The emergence of messaging - real-time, two-way channels like Twitter, Facebook Messenger, and SMS - as a dominant form of communication demands that marketers hone their skills as conversationalists. At the same time, broadcast marketing and reach-frequency models are becoming increasingly inadequate as standalone strategies for brand development.

Clear Channel Outdoor is starting a program called Radar that will use billboards to map real-world habits and behaviors from nearby consumers. The technology will help advertisers better target their ads. Privacy advocates are concerned. Radar uses anonymous aggregated data from consumer cellular and mobile devices to measure consumer's real-world travel patterns and behaviors as they move through their day, analyzing data on direction of travel, billboard viewability, and visits to specific destinations.

J.D. Power's 2016 Dependability Study includes some interesting brand rankings which hint at changes. For the fifth year in a row, Lexus was tops in the rankings. The biggest problem reported by study participants? Pairing a vehicle's ACEN system with a smartphone, using Bluetooth. Voice recognition software glitches were a close second. And navigation glitches were a source of many, many headaches.

After two years of fiddling, the United States Soccer Federation is unveiling a redesign of its crest, which adorns the jerseys of the men's and women's national teams. The announcement was delivered directly to fans using Google Cardboard, a virtual reality promotional video and a United States Soccer Federation scarf.

Vice Media, which is wooing 18 - 34 year olds to the fold with Viceland, is the latest digital media company to launch its own cable TV channel. The project, a joint venture with A+E Network, has brands lining up to be charter advertisers, including Unilever, Bank of America, Diageo, Shinola, Bushmills, MailChimp, Samsung, T-Mobile and Toyota.