Are your family vacations idyllic, or more like the Griswold’s adventures? Ours are usually somewhere in between. Still, the risk of kids bickering and Wally World being closed for repairs doesn’t scare off the almost 100 million Americans who will embark on trips this year.

We’ve got travel on the brain this week, as our reporting has taken us around the country. We start with a look at the marketing power of the annual John Deere Classic PGA tournament in Silvis, IL. The brand goes above and beyond the usual meet and greets with innovative experiences like the chance to try out a mini-excavator outfitted with a putter and a seed hopper converted to a cooler.

Marketers who do business in California are gearing up for the California Consumer Privacy Act, scheduled to take effect in January. Sure, it will be tricky and costly to comply, but smart brands see the new regs as an opportunity, rather than a burden. Here’s why.

On both coasts, tourists headed to the beach are probably eyeing the waves a little more warily than normal thanks to Shark Week. Century 21, LandShark Lager and Southwest Airlines are diving right in though, with some sharp-toothed promotions.

Thousands of fans traveled to New York’s Arthur Ashe Stadium last month for the Fortnite World Cup. There’s no doubt about it: ESports is big business. Check out this round-up of some of the biggest trends marketers need to know, including betting, microtransactions and personalization.

Along the way, we also make pit stops to chat with Qualcomm CMO Penny Baldwin on the future of 5G and check out new marketing funnel research. (Did you know only 30 percent of marketers really know their ROI throughout that journey? Wow.)

See you back here next week, when hopefully we’ll have dislodged the ear worm that is “Holiday Road.”

Beth Negus Viveiros
Managing Editor
Chief Marketer