Mattel's Richard Dickson discusses marketing plans to celebrate Barbie's 60th birthday next year, including its biggest-ever "Shero" push, which spotlights inspirational women with dolls of fencing champion Ibtihaj Muhammad and artist Frida Kahlo. Barbie's evolution in recent years is intended to reflect diverse body types and ethnicities, and the brand's messaging focuses on boosting confidence and girls' education, he says.

Citibank launched a content marketing strategy to attract millennials. The strategy includes partnerships with Conde Nast, Well+Good and Business Insider.

Quaker Oats is running a three-part "novella within a novella" that's integrated into Univision's prime-time show "Jesus." The branded content will also be available on Facebook after it has aired on the network and be promoted on social by influencers and actors from the show.

Precise digital targeting to individuals at scale is possible, especially in the business-to-business ecosystem, and advertisers should seek technology partners with proven customer success to help them achieve success, writes Laura Bakopolus. Look for "an ad tech company ... to help your campaigns achieve maximum optimization and savvy enough to deliver transparent reporting that explains the effects of your spending," she advises.

Marketing leaders from Verizon, Unilever and Intel discuss the lessons learned from the in-housing trend, including how internal units enable a more consistent brand narrative and how on-site external agency teams bring value. Intel's Teresa Herd spoke about how the animosity between brands and agencies is damaging and why both should be focusing on working collaboratively for the good of brands.

Mastercard Chief Marketing Officer Raja Rajamannar says marketers must unite to hold Google and Facebook to account regarding brand safety, transparency and data privacy. "[I]f we tackle the problems together as an industry that's where we'll see result," he says.

Managing cross-platform reach is an industry issue that has been simmering for a couple of years. One solution would be the adoption of a universal ad identifier across the media ecosystem because it would create more transparency in tracking ads by all parties, writes Steve Grubbs, founder and president of Second Act Media.

Submissions are now being accepted for the 2019 eec Awards, honoring the most innovative email campaigns. Categories include Best Use of Data, Best Makeover of an Existing Email Program, Best Use of Email in a Cross-Channel Campaign, Best Nurture Campaign and Email Marketer Thought Leader of the Year. Winners will be honored at the annual Email Evolution Conference, April 24 to 26 in Savannah, Ga. Enter now.