This year’s Digiday Media Buying and Planning Awards winners demonstrated a trend toward personalized, inclusive campaigns that leveraged high-impact creative and cross-channel integration to drive impactful results. Brands and agencies are also increasingly leaning on strategic partnerships and influencer marketing to amplify brand messaging and foster brand loyalty. 

Critical Mass showcased the value of personalized creative in a campaign for Harley-Davidson. The effort, which earned the agency a win in the Best Use of Technology category, aimed to boost bike sales through a dynamic creative optimization program reaching specific audiences at various stages of their customer journey. Critical Mass optimized media efficiency by targeting on-site actions most likely to result in bike sales, lowering the cost-per-sale by 51%. By emphasizing loan applications and tailoring retargeting messages to individual behaviors, the campaign drove a 2x increase in loan submissions. A test-and-learn approach continuously improved performance, with dynamic, customized messaging significantly boosting engagement.

In the Strategy Executive of the Year category, Wondery’s head of global marketing, Bladimiar Norman, is recognized for an approach tailored to specific audience segments. Norman, who is responsible for overall content marketing for Wondering podcasts, began 2024 with “Wondery Means Business,” the first of six innovative marketing campaigns. The month-long campaign was built around a coordinated cross-functional effort to lift listenership across the entire business genre. By focusing on real business success stories, Wondery connected with new, younger audiences and fostered a deeper connection with the genre. 

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• The White House on Tuesday seemingly dismissed any feuding between Elon Musk and Peter Navarro.
• "Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue," Karoline Leavitt said.
• Navarro has long been one of Trump's most high-profile economic advisors.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday seemingly brushed aside any concerns regarding the public fight between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and top Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro.

"These are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and on tariffs," she said during a briefing at the White House. "Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue."

She also commented on the spat earlier on Tuesday. "Whatever. We are the most transparent administration in history, expressing our disagreements in public," Leavitt said.

The series of remarks made by the two men has heated up in recent days.

Musk in a Tuesday post on X responded to a video of Navarro making remarks on CNBC by writing: "Navarro is truly a moron."

He followed up by stating: "Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks."

Soon after, Musk, the face of the White House DOGE office, launched another attack on Navarro by referring to him as "Peter Retarrdo."

Navarro may have sparked Musk's wrath after he said during a Fox News interview on Sunday that the tech executive is great "when he's in his DOGE lane" but is looking out for his business interests when it comes to President Donald Trump's tariff policies.

Notably, Musk said during an interview last week that he'd like to see a "zero-tariff" system between the US and Europe.

• Elon Musk and Trump's trade advisor Peter Navarro have been locked in a public spat over tariffs.
• Navarro called Musk a "car assembler," and the Tesla CEO called Navarro "dumber than a sack of bricks."
• The White House has brushed the feud aside, saying "boys will be boys."

President Donald Trump's tariffs haven't only roiled global markets and decades-old geopolitical alliances — they've also disrupted the relationship between two of his top advisors.

In the days since Trump announced sweeping tariffs — a 10% baseline tariff on all countries and even higher rates for specific nations — White House DOGE Office affiliate Elon Musk and top trade advisor Peter Navarro have been locked in an ugly, public feud. Navarro has advised Trump since his first term and is a staunch advocate for tariffs. Musk has fired off a number of anti-tariff comments in April — saying there should be a "free trade zone" between the US and Europe, for example.

Here's a timeline of their days-long spat, which is moving almost as quickly and dramatically as the stock market.

Musk didn't respond to Business Insider's request for comment, and representatives for the White House directed BI to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's statements during a press conference.

"These are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and tariffs," she said. "Boys will be boys and we will let their public sparring continue."

April 2

On so-called "Liberation Day," Trump announced his tariff plan. The baseline 10% tariff went into effect on April 5 at 12:01 a.m. E.T., and higher rates kick in on April 9 at the same time.

Trump's announcement initially prompted a massive market sell-off and further fueled fears of a recession among business leaders and everyday Americans alike.

April 5

Musk bashed Navarro's academic history in a post on X, writing, "A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing. Results in the ego/brains>>1 problem."

Navarro got his bachelor's degree from Tuft's University, before going to Harvard for a master's in public administration and a doctorate in economics.

April 6

Navarro dialed up the heat when he spoke to Fox News about Musk's comments.

"Look, Elon, when he's in his DOGE lane, he's great. But we understand what's going on here. We just have to understand. Elon sells cars," he said.

Navarro said that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO is "simply protecting his own interests as any businessperson would do." He noted, though, that things were "fine" between the two men and that "there's no rift here."

April 7

Early Monday morning, Musk posted a video on X of Milton Friedman, the economist and free-market advocate, extolling the benefits of free trade. In the video, Friedman marvels at cross-continental the production of a pencil, whose parts are sourced from countries around the globe.

