Business

An emerging supergroup of employees and consumers is adding intense pressure to already challenged C-suite leaders who are navigating tough economic, technological and geo-political environments — further threatening company growth, a new Accenture study finds. With nearly three-quarters of these powerful stakeholders believing they have the potential to destroy company value in the long term, the C-suite understands the need to respond.

As retail store closures continue at an alarming rate, consumer goods brands have fewer channels to sell their products outside of retail and ecommerce behemoths like Amazon, Walmart and Costco. This reality has many in the consumer goods industry looking to sidestep retail and online marketplaces altogether by selling to their customers directly.

As change accelerates in the business world and technology disruption dominates, organizations need a clear strategy to create or acquire the capabilities required to keep pace and seize new opportunities. Learn how alliances can play a key role in helping organizations understand and overcome current challenges.

NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations announced that Jeffrey Stone has been named Chief Financial Officer (CFO). In this role, Stone will manage the financial operations for NBCUniversal’s division that includes 42 NBC and Telemundo owned stations, a regional news network, two multicast networks, and their subsidiary businesses.

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.

After delivering my take on what is requires to revitalise a brand, one of my audience asked, where should a retailer invest? In refurbishing existing, older stores, or in marketing to reach new customers? Of course, ideally one would do both, but if you do not keep your existing customers happy their defection may undermine your growth prospects anyway.  by Nigel Hollis

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

• Advertising sometimes feels embarrassed about the fact that it is out to sell stuff.
• Hence sponsored content is based on the “when in Rome” premise: advertising must blend in.
• It must never look like an intrusion.

The years since I left the Silicon Valley to lead a company (Geoscape) providing data, analytics, research and technology have taught me quite a few lessons. My initial focus was international — Latin America especially but also Europe and Asia — and in the early 2000’s we began to put all our energy into developing data analytics and technology platforms to facilitate use and action based on relevant data and techniques to help companies navigate the American cultural terrain. In the beginning I felt resistance on the part of marketers to embrace these analytic techniques yet over a period of time many companies embraced the approach, leading to hundreds of fruitful business relationships across industries.  By Cesar Melgoza – Founder & CEO of Geoscape

The millennial Latinx woman is now fully aware of the significant and dual prejudice she faces in the workplace. We have learned that our gender and ethnicity have been used against us in business organizations and, furthermore, put us at risk of being the most underpaid employees versus both our male counterparts and female colleagues from other ethnic backgrounds.  By Carla Michelle Santiago – SVP Deputy General Manager at Edelman

More education leads to higher earnings but the gender pay gap is wider among men and women with a bachelor’s degree than among those without.

The Latino Business Action Network (LBAN) has selected 77 scaled Latina and Latino businesses from across the country as part of the next, and seventh, cohort of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative Education-Scaling (SLEI-Ed) Program. The figure represents an all-time high engagement number since the program’s inception in 2013.

Noticias Telemundo announced it has named veteran news executive Patsy Loris as Senior Vice President, Elections 2020 and Special Projects, effective July 29. Loris will be based in Miami and will report to Luis Fernandez, Executive Vice President of Network News at Telemundo.

The Story Room announced that Melisa Quiñoy, former CEO of Dallas-based Dieste Agency and Tiffany Chaplin former Digital Account Director at New York’s Merkley & Partners have joined the leadership team in newly created executive positions based in Miami.

eMarketer director of sales Christine Anene and organization development director Mayte Espinal join the podcast to discuss the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Are D&I initiatives a question of good corporate citizenship, or are they also good for business? What are current trends and best practices in making offices more like the outside world? How do employees respond when companies focus on workplace health?

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

• As I pointed out in a prior installment of this series of articles, for centuries, if not millennia, the conundrum of advertising has been how to calibrate a kosher level of integration with its vehicles and surroundings.
• How forthcoming should an ad, in the broadest sense of the word, be about its intentions?
• Should it blend in or stand out?

Having been away from the game for a little over a year, I watch with morbid curiosity as the ad agency business continues its downward slide.  The latest? The RFP recently issued by General Mills.  GM, like many clients, are going away from agency-of-record relationships. Now, the big CPG wants to buy its creative ala carte.  Creative tapas, if you will.  By Patrick Scullin

With headlines referring to the “bleak” future of traditional TV and the increase in the number of “cord cutters” dropping pay TV, one might believe that fight is already over. Streaming service providers are triumphing over cable providers, ending decades as the overwhelmingly dominant provider of programming.  By Michelle Wroan

Prisa Brand Solutions announced the appointments of Ashley Perkins as East Coast VP of Sales, and Laura Saldivar as West Coast Sales Director. Perkins will be based in New York, and Saldivar in California. They will focus on sales strategy and business development in the United Stat

The world that has been radically transformed since the commercial internet emerged a quarter century ago. Ten insights help frame the digital journey.