Packaged goods marketers have largely stayed the course with their marketing spending despite a tumultuous period mired in rising inflation, intense supply chain pressures and labor shortages. The steady stream of media dollars has extended a run of innovation and improved efficiency for the category, with brands turning to emergent tech like artificial intelligence and tactics like creator-driven gaming content to engage consumers.

Part of the buoyancy is simply winning brands doubling down on what's working in an era that's put a premium on digital strategy and e-commerce. But elsewhere, the industry is responding to increasingly critical mandates that don't carry easy solutions: What will CPGs do once third-party cookies are deprecated in 2023? How does a traditionally stodgy category reach young people who are averse to advertising — as well as the tropes it's reinforced? How can a business predicated on disposable products be sustainable?

In the report below, Marketing Dive examines:

• How brands like P&G are reinforcing corporate sustainability pledges in campaigns
• Mondelez leveraging empathy to make personalized marketing that sidesteps the creepy factor
• How marketers like J.M. Smucker are reinventing their messaging to center on culture

With uncertainty and disruption continuing to be a guiding theme amid the pandemic's third year, this content can serve as a reference point for understanding and reacting to new obstacles in the months ahead.