In an interview with CNBC after the not-so-subtle post, Navarro took his criticism a step further.

"He's not a car manufacturer. He's a car assembler in many cases," he said of Musk. Navarro continued that Tesla sources its parts from foreign nations.

April 8

The Tesla jab didn't go unnoticed.

Musk responded to a clip from the interview and wrote on X that "Navarro is truly a moron." In case that wasn't clear enough, he followed up by saying that Tesla has "the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks." (Tesla Model Y is at the top of Cars.com's American-Made Index.)

The world's richest man replied again in the thread and referenced Ron Vara, the made-up scholar and apparent alter-ego Navarro referenced in various books.

Not even 20 minutes later, Musk responded to another user and jokingly corrected their spelling of Navarro's name with a play on the R-word: "*Peter Retarrdo."

• Stuck at home in 2020, my partner and I talked about moving abroad.
• He started looking for a job in Berlin, and within three weeks, he had a job offer.
• We've been in Germany for years and, at first, experienced culture shock.

It took me 15 years and one month to move abroad. For the longest time, I had wanted to learn more about life around the world, yet I was overwhelmed by the idea of immigrating. There was so much to consider — 193 countries to choose from, languages to learn, and logistics to manage.

I spent my 20s pining for a European lifestyle, even promising my cat that he would someday be a Parisian swinging his paw over some balcony ledge above the cobblestone alley. I learned Spanish, then French, and then backpacked Europe for three weeks on a budget to visit the major cities I thought I might prefer. I labored over possibilities and preparations while taking absolutely no action.

Fast-forward to 2020, when the pandemic hit. My partner of two years and I had no choice but to sit inside and talk about the future.

The "what-ifs" poured out. What if we moved abroad in the next year? What if we tried Germany since they issue 72% of the EU's Blue Cards (equivalent to US Green Cards)? What if my partner, who was an office worker while I was a startup founder, changed his LinkedIn profile to "searching for a job in Berlin"?

And that's how it all happened.

He had a job offer within 3 weeks

Within a week, my partner was invited to an interview. The next week, he had a second interview. The week after that, he received the job offer. Suddenly we were in Chicago applying for visas to let us move abroad while all international borders were closed. Then we were packing up the apartment we had moved into only a month before and saying goodbye to our friends and family over Zoom.

On Inauguration Day 2021, we got on a plane headed toward Berlin. We haven't looked back.

We landed in a temporary furnished apartment, where we spent our first three months getting oriented and organized. That provided a place to feel safe while we began rebuilding our lives and belongings.

My partner began his job, I shifted my consulting calendar to Central European Time, and we began apartment hunting. Looking back, we struck gold with our apartment: we were first in line at a newly completed building and got our pick of apartments. We later moved to an even better apartment in the same building while simultaneously lowering our cost of living due to rent-control laws. That compared to today's six-month average hunt and the cost of new rental contracts having doubled.

This month, four years into our adventure, we adopted a cat. Welcoming him underscored that this new city is now truly home.

We experienced culture shock at first

The culture shock of moving from Detroit to Berlin has been, at times, hysterical. We had to get used to nudity fast — the world-renowned spas do not allow clothing inside the saunas. In summer one may happen upon a nude sunbather in the park. When I went for my first OB/GYN appointment, I was not offered a smock.

We were also met with the incredible friction of German techno-bureaucracy. I was completely unprepared for the urgent need to have access to a fax machine in the 2020s. Paper is still king, including in money, and my partner (to whom I am married) is unable to pick up my packages from the drop-off center without a power of attorney signed by me.

I counted my lucky stars that we were from a state that has driving reciprocity with Germany. Unlike in the US, one must also carry a separate I.D. card — a driver's license is only a driver's license. It must stay in its lane.

Techno can be heard everywhere at all hours of the day. Locals love that I am from Detroit, the sister-techno-city to Berlin. I internally cheered for the stout man dancing on a moving e-scooter down the main road with a Bluetooth speaker strapped to his belt.

This city has also wrapped us in welcome. The universal healthcare system has relieved me of what used to be unknown ailments. I'm considering getting my Ph.D. just because it's free (aside from the 200€ admin fee).

It's been such a relief to no longer own a car — when I need one, I find one to rent in an app, usually parked right on my street. Berlin is well-known for its expansive green spaces. It's been a pleasure to find that they are the primary gathering places in the city. Even in winter, one can find barbecue's and birthday parties congregating in the parks.

All the work I did to prepare was unnecessary. I didn't speak a lick of German before we moved. I didn't go after a student visa. Packing to move abroad felt like moving apartments — keep some, give some, store some. Getting on the plane to move abroad could have easily just been for a vacation. Those parts felt simple. The 15-year anticipation was what was hard.