Marketing

With the explosion of digital media and data over the past 20 years, however, and the technical challenges it introduced, the entire marketing ecosystem veered away from people-based principles. Marketers, caught up in the excitement over opportunities created by the always-connected consumer, lost sight of the fact that they were no longer marketing to people, but to approximations of people — cookies, mobile IDs, and a host of other digital identifiers.

Nobody knows your company quite like those on the front lines.  Junior producers, account execs, senior planners – they have visibility on details upper management can never have. These people see firsthand where resources are mismanaged and opportunities are missed.

New survey and ethnography research released by Omnicom Media Group agency Hearts & Science revealed that 66 percent of TV and video content consumed by combined Millennial and Gen X (MGX) audiences is not being captured by current media measurement platforms.   

New research from Salesforce finds that many consumers, particularly millennials, are open to artificial intelligence (AI) or other shopping-related technologies that help streamline the retail experience, like the ability to search for merchandise in a store using an image and then receiving product recommendations based on the attributes of that image.

We live in a globalized era, when many times, as content producers and marketers, we create content for a campaign in one language and then translate it to reach a multicultural audience in the U.S. or consumers in other countries.  by Lee Vann / Captura Group

More than 300 of the sharpest strategists in the ad business gathered in New York last week for the 20th annual 4A’s Strategy Festival, which was themed “Data + Humanity: Planning Redefined.” Speakers — including Publicis Groupe’s Rishad Tobaccowala, Viacom’s Kodi Foster and BBDO’s David Lubars — stressed the importance of the strategy and planning disciplines at a time when the human factor threatens to get lost in the number crunch.

Seventy-one percent of Millennials are visiting multiple stores to find the best deals, compared to 57 percent of Baby Boomers

Marketers can’t reach their goals without knowing exactly who their target audiences are and how those people make purchases. Whether the goal is a one percent increase in e-commerce purchases per month or a whole new community for a healthcare product. And while creating buyer personas and understanding target markets have always been a part of traditional marketing, doing so has become more difficult as consumer habits evolve and potential customers are spread more widely around the world.

Today’s consumers expect strong mobile sites, want flexible fulfillment options, and use a variety of channels to research and make purchases. Brands must deliver superior experiences and support if they want to stay competitive in today’s retail environment.

Delivery of true, multi-channel customer experience has become the latest area where sales and marketing leaders are testing the boundaries of their relationship status—understanding and cooperating on what’s needed, but neither taking the lead (or risk) for ownership and operation of this emerging area of business value creation.

Today, 36% of U.S. Hispanic adults are bilingual. This includes 25% who mainly use English and 38% who mainly use Spanish. Even among those who primarily speak English, over half consider themselves bilingual

The findings indicate a growing consumer preference to make purchasing decisions based on their social media activity, a reality that favors B2C companies.

On the heels of startling news of declining in-store sales earlier this year by popular brands and an overall sluggish retail environment, new research reveals that the current situation may not be as dire as it seems.

Black consumers are young, influential and hungry for personalized experiences.

Hispanic women are rapidly becoming an economic and social powerhouse in the United States, with rising rates of entrepreneurship, educational attainment and delayed marriage, according to Latina 2.0: Fiscally Conscious, Culturally Influential & Familia Forward, a Nielsen report released just before the start of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 to October 15).

The 4A’s New Business Committee has developed new “Agency Prospect Assessment Guidance” to help facilitate more consistent and efficient implementation of longstanding 4A’s guidance regarding the appropriate level of thoughtful consideration and discussion prior to engaging in a review.

I was chatting with a friend of mine the other day and he suggested that pre-roll ads on YouTube were getting longer. Then he suggested that this was part of a deliberate program to inure people to watching ads on digital devices. I have to admit I found both claims surprising but maybe he is right?  by Nigel Hollis

Every year around this time, brands begin to bombard Hispanic consumers with special promotions, ad campaigns and cameo appearances in the community. Many brands take advantage of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 to October 15) to engage with the U.S. Hispanic community and celebrate Hispanic heritage and culture. But are they perceived as authentic?  By Pacino Mancillas, Partner & VP of Strategic Partnerships, AC&M Group

The Farmers Insurance’s campaign tag line, perfectly delivered by Oscar-winning actor J. K. Simmons, is: “We know a thing or two, because we’ve seen a thing or two.”  I love this line, as it suggests Farmers policies constantly evolve because of its consumers’ experiences.  by Maarten Albarda

Capgemini announced the findings of “Turning AI into concrete value: the successful implementers’ toolkit,” a study of nearly 1,000 organizations with revenues of more than $500m that are implementing artificial intelligence (AI), either as a pilot or at scale1.