At A Glance
Back-to-school marketing in 2024 starts earlier, runs longer and relies more on digital engagement. Families research and purchase across online and in-store touchpoints while staying focused on value and convenience. Brands and agencies that plan sooner, activate audience insights early, and maintain consistent experiences across channels stay visible throughout the full back-to-school buying window.In the 2024 back-to-school season, shopping timelines will be stretching earlier into the summer; online and mobile commerce will play a larger role, and household spending decisions will reflect tighter budgets.
Parents and students are researching sooner, comparing prices more carefully, and moving between digital and physical touchpoints before making purchase decisions. For marketers, this shift calls for earlier planning, longer campaign windows, and messaging that reflects both value and flexibility.
Experian experts shared their predictions and tips in a Q&A video, outlining how brands and agencies can prepare for the back-to-school season.
Watch the highlights from our video below.
Three back-to-school marketing trends for 2024
Back-to-school shopping patterns are shifting as families plan earlier, shop across more channels, and stay focused on value. For marketers, success in 2024 comes down to understanding where attention is moving and how to stay relevant throughout a longer buying window.
When will back-to-school campaigns start in 2024?
In 2024, back-to-school campaigns will start earlier and run longer. Brands are moving promotions forward to reach families who plan purchases over several weeks rather than in a single peak moment.
Early engagement supports:
- Awareness before peak competition
- Higher frequency across longer decision cycles
- Coverage for late-season shoppers
Planning ahead allows marketers to stay visible as families spread purchases across categories and channels.
How is online shopping shaping back-to-school marketing in 2024?
Online and mobile shopping continue to gain popularity during the back-to-school season in 2024. Families value convenience, flexible fulfillment, and the ability to move easily between devices.
Marketers should focus on:
- Online and mobile shopping experiences, including options for in-store pickup and delivery.
- E-commerce platforms, including experimenting with shoppable ads on connected TV (CTV)
A strong digital presence supports discovery, comparison, and purchase across devices. As audiences move fluidly between channels, omnichannel strategies help each interaction feel connected, not fragmented. Identity solutions like Experian’s Digital Graph support that continuity by connecting touchpoints across mobile, desktop, CTV, and in-store, helping brands show up consistently and measure what happens next.
Why budget awareness is influencing messaging
Budget awareness is shaping back-to-school messaging as households keep a closer eye on spending. With cost pressures still top of mind, families are planning purchases more carefully and prioritizing value and practicality.
Marketers should align their efforts on/around:
- Clear pricing and fulfillment options
- Value-based offers
- Practical product bundles
What back-to-school marketing strategies should brands use in 2024
Maintain an evergreen presence
Brands should launch back-to-school campaigns early and maintain a steady presence throughout the season. Consistent visibility supports families as they plan and purchase over time.
Understanding how audiences move across channels and timing is key to sustaining that presence. Experian’s TrueTouch™ audiences help brands identify:
- Channel mix preferences
- Timing by audience segment
- Media paths across emails, digital video, and social platforms
Build loyalty programs that deepen customer relationships
Loyalty programs perform best when they reflect a complete view of each customer. When data is limited to transactions or single channels, offers can feel generic and disconnected from real needs.
Using Experian enrichment, brands can expand first-party data with a broad set of demographic, behavioral, and household insights.
With access to more than 5,000+ Marketing Attributes, brands can:
- Create loyalty offers that feel relevant across channels
- Fill data gaps in customer profiles
- Clarify life stage and shopping behavior
Prioritize value and convenience
Convenience and value remain top priorities for families balancing busy schedules during the 2024 back-to-school season.
Effective approaches to prioritize value and convenience include:
- Partnerships with delivery services such as Shipt and Instacart
- In-store and online fulfillment parity
- Pick up in-store (BOPIS) availability
How should agencies approach back-to-school marketing in 2024?
Engage early and extend your campaigns
Agencies benefit from starting conversations earlier with brand partners to support planning and execution. Longer campaign durations help capture demand from early planners and late decision-makers alike.
