THEME OF THE MONTH: SUSTAINABILITY

COMPANIES ARE SPENDING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS ON MARKETING, BUT THE RETURN ON INVESTMENT IS FALLING

Marketing budgets are edging up while returns are falling, leaving online shops paying more to sustain the same turnover as digital advertising costs rise and competition intensifies. The core problem is no longer a lack of data but too much conflicting platform data, which pushes teams toward "safer" channels and can mask the real drivers of customer acquisition. Roivenue identifies three recurring mistakes: no single source of truth, adding channels before fully understanding existing ones, and measuring conversions or turnover without linking campaigns to actual profit. AI is adding another measurement blind spot, as companies struggle to judge whether traffic from tools such as ChatGPT belongs in the marketing mix or is simply another source of costly distraction.

A TEST OF THE STRENGTH OF CZECH BRANDS: HOW DO THEY FAREWELL WITHOUT A NAME OR LOGO?

Research by ResSolution Group and Media Age found that none of six tested Czech brands achieved more than 50% recognition when logos, names and distinctive symbols were removed, with Pilsner Urquell leading at 45% and Škoda Auto at 39%. The findings suggest that minimalist brand executions can weaken recall and increase competitor confusion, as seen in bottled water where Mattoni was mistaken for a rival by 12% of respondents, matching its correct identification rate. Recognition was generally stronger among respondents under 35, while category relevance influenced results in insurance and gender differences were evident for Pilsner Urquell and Škoda Auto.

COMMUNICATION SUMMIT: ADVERTISING IS THREATENED BY CREATIVE LAZINESS; WE MUST NOT GIVE UP ON THINKING

Speakers at the Communication Summit warned that while generative AI can accelerate content production, overreliance risks uniform output, weaker critical thinking, and reduced standout value in attention-driven markets. Petra Jankovičová and Radana Čechová argued that AI should support the seven-step creative process rather than replace human responsibility for ideas, stressing that creation and creativity are not the same. WPP Media’s Boňa Samojlova and Marek Bačo added that marketers’ heavy AI use increases the risk of cognitive offloading and even "cognitive surrender," where AI becomes an autopilot instead of a helper. The business takeaway was clear: AI remains a powerful tool only when paired with human judgement, independent thinking, and a strong understanding of people’s motivations and emotions.

WHEN A SMALL BRAND REACHES HALF THE NATION: WHAT DID THE TEST OF THREE CAMPAIGNS FROM THE ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS REVEAL?

Behavio tested three campaigns aired during the 2026 Ice Hockey World Championship, where at least one match reached 47% of Czechs and 97% of viewers watched at home, creating a rare mass-attention environment for advertisers. The findings underline that reach alone is not enough: brands benefit most when viewers can quickly and correctly link the creative to the advertiser. In the test, HET delivered the strongest overall branding performance, lifting awareness by 24 percentage points and achieving 74% correct brand identification, while Stavmat posted the largest absolute awareness gain at 26 points but ranked behind on broader effectiveness.

THE WORLD CUP WILL CAPTURE YOUNGER CONSUMERS’ ATTENTION AND BUDGETS

Brands across retail, restaurants, and beer are using the 2026 FIFA World Cup to drive awareness and spending, from Target’s host-city tour and Adidas’ Nordstrom activations to limited-time menus and major beverage campaigns. The audience skews younger and more diverse, with 40% of Gen Zers and 39% of millennials planning to watch, while nearly 89% of viewers expect to make a related purchase with an average spend of $74. That positions the tournament as a meaningful commercial moment, even as softer travel demand and high costs temper broader economic expectations.

FORUM MEDIA WILL BRING IN EXPERTS IN MORE THAN JUST DIGITAL MARKETING

Forum Media 2026 will take place on 10 November at Prague’s O2 Universum, bringing together leaders from marketing, media and strategic communications to examine how brands, agencies and audiences are changing in an AI- and platform-driven market. Key speakers include Joah Santos of Dove Real Beauty, who will address community-led brand building and the intersection of creativity and AI, and Michael Farmer, who argues the traditional agency economic model has already stopped working under price pressure, automation and platform dominance. The programme also highlights reputation risk, platform power and digital manipulation through sessions from Mark Borkowski, Nick Couldry and Vilma Luoma-aho, giving marketers and agency leaders a practical view of the forces reshaping trust, authenticity and communications strategy.

