Business

Total media ad spending worldwide will rise 7.4% to $628.63 billion in 2018, according to eMarketer’s latest report, “Global Ad Spending: The eMarketer Forecast for 2018.”

By Gonzalo López Martí – Creative director, etc. / LMMiami.com

• Protestantism began because the Catholic Church was selling indulgences: documents that exculpated the dead and the alive from spending time in hell or purgatory.
• Yup, the Holy Church literally was, and possibly still is, a “salvation retailer”.
• In the 1500s some mid-level religious staff mostly in Northern Europe “protested” this questionable practice.
• Politics kicked in.

Have you ever set out to add complexity to a problem or project?  Probably not.  In the history of business, the typical goal is to simplify, focus in, and define problems and solutions to be grasped and broken down into digestible pieces so teams can move forward without becoming paralyzed by the enormity of the task.  

TBWA’s cultural insight studio, Backslash, released a report identifying a new modern era of American activism, coined Pan Activism. In a nationwide research study, conducted with strategic brand research consultancy Hall & Partners, it was found that 85 percent of Americans took some form of activism in the past year, such as conversing with those who have differing beliefs or donating to a local business or national tragedy. The findings indicate that modern activism is no longer defined by fringe groups with singular big battles but it is more mass and characterized by small, everyday actions.

Despite a long and relatively steadily improving economy, consumers remain so focused on value that pricing remains retailers’ most pressing business worry.

Navigating the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) landscape has become difficult. It’s not just the consumer path-to-purchase that’s grown in complexity. The playing field for manufacturers and retailers has evolved as well. Notably, for the first time since 2009, the total number of brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S. has declined. As we’ll review a little later, this hasn’t affected all channels to the same extent, but it does highlight the importance of handling product assortment and distribution with utmost efficiency.

As digital makes its mark on the advertising world, it’s all too easy to forget that, collectively, traditional media still rules the roost. But for how long? We discuss this, and more, in the latest episode of eMarketer’s “Behind the Numbers” podcast.

The imperative to compete on the basis of customer experience is heightening the job security risks of chief marketing officers who are struggling to keep up with new digitally driven ways to engage, satisfy and enrich the experience of more mobile, savvy and fickle consumers.

While today’s media consumers have a greater choice of content through ad-free or ad-blocked environments, the belief that ad-supported media is on the decline is just not true, according to Peter Katsingris, Senior Vice President, Audience Insights, Nielsen.  He noted that despite the changes in content availability through increased platform and device options “over the last 15 years, ad-supported media is still far more dominant and successful than perception may indicate.”

Whether they’re catching up on the news in the car or tuning in to true crime on the treadmill, chances are US consumers are listening to a podcast.

Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) announced that Liz Blacker has been appointed to SVP of Branded Content Revenue. Effective immediately, Blacker will be based in New York and report to Lisa Valentino, EVP of Revenue Innovation for UCI.

By Gonzalo López Martí   – Creative director, etc./LMMiami.com

“Students are borrowing money they  do n ot haveto study stuff that does not matterto try and find jobs that do not exist.”
Tweeted by @charliekirk11

Miami-based independent marketing communications firm CCOM Group announced the rebranding of its business to represent the fluent and ‘always-on’ nature of today’s culture and the agency’s relentless effort to help clients authentically navigate this new and evolved space.

According to a new study from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, news coverage about inaccurate, questionable and false digital media reporting measures have already caused 21 percent of marketers to pull back on advertising spend. More than 70 percent of brand leaders admit that negative news headlines have had an impact on budgets.

We are at a time of unprecedented commercial opportunity in global sports. Barriers to entry have never been lower. More markets around the world than ever before are receptive to the power of sports. It’s never been easier to reach millions—even billions—of fans.

On May 25th, only 30 days away, the European Union will launch the greatest privacy experiment in history. On that date, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect. It will immediately impact the more than 508 million people who populate the EU and multi-millions more throughout the world who collect personally identifiable information about EU citizens. Despite the hopes and claims for these highly complex proposals, no one knows the true impacts of these stringent regulations.

While the barriers hindering women from fully participating in the labor market make it unlikely that they will attain full gender equality within a decade, the report finds that in a best-in-class scenario—in which each US state matches the state with the fastest rate of improvement toward gender parity in work over the past decade—some $2.1 trillion of incremental GDP could be added in 2025. That is 10 percent higher than in a business-as-usual scenario.

Are big media companies ready for another big wave of disruption? They’d better be. The direct-brand revolution is starting, and it might not be pretty for large incumbent players in the media industry.

Daisy Expósito-Ulla, Chairman/CEO of d expósito & Partners, was inducted into the 69th Annual Advertising Hall of Fame® at a Gala Dinner and Induction Ceremony on Tuesday, April 24th, 2018 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. The AAF Hall of Fame is undoubtedly the highest honor bestowed by America’s Advertising Industry and it recognizes the most accomplished and legendary figures in advertising, bringing together the industry to celebrate the Biggest Night in Advertising.

Welcome to the second installment of the #TotalMarketTalk podcast. This episode features actor and  NGL Collective partner, John Leguizamo, in an amazing 1 on 1 conversation with our industry’s own, Luis Miguel Messianu, Creative Chairman and CEO of the award-winning ALMA ad agency.