Adapt your channel strategies
Media plans should reflect how audiences consume content today. Connected TV and social platforms play a central role during the back-to-school season, alongside programmatic and private marketplace buying.
Experian Audiences are available across more than 200 leading activation destinations, including programmatic, social, and TV platforms, and can be curated with premium inventory through Curated Deals. Agencies can activate Experian Audiences and Partner Audiences through Experian’s data marketplace, including access to audiences available within Audigent, a part of Experian, and directly on platforms such as DirecTV, Dish, Magnite, OpenAP, and The Trade Desk.
Watch our full 2024 back-to-school season Q&A with Experian experts
Brands can activate Experian audiences across social, programmatic, connected TV, and private marketplaces through direct platform integrations, supporting consistent targeting and performance comparison across channels.
Watch our full Q&A where our experts cover:
- Approaches for navigating signal fragmentation
- Channels showing strong seasonal performance
- Audience recommendations for back-to-school targeting
What separates Experian’s syndicated audiences
- Experian’s 3,500+ syndicated audiences are available at over 200 leading activation platforms, including programmatic, social, TV destinations, and can be curated alongside premium inventory through Curated Deals.
- Reach consumers based on who they are, where they live, and their household makeup. Experian ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset for key demographic attributes.
- Access to unique audiences through Experian’s Partner Audiences available on Experian’s data marketplace, within Audigent, a part of Experian, for activation in PMPs, and directly on platforms like DirectTV, Dish, Magnite, OpenAP, and The Trade Desk.
You can activate our syndicated audiences on-the-shelf of most major platforms. For a full list, download our syndicated audiences guide.
Where you can activate Experian Audiences?
Experian Audiences can be activated on 200+ leading destinations or found directly on over 30 platforms, including:
Need a custom audience? Reach out to our audience team and we can help you build and activate an Experian audience on the platform of your choice.
Want to activate an Experian Audience on Meta, Pinterest, Snap, TikTok or on a platform not listed above? Contact us today.
Reach out to us today
Experian Audiences are pre-built, privacy-compliant consumer segments that help marketers target based on verified demographic, financial, and behavioral data.
They’re designed for flexibility across channels and can be activated on 200+ platforms, including major social, CTV, and programmatic partners.
Experian ranks #1 in demographic accuracy according to Truthset, and marketers can choose from 3,500+ syndicated audiences that capture signals such as income, spending behavior, household structure, financial attitudes, and ability to pay. These same audiences are also available through partnerships on platforms like DirecTV, Dish, Magnite, OpenAP, and The Trade Desk.
For a deeper look at our audience catalog, explore our syndicated audience guide.
In 2024, many brands are launching campaigns earlier to reach families planning ahead and to maintain visibility across longer purchase cycles.
In 2024, digital channels such as social media, CTV, and mobile display align with current shopping and media habits for back-to-school marketing.
Experian provides syndicated and custom audiences activated across major platforms using household, behavioral, and demographic data.
You can activate Experian Audiences are available across 200+ digital and connected TV platforms, including Meta, Pinterest, The Trade Desk, and Audigent PMPs.
Yes, you can combine Experian data with your own. You can combine your own first-party data with Experian’s 3,500+ syndicated audiences and additional segments from multiple Partner data providers, as a custom audience within a Curated Deal or self-service via Audience Engine.
Yes. Agencies can activate Experian audiences across social, programmatic, connected TV, and private marketplaces through direct platform integrations.
Yes. Brands can activate Experian audiences across social, programmatic, connected TV, and private marketplaces through direct platform integrations.
