I have just reached the 100-day mark in my role leading the 4A’s, and one thing has been made exceedingly clear to me over the past few months: Before we can make true progress, we must address a critical issue. That issue is trust. By Marla Kaplowitz – 4A’s President and CEO
ANA slide show
Bill Duggan penned a piece in MediaVillage.com last week continuing the ANA’s attack on ad agencies — this time over production transparency, which is the code name for unethical and possibly illegal bid-rigging activities conducted by some agencies to secure production contracts at favorable rates. A previous transparency issue, media transparency, was investigated by ANA in 2016, and it confirmed instances of media agencies enriching themselves at client expense through rebates, kickbacks and other “non-transparent” practices, many of them not forbidden by existing contracts. Duggan summarized ANA’s view about these two transparency issues: “The advertising industry continues to suffer from a transparency crisis, which has broken down trust between advertisers and agencies … the ad agency community now needs to acknowledge and address these issues rather than continuing to issue denials …” By Michael Farmer
In recent years, most consumer goods companies have exponentially grown their digital agendas, typically resulting in higher costs of time, energy and money. Yet for many, top-line growth remains elusive and profits are under pressure.
From the rise of online shopping channels to ad campaigns created for an audience of one, consumer marketing has changed more in the past ten years than it did in the previous 30. Despite that level of change and disruption, if you had put a few typical marketers from the 1980s into a time machine and sent them into the marketing departments of today, they would probably feel right at home. There might be a new IT department and a few other changes, but the job titles, structures, approach to performance management—even the vocabulary—would be remarkably familiar. By Raphael Buck, Biljana Cvetanovski, Alex Harper, and Björn Timelin
In an era of hyper-segmentation and personalization, can mainstream marketing still provide total relevance? The concept of mainstream is obsolete. It comes from a simpler time, when the U.S. population was less diverse. The overwhelming majority was non-Hispanic, White, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant, and, relatively speaking, the population was much more economically secure.
It was once the case that multicultural marketing initiatives were only considered after the general market strategy was in place–but no more. The influence of these important consumers is rapidly expanding. Today, multicultural shoppers control more than $3.4 trillion in buying power thanks to a growing population, advancements in education and business, as well as an intense interest in everything tech.
How quickly and effectively marketers respond and adapt to ongoing consumer feedback has become a new determinant of brand performance, reports the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council in a survey report.
ANA, ever-faithful and aggressive on behalf of its advertiser members, struck a second blow to 4As this week — a right uppercut to the chin — with a new ANA study of advertising production practices. The report detailed “a range of improper behavior, including allegations that some agencies have steered production contracts to their in-house production and post-production outfits by urging other companies to inflate their prices during the bidding process,” as reported in WSJ. ANA’s first blow — a left to the head — was its 2016 media transparency report, which outlined improper media owner rebates and kickbacks to media agencies. The combination 1-2 punch is sure to further undermine trust and lead to contract reviews and reductions in agency remuneration. 4As is taking it on the chin. What can they do? The fight is a mismatch. ANA has the weight advantage — or does it? By Michael Farmer – Madison Avenue Manslaughter Archives
Non-transparent production practices exist at multiple ad agencies and agency holding companies, according to a new study by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers).
All brands have a story to tell consumers, but telling it in a way consumers want to hear can be challenging. Marketers are taking advantage of their ability to use content and ad creative sequentially to present longer, more compelling messages to consumers.
If there is one thing that has changed in the last couple of decades it is our expectations of immediacy. Ever since Apple put easy access to information in our hands people have come to expect everything to be more immediate. This includes business success which is a problem when brands take time to grow strong. by Nigel Hollis
With marketing technologies growing ever more powerful, many companies are deploying the latest tools to personalize marketing or make ad spending more efficient. There’s no question that new digital technologies allow marketers to approach customers with surgical precision, unlike the blunter instruments of just five years ago. But the rush to invest in new technologies designed to boost the return on investment (ROI) of a single purchase or channel often misses the foundational goal of knowing who your target customers are, what they’re worth to the firm and how they behave. By Laura Beaudin, Brian Dennehy and John Grudnowski
The agency refusal to cooperate infuriated procurement. As one exasperated executive told me in 2003, “Who the hell do they think they are, anyway? A bunch of prima donnas. I’m going to whack their fees by 10% — maybe that will send them a message.” By Michael Farmer – Madison Avenue Manslaughter
Everyone in the marketing ecosystem realizes mobile is inextricably intertwined with the consumer journey. The challenge is in learning how to leverage it.
Influencer Marketing has become a central focus of marketing strategies and budgets for 2017. According to Bloomberg, an estimated $255 million is now spent on influencer marketing every month. With a buy in like that, what’s the ROI? EMarketer reported that advertisers earned an average of $6.85 for every $1 they spent on influencer marketing.
The report, which analyzed a population of roughly two million Hispanic Millennial consumers and thirteen million non-Hispanic Millennial consumers, produced some interesting behavioral findings including brand preferences, social and mobile habits, auto buying trends, and the people that influence them to purchase.
Broadcast news (52%) and Facebook (53%) continue to be top news sources for Americans, distantly followed by cable news (43%). Similar to previous waves, few trust news from social media sites and apps like Snapchat (11%), Twitter (14%) and Facebook (19%). Topping the list of sources most trusted, most Americans trust broadcast news (61%) and print newspapers (59%).
While labor-based fees are the No. 1 method preferred by agencies (45%), incentive methods were the top choice among marketers (40%).
The key performance indicators most commonly tracked by retail executives may be distracting their attention from broad, omnichannel goals and performance.