FAST GOES MAINSTREAM AS EUROPEAN VIEWERS EMBRACE FREE STREAMING, RAKUTEN TV SAYS

Rakuten TV’s The FAST Advantage report indicates FAST has moved into the European mainstream, with 73.7% of viewers using FAST daily or several times a week and 80.1% treating it as either a primary TV option or an alternative to paid streaming. For advertisers and media owners, viewer acceptance of ad-supported environments is strengthening: more than 82% of respondents accept advertising in FAST, while home-screen and pause-screen placements are expanding available inventory beyond traditional breaks. The study also positions FAST as both a discovery and monetisation channel, with 45.9% of viewers using it to assess which subscriptions are worth paying for, nearly 30% using it to cut subscription spending, and 93.7% primarily watching on the main TV screen.

FERMATO IS HEADING TO TELEVISION. IN ITS FIRST MAJOR BRAND CAMPAIGN, IT IS FOCUSING ON ITS OWN LANGUAGE AND A SUMMER ATMOSPHERE

Czech brand FerMato is making its TV debut with its largest brand campaign to date, centered on its flagship fermented dressings and led by the best-selling Klasika variant. Running from June across Prima Group channels, the campaign is designed to strengthen long-term brand building and consumer awareness, with additional waves planned through summer and again in October and November. The creative uses recurring wordplay around the suffix “to,” a summer barbecue setting, and the on-screen presence of founder Radim Stráník to build a distinctive, recognizable brand language.

DON’T WAIT UNTIL YOU NEED IT TO BUILD YOUR BRAND. FOOTSHOP HAS SHARED DETAILS OF ITS CORPORATE CRISIS

Footshop told Brand Restart that years of prioritising performance marketing left the business far less known than management assumed: a Behavio survey found awareness at 20%, not the roughly 50% expected. Even after record sales and expansion across EU markets, the company entered 2024 with less than 1% of its marketing budget allocated to brand activity, exposing heavy dependence on paid advertising. Footshop has since sharply increased brand investment, and says awareness has already risen by nine percentage points in under a year while brand activity is helping lower new-customer acquisition costs.

APPLE SPENDS THE MOST, BUT OTHERS ARE GRABBING THE LIMELIGHT. WHAT DETERMINES A VIEWER’S VALUE?

Apple spends about $20 billion for each 1% of TV airtime share, while YouTube and Fox spend roughly $1 billion, underscoring that higher content investment does not automatically deliver greater audience attention. For advertisers, the more useful benchmark is how effectively a platform converts spending into viewing time and attention, not simply how much content it produces. Streaming platforms are also redefining customer value: viewers on ad-supported tiers who watch more can generate revenue comparable to or above ad-free subscribers, a shift reflected in Netflix’s expanding advertising focus and its goal of narrowing the gap between the two segments.

ADVERTISING SPEND IN THE TOBACCO SECTOR HAS RISEN SIGNIFICANTLY AND UNDERGONE A TRANSFORMATION

AdIntel data from Nielsen shows advertising spend in the tobacco products and smokers’ accessories category has climbed sharply over the past decade, rising from CZK 16 million in 2015 to more than CZK 63 million in gross list prices in 2025. Between 2024 and 2025 alone, list-price investment increased by 66%, signalling a rapid acceleration in category activity. The market has also shifted from traditional cigarette brands toward alternative nicotine products, with Syx, Velo and Ploom recording the highest investments last year. Nielsen notes that list prices do not equal net media spend, but they remain a useful indicator of where advertising momentum and brand competition are moving.

NOVA FOLLOWS IN PRIMA’S FOOTSTEPS. SKIPPING ADS WILL NO LONGER BE POSSIBLE ON ITS CHANNELS EITHER

TV Nova will require pay-TV operators to block ad-skipping on Nova Group catch-up channels from 16 November 2026, extending a model Prima has applied since 2022. For operators and advertisers, the move signals a stricter monetisation approach to catch-up viewing, with operator feedback indicating no alternative implementation options have been offered. Nova says the Oneplay library will remain ad-free, while delayed live viewing on Oneplay and other platforms will no longer allow fast-forwarding through ad breaks.