Meet today’s American Consumer
Compared with the rest of the world, Americans are feeling pretty good about their finances. While many consumers in other countries are living paycheck to paycheck and worrying about becoming unemployed, American consumers are comparatively unconcerned about their household’s financial future. This isn’t to say that US consumers are exuding confidence: financial-market volatility and the political uncertainty surrounding the upcoming presidential election are stoking fears of another downturn. By Max Magni, Anne Martinez, and Rukhshana Motiwala
When I worked on my first survey with Hispanic respondents, circa 1980, the best-in-class approach to reach a fully representative sample was to go door-to-door. Of course, this was pre-cellphones, pre-internet and when Hispanic landline telephone penetration was around 70 percent. The market was growing and evolving rapidly (and still is, but in different ways). By the later part of the 80s we were able to complete fairly representative surveys via landline. We’ve come a long way since those early years in Hispanic marketing, and for the most part, the Hispanic consumer is as savvy and sophisticated as the general market consumer, but there are still sampling nuances to take into account. By Raul Lopez – Principle and Chief Research Officer / New American Dimensions
It should come as no surprise that agencies have these kinds of practices around rebates and credits in place. Every person who has ever worked in an agency environment knows this to be the case — it’s not much of a shock, although the press is treating it as such. 
This year’s events (US elections, UEFA Euro 2016 , Summer Olympics in Brazil, and Copa America in the US) will generate incremental advertising spending and thus boost media owner advertising revenues compared to 2015 (when no such events took place.) Neutralizing the impact of those cyclical events in 2015, 2016 and 2017, the global advertising market would grow by approximately +4% in both 2015 and 2016, which suggests no significant acceleration in the underlying ad demand beyond the cyclical drivers, as the economic environment remains uncertain.
It’s been about a week since the ANA’s report into transparency hit the best seller lists. Lest we forget (and judging from some of the less temperate comments flying around some seem to have forgotten) the report was titled “An Independent Study of Media Transparency in the U.S. Advertising Industry.” It was not titled “Why Advertisers Hate the Holding Companies” nor “We Name the Guilty Parties.” By Brian Jacobs The Cog Blog
The ANA released a K2 report on media buying practices. Although the 4A’s has worked collaboratively with the ANA via a joint task force, this report is anonymous, one-sided and paints the entire industry with the same negative brush. This statement further elaborates the 4A’s position on this issue.
So it has been a week since the Association of National Advertisers report on media transparency came out. It paints a dire picture of agencies using all kinds of smoke and mirrors to generate income for themselves, while still being able to claim they are upholding their contractual obligations to their clients.
The first of two ANA reports has landed, containing the results of 150 interviews conducted by the investigators K2 with ‘marketers, media suppliers, ad tech vendors, current and former advertising and media agency professionals, trade association executives, industry consultants, attorneys, barter company employees, and post-production professionals’. By Brian Jacobs / Brian Jacobs & Associates
The whole issue of agency kickbacks from media companies now comes right in the middle of the TV upfront market negotiations.
There’s no denying that the balance of power in the consumer industry has tilted. Retailers have the advantage over consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) manufacturers—and retail buyers are deftly using their leverage at the negotiating table. Retail buyers are more sophisticated, more analytical, and more demanding than ever. By Kari Alldredge, Brandon Brown, and Max Magni
The email arrives and your jaw clenches: It’s planning time again and there’s nothing you can do about it. No matter what else is on your plate, you know that the next month or so will be dominated by filling out templates and sitting through endless planning sessions. The irony is that you have some strategic ideas you’re really excited about but you figure you’ll have to work the back channels to get them in front of the right people. Previous experience has taught you that your company’s formal planning process is where the best ideas go to die. By Mark Judah, Dunigan O’Keeffe, David Zehner and Lucy Cummings
Numerous non-transparent business practices, including cash rebates to media agencies, were found to be pervasive in a sample of the U.S. media ad-buying ecosystem, according to a study commissioned by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers). DOWNLOAD REPORT HERE.
Regular readers of this blog will know that I question the hype surrounding marketing to Millennials. Are they really snake people or not? Given my skepticism it was refreshing to read Ola Mobolade’s Warc Best Practice paper on how to market effectively to Millennials. by Nigel Hollis
With convenience and preference driving behaviors and the paths consumers take to the register—whether virtual or traditional—it’s vital for brands and retailers to understand what’s actually influencing their choices.
Many executives have come to feel that rapidly evolving brand and agency roles and responsibilities are having a negative impact on business results, creating a series of challenges.
As Nielsen pushes its “total audience” measurement system as the new currency for a hybrid TV and video advertising marketplace, some fundamental issues remain — especially the fact that Nielsen will effectively be adding many more sources of video viewing to the measured universe, and consequently, will fragment the TV/video advertising marketplace beyond anything Madison Avenue has experienced to date.
Hispanic growth in income and population across all ages will drive increases in consumer spending that will exceed the shopping totals of the millennial demographic by 2020, Morgan Stanley analysts said Monday. By Tonya Garcia / MarketWatch
Online survey among US adults ages 18 and over who work full-time in the marketing/ advertising industry. To qualify for the survey, respondents had to be decision makers/ representatives for a specific brand, or work for an agency that is responsible for making decisions on behalf of brands.
A company’s relationship with its customers is about much more than improving product ratings or decreasing wait times. Understanding the customer journey is about learning what customers experience from the moment they begin considering a purchase, and then working to make the journey toward buying a product or service as simple, clear, and efficient as possible.
Attention is the allocation of mental resources, visual or cognitive, to visible or conceptual objects. Before consumers can be affected by advertising messages, they first need to be paying attention. As Thales S. Teixeira writes in this paper, the quality of consumer attention has been falling for decades. Consumers have lost interest in the information content of ads because they can access more and better information on‐demand on the Web.
