Marketing

According to a recent New York Times article few people can accurately draw the logos of well-known brands like Starbucks, Wal-Mart and Burger King. But the study conducted by Signs.com may not be as important as it first appears. The important thing about a logo is that it be recognized and associated with the right brand, not that it can be recalled in detail.  by Nigel Hollis

A new study from InMoment reveals that despite the convenience of shopping online and high satisfaction with digital-only retailers, consumers still value the in-store experience and human contact.

2017 has been the year that advertisers called out digital advertising as broken and sorely in need of repair. As stewards of the investment that funds the internet, these ad execs should be applauded for their insistence on better performance. That said, their focus has been on surface issues related to the ad experience, while a larger problem lies beneath.

A while back I came across a presentation given by Douglas Holt, the man who wrote the book on iconic brands. In the presentation Holt makes a distinction between “better mousetraps” and “cultural innovators” and seems to imply the latter are somehow better. However, a quick look at BrandZ finds better mousetraps are far more valuable.  by Nigel Hollis

First in a five-part series: eMarketer co-founder Geoff Ramsey sits down with top marketing executives from around the world to discuss the critical challenges they face and what they’re doing to address those challenges. Today’s topic: Digital transformation.

The advertising and consumer industry has completely transformed over the past 50 years. Every year professionals are discovering new and innovative ways of research and implementation to effectively reach the most consumers within their target market. Recently, the concept of incorporating cultural considerations in marketing has allowed industries to reach a new level of consumer insight. Although complex and not an easy feat to delve in to researching, there are endless benefits of taking the time to understand culture in regards to marketing. But, many businesses are still refusing to do so due to culture’s complexity and a tendency to minimize cultural differences. Furthermore, the U.S. Hispanic market is a perfect example of a uniquely targetable audience due to its size and shared values. From a business standpoint, marketers cannot bear to lessen the importance of cultural intelligence without drastically affecting their performance.  By Kayli Bomar / Florida State University

The ANA Alliance for Inclusive & Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) today announced a set of key priorities for the coming year that are specifically designed to help marketers increase their focus on multicultural marketing to help drive overall corporate growth.

More and more millennials are finally earning and spending serious money. But millennials’ finances often remain fragile, constraining their expenditures. When they make purchase decisions, marketing is just part of what influences where their money goes.

Today’s marketers are in constant competition for consumers’ attention – not just with each other but also with people’s social feeds.  Consumers have more ways than ever to discover, research, purchase and promote products and services, but what content and sources do people seek out, trust and find most influential?

Growth has become hard to come by for many industries around the globe, and uneasy political and economic environments have made it even more difficult for agencies as companies curtail their ad and marketing spending.  By David Hohman, Managing Director, Nielsen Agency Solutions

If you are running a big brand it must seem like you have a large target painted on your back. Every other brand in the category wants a share of what you already have. And stories of big brands losing out to newcomers are everywhere. But are big brands really dying?  by Nigel Hollis

The pace of change in today’s corporate world is astonishing. A quick glance at the most highly valued companies of 2017 compared to those in 1990 will make obvious how rapidly things have changed on Wall Street and board rooms across the nation. In 1990, the most highly valued companies in the U.S. included mostly petroleum, automotive and prior generation electronics whereas today, companies like Apple, Comcast, Tesla, Facebook, Google and Amazon have quickly taken prominent positions as employers, innovators and highly sought-after blue chip stocks. 

By César M Melgoza, Founder & CEO of Geoscape

Is it blasphemous to say CMOs have outlived their usefulness? Marketing looks nothing like it did 10 years ago, yet the title of CMO still lingers like that well-worn suit in the back of your closet.

US consumers are spending more time with their digital devices than ever before, and that holds true while they’re already watching something else. eMarketer estimates 177.7 million adults will regularly use a second-screen device while watching TV this year, an increase of 5.1% vs. 2016.

To most industry experts, at forums like ANA and elsewhere, the only sure thing in advertising these days seems to be changed. Forecasters keep painting a future about the profitability of digital over analog and all things; Google competes successfully with the Global giants of Advertising; and Facebook reveals the powers of the 6-second spot. Where are we these days? Enter the growing content-creation activity by agencies.

Category winners in the 17th annual Association of National Advertisers’ Multicultural Excellence Awards competition were announced.

At the start of 2017, the new administration and Congress set tax reform as one of their highest priorities. As work on that began in earnest, it became clear that the reduction in the full deductibility of advertising was once again in play.

What customers want and what businesses think they want are often two different things. Here’s what customers are looking for.  Anyone who has gotten an unsolicited and irrelevant offer related to something they’ve done online knows that creepy feeling that “someone is watching me.” This kind of reaction is the third rail of today’s drive to personalize interactions with customers.  By Julien Boudet, Brian Gregg, Jane Wong, and Gustavo Schuler

A new fiscal year is in sight and you still have no measurable Hispanic or multicultural budget. You’ve shown the C-suite the purchasing power numbers, the demographic trends, and the generational trends to no avail. Well, you’re not alone; 49% of respondents in a recent CMO Council study admitted they do not have a multicultural marketing initiative in place.

A couple of weeks ago I suggested that I would come back to the idea that there is a right time to advertise to someone. Right now the marketing world seems to have decided that the right time to get a message to someone is as close to point of purchase as possible, but is that really true?  by Nigel Hollis