This doesn't mean simply translating and optimizing your website for global audiences. It means your site should include regionally preferred lingo that respects cultural nuances, including locally celebrated holidays.

The time is right for the industry to direct marketing efforts beyond its core demographic. The prospective patients seeking relief from pain or chronic conditions, or the ladies who lunch who might try a puff from a vape pen in lieu of a glass of chardonnay, are not hearing the cannabis gospel.

Consumer expectations continue to rise as digital technology helps CPG companies set new standards of service, deliver exceptional experiences and is making the unexpected possible. Consumers want to be in control, their needs anticipated, their location followed, their issues resolved, and they want it all at record speed.

Modern marketers agree, Big Data is not only here to stay, it's the foundation to virtually all current and future successful campaigns in today's predominantly digital landscape. If there's consensus around the power of Big Data, then marketers are already on track to optimize this data for the benefit of the brands they serve, right? Wrong.

At a time when one out of every three hotel room nights involves a meeting or other group event, not enough attention has been paid to the meeting as a product - and how marketers can maximize group events as far as reaching all those millions of attendees in the interests of improving their experience and delivering messages.

Online publishers are facing a serious problem: They're not making enough money. Mashable recently sold for a scant $50 million (even though it was recently valued at $250 million), BuzzFeed is on pace to miss its 2017 revenue target by 15 to 20%, and Vice is expected to fall roughly $800 million short of its target this year, according to "The Wall Street Journal."

With continued disruption in the consumer goods industry, changes in the coming year are inevitable to combat the increase of unconventional and low-cost stores like Lidl, Aldi and Amazon, gaps in retailer-manufacturer communication, and evolving consumer shopping habits. As a result, 2018 will be a year where manufacturers are asked to reevaluate and reposition their trade investment strategy for data-driven decisions and mutually optimized returns.

Unlike consumer goods branding, healthcare branding is not a celebration of self. People don't engage with healthcare brands to shape their identity. "Look, I got a new Dior bag...a new BMW...a cool brand of beer!" Healthcare branding is a protection of self, helping to restore aspects of one's identity lost to illness.

Let's face it, the world is changing rapidly. We are going through a mass cultural disruption where we feel numb one minute, elated the next and downright overwhelmed most of the time. While many of these growing pains are brought on by the new world order fighting for control within the existing framework, consumerism seems to be the stabilizing force. Or is it?

In today's digital, hyper-connected world, consumers are savvy and quick to judge. Couple that with increasing competition from industry leaders and new market entrants, and brands today are left with little room for error.