Latest posts
Commerce media networks have had a strong start. Growth has been fast, demand has been strong, and brands have made it clear they want closer access to commerce-driven audiences. But as more networks mature and enter the space, many are starting to feel the same pressure point: scale. Most commerce media networks were built as managed service businesses. That model works well early on. High-touch, white-glove partnerships make sense when you’re working with a handful of strategic brands. But there’s a ceiling. There are only so many teams, only so much inventory, and only so many advertisers that model can realistically support. It’s one thing for a large retailer to build custom programs for a P&G. It’s another to do that at scale for hundreds or thousands of brands. At some point, growth slows, not because demand disappears, but because the model can’t stretch any further. The scale problem no one likes to talk about That’s where many commerce media leaders find themselves today. Pausing to assess what comes next. For a long time, growth has been measured almost entirely through media dollars. That mindset is understandable. Media is familiar, it's easy to quantify. It shows up clearly in negotiations and revenue reports. But viewing commerce media networks purely as media sales engines creates long-term risk. It can strain brand relationships, limit innovation, and distract from what commerce media networks actually do better than almost anyone else: understand consumers deeply. Signals are the real asset Commerce platforms sit close to decision-making. They see what people search for, what they consider, what they buy, and when those behaviors change. Those signals are incredibly powerful. And yet, most networks only activate them inside their own walled environments. That’s a missed opportunity. Curation represents the next area of growth for commerce media networks, and it doesn’t require replacing or diminishing existing media revenue. In fact, it complements it. No single commerce media network has all the data needed to give advertisers the scale and reach they're looking for. And no advertiser wants to recreate the same audience in dozens of disconnected platforms. That friction creates inefficiency and slows decision-making. Why collaboration supports sustainable growth The opportunity is to look beyond first-party data alone and start thinking about collaboration. Second-party data. Data partnerships. Signal sharing done responsibly and transparently. Imagine an advertiser defining an audience once and being able to understand and reach that audience across multiple commerce environments. Not through a series of disconnected buys, but through a more consistent approach built on shared understanding leading to increased reach and more impactful campaigns. That’s easier for advertisers to manage, and it creates an additional revenue stream for commerce media networks that complements media sales rather than competing with them. Curation strengthens media, it doesn't replace it Media will always play an important role. There is clear value in custom experiences tied directly to a commerce environment. Think buyouts, sponsored experiences, custom creative integrations. Those are situations where brands want to work closely with the network itself. But the signals commerce media networks hold don’t need to be limited to those moments. Those signals can be monetized independently through data products, co-ops, and partnerships that extend their value into other channels. That’s how curation adds value without undercutting existing revenue. A practical path forward for commerce media leaders For commerce media leaders thinking about their next phase of growth, the focus should be on sustainability. Building a massive media operation takes time and investment. Data-driven revenue streams can be introduced more quickly, require fewer internal resources, and provide steadier margins. It’s a practical approach. Use signal-based revenue to fund growth. Let that revenue support investment in tooling, talent, and media innovation over time. Bootstrapping, in the truest sense. Why transparency matters early There’s also a broader responsibility here. In many advertising channels, transparency followed growth, often after pressure from the market. Commerce media networks have an opportunity to do this differently. To lead with transparency from the start. To be clear with brands and consumers about how data is used, how signals are created, and how value flows through the ecosystem. Because the reality is this: commerce media networks are holding some of the most valuable intent signals in the market today. But those signals don’t retain their value in isolation. If they aren’t enhanced, combined, and made accessible in the right ways, someone else will step in to do it. And when that happens, control shifts away from the source. The bottom line The next chapter of commerce media isn’t just about selling more media alone. It’s about recognizing the value of the signals already in hand, working together to make them more useful, and building additional revenue streams that support long-term growth. That’s how commerce media networks grow without eating their own lunch. About the author Kevin Dunn Chief Revenue Officer, Experian Kevin Dunn joins Experian Marketing Services with more than 20 years of leadership experience across marketing and advertising technology, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Brands and Agencies at LiveRamp. In that role, he led growth across retail, CPG, travel, hospitality, financial services, and healthcare, overseeing new business, account expansion, and channel partnerships. Kevin is known for building cohesive, accountable teams and leading with optimism, clarity, and a strong sense of shared purpose. His leadership philosophy centers on empowering people, driving positive outcomes for clients and fostering a culture where teams can grow, take smart risks, and succeed together. Latest posts
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