Stories have the power to transfer information and knowledge and create ideological frameworks that determine how we see and relate to the world around us. Using stories to sell products and services is as old as advertising itself. Who is telling the story and what stories are being told are a constant battle for resources and attention. In this new frontier, brands and marketers are facing a challenging environment in which to connect with consumers.
Shrinking media budgets, aggressive growth goals and ever-complex marketing needs are causing a shift in the brand-agency relationship. In their bid for self-preservation, brands are streamlining spending and in-housing capabilities.
Marketing’s big opportunity is here. CEOs are turning to marketing to drive their company’s growth agenda, and they’re giving CMOs the runway and support to do so.
Most chief marketing officers (CMOs) understand that the utilization of data, analyses, and algorithms to personalize marketing drives value. Concept tests are becoming more efficient, customer approaches are being accelerated, and revenues are quadrupling in certain channels (Exhibit 1). All the evidence suggests that marketing functions should invest in, collect, and analyze available data to support their decision making.
The past decade has seen rapid transformation in the role and purview of the chief marketing officer. Several dynamics have triggered this shift, including mounting-yet-fluid expectations from the CEO and the digitization of everything, which demands brands now provide a seemingly 24/7 omnipresence. In short: a tough job has gotten tougher.
Chief Marketing Officers are suffering from an intense case of FOMO – the Fear of Missed Opportunities – as customers seek more localized, personalized experiences that are relevant to their own cultural context and situation. There is ample reason to understand the anxiety: Only 10 percent of brand leaders are feeling exceedingly confident they will be able to reach their customer engagement and revenue goals.
The number of Mexican unauthorized immigrants in the United States declined so sharply over the past decade that they no longer are the majority of those living in the country illegally, according to new Pew Research Center estimates based on government data. In 2017, there were 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., including 4.9 million Mexicans.
Population Reference Bureau (PRB) released its preview of results from the upcoming 2020 U.S. Census, providing a look at key population and housing trends that will shape the United States in 2020 and beyond.
The disruption that has upended the retail, tech and media industries has reached consumer products relatively late, but it is hitting the industry with full force (see Figure 1). Among the most dramatic examples of what’s at stake: The entries of Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club led to a market share drop from 70% in 2010 to 54% in 2016 at Gillette, which also saw an average 12% price decrease in 2017.
While there may be no end in sight to the insurgent brands invasion, signs of hope are on the horizon for the large, established consumer goods companies that have been battling insurgents in the war for growth.
Fan interest and commercial investments in women’s football, or soccer, are growing leading into the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. According to Nielsen Sports, 40% of the people in countries with a team competing in this year’s tournament are interested in women’s football.
GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, released its U.S. Media Forecast Report, detailing the growth the advertising industry experienced in 2018 and what we expect to see through the end of 2019 and 2020. Last year, underlying growth in the U.S. advertising industry excluding political advertising was +6.0 percent. Our forecast calls for +5.8 percent in 2019 on a similar basis and +4.8 percent in 2020. This definition of advertising includes digital media, television, newspapers, magazines, radio and outdoor media.
While organic growth is crucial to a company’s survival, many executives underestimate its value. In past research, we found that fewer than 30 percent of businesses systematically scan for and evaluate new growth opportunities. The reasons for this vary from reliance on cost-cutting efforts to difficulty overcoming short-term pressures.
Video didn’t kill the radio star. Neither have multiple forms of media that have emerged in the last few decades. Perhaps more important, radio has spawned the dramatic and ongoing rise in voice technology that has captured consumers’ imagination and then some.
Never in the history of marketing has so much been said about a generation as millennials. We think we know them – they are super-connected, carefree and selfcentred – and those assumptions have driven our marketing decisions for years.
With the not so lofty goal of 1 billion viewers for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, this year’s tournament is poised to be the most exciting to date for a few reasons.
The “cloud” is a technology transformation that has been spreading like wildfire throughout the consumer packaged goods (CPG) landscape for a while now—a long while. But like many modern technology advancements, the term “cloud” isn’t self-defining. So before we get into the many benefits of the cloud to your business, let’s define it.
In the drive to build cred and radiate authenticity, making sure that your materials are fully bilingual is certainly near the top of every aspiring crossover brand’s checklist. To those on the outside trying to get in, speaking Spanish seems like an indispensable element of effective Hispanic marketing. by Sarah Liddle is Vice President, Sales, at MRI-Simmons.
Inspired by the rise of brands that are seeking to connect with what’s happening in the real world and weigh in on what their audiences are talking about, the study asks two important questions: How should we define culture from a consumer’s point of view? How do consumers think about culture in relation to the brand they interact with?
Forbes Insights recently surveyed over 2,000 companies in the midst of a digital transformation, and found that those in CMO roles are best suited to driving digital revolution within their organizations. When encouragement to innovate and iterate comes from the top, it has a widespread impact on their teams and culture.
