Marketing

CMOs are getting a lot of attention from the trade press these days, where writers drag in the usual suspects — Big Data, analytical skills, experiential marketing, Instagram, programmatic buying, Facebook, mobile platforms, Millennials, AI, Virtual Reality, etc. — to demonstrate how CMOs need to become superhuman masters of everything new and challenging, pushing themselves and their marketing organizations to achieve higher levels of marketing and technological sophistication.  By Michael Farmer

As retailers begin to expand beyond geographic boundaries, they also face pressure from consumers to “keep it local.”  Balancing globalization with localization has quickly become a priority for retailers looking to connect with their customers both in home markets and abroad.

Traditionally, brands have the option of either cutting cost or putting up prices to boost margins are deciding to go for a more premium positioning.

Today’s consumer goods industry was built on brand marketing. For decades, the focus was on high-impact campaigns across TV, billboards and radio, with companies seeking to develop slogans and brand narratives that resonated with consumers of all ages and backgrounds.

Leaders struggling to find capital they can use to drive growth may want to look at all the investments they’ve made in the name of loyalty. That’s because loyalty programs typically cost more, and deliver less, than many realize.

If one were to equate the difference between the 4As and the ANA — the two associations which govern the ad/media agency and brand marketer communities respectively — to the differences between the Confederacy and Union states, the case for, or against, transparency should become abundantly clear.  By David Smith and Tim McHale

Picture the scene: you’re trying to share a video with a couple of friends to illustrate a point you’ve been arguing about for the last half hour. As the video loads, an ad pops up at twice the volume of what you’ve been playing before. You groan and turn the volume down, but you’ve missed the chance to skip the ad and get bounced to your browser as the brand site loads. You switch back to YouTube but the conversation has moved on and your friends have lost interest. Advertising has ruined the moment.

An in-depth analysis of the current state of media ROI analysis has found that while progress has been made toward development of methods that enable near real-time cross-platform attribution and ROI analysis, much work still needs to be done and few viable integrated systems for looking at consumer behavior cross-platform are yet available.

Consumers are loyal to brands that respect their privacy, and that demonstrate their trustworthiness by safeguarding customers’ personal information.

According to Ted Rubin, Chief Marketing Officer, Brand Innovators,  “… a Return on Relationship is the value that is accrued by a person or brand due to nurturing a relationship over time…. and this true relationship connection will pass through to the consumer.”

With the rapid growth of multicultural households in America and their unparalleled influence on the marketplace, there is a strong need for retailers to revise their in-store strategies to include a wider range of fresh food products and flavor profiles that cater to the multicultural consumer set. 

While the eating pattern of three structured meals a day remains for many Americans, traditional mealtimes are under assault. Studies show that 37% of the time, a snack replaces a meal. Primarily due to the sales uptick for snacking brands, the CPG industry registered its strongest growth in four years.

The Outdoor Advertising Association of America may be hitting back against the shortcomings of digital advertising, but maybe it needs to play to its strengths and get advertisers to recognize the medium for its inherent advantages not try to transcend them.

Only six weeks in, 2017 is already showing signs of being a big year for multicultural marketing. Corporations are doubling down on diversity initiatives. Strategic purchases and mergers have occurred and projected multicultural spend is trending upward for the year.  But despite this year’s momentum, I just can’t shake the notion that targeting and segmenting via ethnicity is weighing us down.  by Mario Carrasco –  ThinkNow

Why advertisers and agencies should improve how they work together to maintain a healthy, loving and productive relationship.  By Bruno Gralpois, Agency Mania Solutions

It’s time to reject FOMO and embrace Borecore, along with mindfulness apps, myth debunking, and a shift in focus away from Millennials. Mindshare North America’s annual Culture Vulture Trends report is unveiling the latest consumer shifts and cultural trends forecast to grow over the next year.

As Facebook develops an ever-more diverse portfolio of businesses, questions arise of whether it risks diluting its core identity.  Put another way, will the future of Facebook look like Google? Or, will it look more like Yahoo?

The problems with programmatic are well-covered and greatly ignored.  Reported growth in spending continues to fan the frenzy, while sweeping significant problems under the rug.

For the many years that preceded social media, marketers relied mostly on engaging with their consumers in one-way communications. This included television, radio, direct mail, billboards etc.  Once social media came along, consumers had the opportunity to “talk back,” so to speak, and tell brands what they thought about their products and services. Brands quickly learned just what consumers thought about the products and services. This type of consumer feedback was once relegated to the more controlled environments of market research and/or customer service listening.

In an era of digital, telegraphic communications, old and new codes provide an emotional dimension to cross-cultural messages  We can relate.  This post is contributed by Brenda Storch, Director, Multicultural Social Media and Shawn Savage, Senior Engagement Specialist