Colin came home from his first day of second grade armed with a comprehensive list of supplies requested by his teacher. This year, he will need a pencil case that can hold at least six pencils (made of cloth, not plastic or vinyl), a five-subject notebook with visible plastic tabs separating the subjects (wide-ruled, not college-ruled), and a pair of safety scissors with plastic blades. His mother hits her favorite search engine with this list in hand to find all of the items.

Marketers like to put things into buckets. Are you a digital or a social agency? Does this come out of the trade or the advertising budget? Is this an above- or below-the-line spend? It takes a lot of work to convince a decision-maker that you ARE an expert in a new discipline because once your company is in an industry bucket, it's difficult to get out.

While the potential for this trend has been suggested in the past, the reality is that in the last five years it has truly become serious and is accelerating.

Many aspects of the digital world are dominated by a single giant: Google dominates search, Facebook dominates social, and of course, Amazon dominates e-commerce. For the vast majority of brands, walking away from the giants simply isn't an option ... so digital success means dancing with these giants more effectively.

YouTube is, without a doubt, a force to be reckoned with. In fact, Victor Anthony, a tech analyst from CNBC, recently said if YouTube were a stock, it would have a value of $75 billion. Did you know that YouTube reports that its audience is almost one-third of the entire Internet user base accounting for 1+ billion users? And the viewership increases by 60% year after year, according to Google. It's no wonder that brands are looking to YouTube for sponsored content.

Just over a week ago, a new online retailer called Brandless opened its metaphorical doors for business. But unlike the conventional e-commerce model that we all know and love, Brandless offers each and every one of its products at the same price: $3. Its purpose, according to cofounders Tina Sharkey and Ido Leffler, is "about the true democratization of goodness."

The new school year is quickly approaching. If you're doing any shopping, online or in-store, you'll face that unavoidable truth whether you are ready or not. We wanted to dig into the mindset of current parents and find out who they are, how they move through the hectic back to school process and how we as marketers can better cater to their needs.