance as your site evolves
• Automated testing for continuous feedback
• Easy-to-read progress reports that keep all stakeholders informed

This monitoring protects you from slipping out of compliance and demonstrates your commitment to inclusivity year-round.

Why This Matters for Business

Following this process keeps you legally compliant – but the benefits go much further:

• Reach more customers: One in four people live with some kind of disability. Accessibility ensures you don’t shut out potential users.
• Improve user experience: Clearer navigation, stronger contrast, and better structure help everyone, not just those with disabilities.
• Strengthen your brand: Companies that prioritise inclusivity build trust and loyalty with their audiences.
• Future-proof your digital assets: Accessibility reduces technical debt by making your site more robust and adaptable to future devices and standards.

In other words: accessibility isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s good business.

Building Accessibility Into Your Future

The landscape of digital accessibility is shifting quickly. With the EAA now live and the ADA already active, businesses that act now will not only avoid fines but also gain a competitive edge.

At Connelly Partners, we work with organizations to help them understand where they stand, where they need to be, and how to get there – thoughtfully and effectively. Whether you’re starting with an audit or developing a long-term strategy, we’re here to support you at every step.

If you’re interested in learning more about how accessibility can become a natural part of how your business grows and connects, let’s talk.

Michelle Capasso, Partner & Chief Media Officer

Key Takeaways from the Brand Innovators Sports, Entertainment & Culture Summit

At the Brand Innovators Sports, Entertainment & Culture Summit in Boston, the focus was on the power of sports partnerships. One theme took center stage: in an era of fragmented attention, partnerships with dedicated sports franchises offer brands more than just borrowed equity, they offer a platform for authentic connection with fans. 

As media leaders, we know live sports are one of the last strongholds of appointment viewing in traditional media, giving brands an incredible opportunity for real-time connection. An authentic connection with fans is the ultimate goal, regardless of scale. 

A great example was MassMutual’s move to turn their logo into a functional pitch count for the in-stadium experience at Fenway Park. It’s a brilliant strategy that embodies the idea of approaching sports fans with authenticity and humility. Instead of demanding attention, the brand became a natural and additive part of the fan experience, creating a truly authentic connection.

At Connelly Partners, we believe emotion drives every transaction. Every brand, no matter the size, has the ability to build emotional equity. Whether you’re activating with a stadium takeover, with an influencer activation or across digital touchpoints, the goal is the same: to build brand equity by sparking the emotions that truly move people. 

Because at the end of the day, it’s not about borrowing someone else’s thunder.

It’s about creating a spark of your own.

Enda Gallen, Senior UX/UI Designer

Turn Compliance into Competitive Edge

Digital accessibility is not just a legal requirement – it’s a powerful opportunity. With regulations like the European Accessibility Act (EAA) now in effect across the EU and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) already firmly established in the US, businesses have a clear mandate to create accessible digital experiences. But beyond compliance, embracing accessibility means reaching broader audiences, improving user experience, and strengthening brand trust. At Connelly Partners, we work with organizations to ensure full compliance and turn this regulatory obligation into a competitive advantage. Here’s six ways how:

Better Products

Accessible design isn’t a niche, but is part of fundamentally good design. By requiring straightforward layouts, clear navigation, and inclusive content, it naturally elevates your entire user experience (UX). Whether it’s captions on videos or keyboard‑friendly navigation, these improvements benefit everyone – leading to superior, more intuitive digital products.

A Broader Market

There are over 87 million EU citizens and more than 1 in 4 Americans living with some kind of disability – plus millions more elderly or temporarily impaired users – all of whom benefit greatly from accessible design. Compliance with accessibility standards unlocks this large audience and lets them use your products or services without friction or barriers.

Enhanced Brand Reputation

Accessibility sends a clear message: we care. With the EAA now live and further developments to the ADA on the horizon, consumers will increasingly see accessibility compliance as a marker of trustworthiness and professionalism. An accessible experience signals leadership, competence, and social responsibility.

Lower Legal Risk

In the EU, new products and major updates must comply immediately, while existing offerings have until 28 June 2030 to fully align with the EAA, and Member States are already penalising serious usability lapses. Penalties vary per member state: Italy allows fines up to 5 % turnover; Spain fines up to €600,000 for serious breaches; Germany imposes up to €100,000 per non‑compliant product, Ireland holds company officers personally liable if offences occur with their consent or from neglect and penalties include prison sentences. 

In the US, ADA liability extends beyond regulatory action. A booming number of lawsuits, often filed by so‑called “serial plaintiffs” and specialised law firms, target websites and digital services as “public accommodations.” These suits, often initiated by individuals and their attorneys seeking injunctive relief and legal fees, typically result in settlements ranging from $5,000 to $20,000, even for small businesses. However, cases against Target, MIT, Harvard, Netflix and others have cost from the hundreds of thousands to millions.

Ongoing compliance isn’t optional anymore, but essential.

Cost-Efficiency

Ensuring accessibility from the outset of the product lifecycle is far more cost‑effective than retrofitting or enduring enforcement under the EAA or ADA.

The cost of non-compliance can be severe, but achieving accessibility doesn’t have to be. Think of accessibility like insurance. You don’t wait for a problem before protecting yourself. Building accessibility in from the start not only shields your business from legal and financial risk, it’s also much more affordable than reacting after a complaint or lawsuit.

The actual cost depends on the size and complexity of your digital product, but thanks to improved tools and growing industry expertise, compliance is now more achievable than ever. When accessibility is treated as a core design principle, rather than an afterthought, new projects can avoid expensive retrofits entirely.

Early investment in your projects saves time, effort, and money.

Innovation Through Accessibility

Embracing accessibility often leads to breakthrough innovation. OXO’s Good Grips utensils, inspired by arthritis-friendly design, redefined kitchen tools for everyone through universal ergonomics. Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller transformed gaming by accommodating diverse physical abilities, setting a new standard in inclusive hardware. IKEA’s stylish BÄSTIS collection integrates accessible features without sacrificing design, proving function and form can coexist. Rare Beauty, founded by Selena Gomez, reimagined cosmetic packaging with easy-grip applicators and twist-off lids, supporting users with limited dexterity. 

These brands demonstrate that designing with accessibility in mind not only expands usability but also inspires better, more thoughtful products for everyone.

Why Choose Connelly Partners

As a specialist agency, Connelly Partners offers full-service accessibility support:

Comprehensive accessibility audits aligned with the EAA and ADA: EN 301 549 and WCAG 2.2 AA
Development of accessible digital experiences (digital products, websites, apps)
User testing with assistive tools and participants
Certified accessibility experts 
Full compliance documentation & monitoring

We know the accessibility landscape. We align not just to avoid penalties, but to amplify your brand.

Making Accessibility a Core Part of Your Business

Staying compliant with accessibility standards isn’t just about avoiding risk – it’s about doing what’s right for your users and your brand. From websites and digital services to products and contracts, both EU and U.S. regulations continue to evolve, and it’s important to stay ahead.

At Connelly Partners, we work with organizations to help them understand where they stand, where they need to be, and how to get there – thoughtfully and effectively. Whether you’re starting with an audit or developing a long-term strategy, we’re here to support you at every step.

If you’re interested in learning more about how accessibility can become a natural part of how your business grows and connects, let’s talk.