At 75.4 million strong, Millennials eclipsed Boomers in 2016 as the largest generation. Not surprisingly, food marketers are salivating at the thought of winning over these young consumers.

Most retailers have been feeling the effects of Amazon's dominance for years, but one industry - consumer packaged goods - has been able to float by largely unaffected by the e-commerce giant. That's all starting to change, thanks to Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods.

No matter what stage of the ever-evolving journey of transformation consumer goods companies are on, 2018 is the year to commit to having a dynamic "moving to modern" agenda that is focused on the goal of unlocking new sources of value.

Pinterest's unique capabilities as a social shopping platform make it the gift that keeps on giving for brands and influencers who leverage the tool to increase ROI. In our experience, Pinterest leads all other social networks for driving traffic to our influencer community's blogs: 67% of social referral traffic is directed from the platform.

By now, you've probably seen your fill of new year predictions, each furthering the buzz on AI and machine learning, voice, IoT, wearables, payments, the blockchain and cryptocurrencies ... . The list goes on. While each of these trending technologies is compelling in its own right, the reality is they'll have zero positive impact on the bottom line if a more pressing concern isn't addressed: customer empathy.

If we can predict anything about Super Bowl Sunday, it's that tears will be shed - and we don't mean by football fans (although that may be true, too). Why? The next episode of NBC's hit show, "This is Us," is scheduled to air right after the Super Bowl, and with a much-anticipated conclusion to a key storyline.

Why a little snobbery can go a long way.

Home purchase rates among African-American consumers have slowly crept upward over the past year, reflecting a 2004 peak in homeownership rates, which declined after the 2008 Great Recession. Since the start of 2017, the number of African-American homebuyers has steadily increased by the quarter. Our latest total market consumer sentiment report shows this trend continuing in 2018.