Marketing

In many countries, consumer sentiment has improved since 2015. Consumers have become more bullish about their ability to spend.

In the latest episode of “Behind the Numbers,” eMarketer’s demographics analyst, Mark Dolliver, and resident millennial Connor Anovick chat about millennials—and how digital behavior varies among younger and older ones.

How many of you are purely digital marketers?  How many of you have ever tried direct mail?  

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released research that shows how consumers are creating their own “personal prime times”—points of highly concentrated engagement throughout the day, which offer valuable advertising opportunities across a range of content verticals and digital screens.

For a decade, emerging markets have ignited the global economy, contributing more than 80% to its economic expansion. Today, these markets consistently perform a remarkable three to four times better than their developed market counterparts in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry.

In the latest episode of eMarketer’s “Behind the Numbers” podcast, analysts Debra Aho Williamson and Nicole Perrin dig into influencer marketing: How influential is it, really? And are marketers taking the opportunities (and the risks) seriously?

Brands might be more self-aware than you think. Some 40% admit personalization is creepy—at least according to a December 2017 survey from InMoment, a customer experience provider.

More than nearly any other fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, the beauty industry is guided by trends. And over the last few years, multiple trends have emerged with the promise that they will redefine the future of beauty. From balayage to activated charcoal, it seems like the next big thing can come from just about anywhere. And while that’s more true than ever, how are you supposed to know when something really is a thing, and when it’s just a flash in the pan?

Recent industry surveys suggest that more than half of marketers are considering switching advertising agencies. In the perfect world, a marketing team and its agency (or agencies) provide mutual value in a long, healthy, fruitful relationship. By Marcos M. Sanchez – Managing Partner – Princeton10, LLP

A recent article on the Harvard Business Review site attempts to answer the question, what makes a brand successful in the digital age? The answer is that they focus on users not buyers. Sorry, I am not buying that.  by Nigel Hollis

In barbaric and prehistoric times, before primitive man invented religion and prayed to gods for intercessions, man was isolated and alone, facing an uncertain and terrifying world that worked by its own logic.  Would the sun rise every day?  Would winter fade and spring follow in its stead?  Would there be fish to catch, prey to hunt, rain for water and crops, bountiful harvests, cures for disease, pregnancy and babies, victory in war?  Would the tribe flourish?  Tribes were like advertisers today, looking for certainties and prosperity in a hostile world.  By Michael Farmer

MAGNA in partnership with Univision Communications Inc (UCI), announced the full results of its “Marketing to the Hispanic Mindset” study that proves, among other key findings, that contextual targeting in digital video ads can double purchase intent among Hispanics.

Mindshare North America released new research that explores the five different types of luxury consumers today, and the key trends that will drive luxury brands forward in the marketplace.

Have you ever wondered where your customers drink their coffee? If you haven’t, perhaps you should. After all, if I say Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts, you will immediately get a vision in your head about their customers: what they look like, what’s important to them, what their values are, and perhaps even their overall belief system. That’s because both brands have done a masterful job of defining exactly who their products are for. One could argue that they aren’t competitors at all and that the only thing they have in common is that they sell coffee, stuff to go with it, and a place to buy it.  By Ed Faruolo, Founder of VitaLincs and ANA Faculty

At the annual IAB Leadership Meeting today, Unilever CMO spoke of the company’s commitment to “responsible” platforms, content and infrastructure, and also conveyed that it will support partners such as Facebook and Google as they invest in improving their platforms. Commentary was somewhat contrary to prior press reports which indicated that Unilever may take a harder line on digital media, much as CPG peer Procter & Gamble did at the same event last year.  By Brian Wieser – Senior Research Analyst – Advertising / Pivotal Research Group

The most disruptive challenge to conventional media-based, brand-building advertising happened during the earliest days of Internet advertising, when agencies and brand marketers failed to define emerging digital platforms like the Internet — and ultimately, mobile — as a branding medium.  by Joe Mandese

Have you been part of an agency pitch lately? If so, you will have seen a very different pitch than you would have seen five or 10 years ago. Of course that’s normal, given all the change that is happening in our industry.  Agency RFPs now include lengthy requirements for data, insights, marketing technology and other digital components. These are not “fluff” requests like “increase likes” or “drive search results.”  by Maarten Albarda

Companies will spend more than $1 trillion globally on marketing in 2017, by one estimate. This puts chief marketing officers stewarding their brands squarely in the crosshairs of CEOs, CFOs and corporate boards, who want to know where all this money is going and what they’re getting in return—“brands be damned.”  To respond to these pressures, CMOs have turned to marketing mix optimization (MMO), an analytical approach to figuring out which elements of the marketing mix—media, creative and so on—are working more and less effectively, and then spending more on the winners and less on the losers.  By Cesar Brea, Laura Beaudin, Andreas Dullweber and Brian Dennehy

One more birth means one more person. Therefore, that births would be one of the primary drivers of U.S. population growth seems to be a deceptively simple conclusion. However, why, how, and where births contribute to the U.S. population growth varies from state to state.

Over the past ten years, I have witnessed the disappearance of powerful brands and with it the diminishing of a level of enchantment that once fed our “can do, anything is possible” American view of the world.  This is the first report in a five-part series exploring the impact on people and our culture of powerful brand vanishment and why, more than ever, we need these cultural artifacts back among us.  By Jane Cavalier