Marketing

Covered California is sending videos like “Guadalupe’s Story” to potential customers, to encourage them to sign up for health insurance.  The way human brains are wired, it just doesn’t make sense to us to buy something now that we may not need for years in the future.

Pfizer, Eli Lilly and the other companies engaged in creating and selling pharmaceutical drugs or treatments are expected to spend $4.4 billion on television commercials this year.  That’s a seven percent increase from 2016, according to Kantar Media research.  With $5 billion a likely TV ad sales outcome next year, Univision Communications Vice President of Business Development, Dennis O’Leary, wants to see more of this spending directed at the nearly 60 million Latinos living across the United States.  By Simon Applebaum

Experiential plays a powerful role in driving the how, when, and where millennials spend their dollars and willundoubtedly become one of the most influential and relevant engagement channels for the generation to follow….Generation Z. For legacy brands, experiential marketing is incredibly important as it inspires people to action and force CPG marketers to rethink how they connect with people outside of the aisle and beyond the screen.

Who will succeed and who will fall short as the retail sector goes through a wave of creative destruction?  eMarketer’s latest report, “The Future of Retail: Nine Things to Watch for in the Coming Year,” digs into questions of pricing, technology and even politics as key factors over the next 12 months.

Some 32% of marketers plan to bring programmatic buying in-house, and more than 50% of marketers and agencies believe this complex job will ultimately become the responsibility of the brand.

Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) and The Harris Poll have released findings of a national study, “Banking on Hispanics for Growth,” to offer insights regarding Hispanic consumers’ attitudes and behaviors on the financial services sector. The findings were unveiled in a webinar presented by Roberto Ruiz, UCI’s executive vice president of Strategy & Insights, and Kathy Steinberg, The Harris Poll’s Senior Consultant PR Research.

The influencer marketing space shows no signs of slowing down. But to have a successful strategy, brands need more than just celebrity endorsements. Identifying the right influencers is a science that relies on complex data, not just the number of social media followers a user has—that’s why influencer platforms are becoming key components of companies’ marketing stacks. Rob Trauber, CEO of apparel brand Johnny Was, and Zackary Cantor, director of decision sciences at digital marketing company GlobalWide Media, spoke with eMarketer’s Maria Minsker about the value of influencer marketing technology.

Brands have been called on to make a stand and many have answered the call. So far this year we have seen a number of large, well-known brands lining up to save the world or make it a better place to live in. I applaud the fact that these brands are willing to take a stand, but I do wonder if it is yet another step on the road to brand fragmentation.  by Nigel Hollis

Marketers are becoming more and more interested in reaching out to and engaging Influencers – due to the factors like media fragmentation, quality and transparency issues of the media supply chain, and the rise of ad blockers. Thus, the idea of reaching a targeted group of people who are particularly powerful and influential is spreading. Which is why the identification of the Affluencers is so important – this target has the potential to not only represent a disproportionate amount of purchases, they also represent a group that is sought for their advice and purchasing input across all categories. In addition, Affluencers on average consume more media than general Affluents, with both print and digital publications up +9%.

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

• The way we package, ship and display goods will be disrupted dramatically in the coming years.
• If your job depends on the good old tried & true ways of selling CPGs to the masses, well, get ready for some upheaval.
• Some more upheaval, that is.
• The good news: shopping is not going anywhere.
• Shopping is freedom.
• Shopping is therapy.
• Shopping is our God-given right.

Kantar Millward Brown has transformed its annual Getting Digital Right study into a global Getting Media Right study. Why? Because digital cannot and should not be considered in isolation from the rest of the media mix.  by Nigel Hollis

Brighter spirits may fuel a diverse mix of spending on experiences, self-gifting and gifts for others this holiday shopping season, according to Deloitte’s 32nd Annual Holiday Survey of consumer spending intentions and trends.

Over the last few months I’ve had the opportunity to speak with close to 50  marketers, friends, clients and former colleagues. I didn’t have an agenda or a pitch, just a conversation about their career paths and how they decided on their professions.  The conversation eventually made its way into a discussion of relationships they had with various consultants, advisors, and agencies.  Just for kicks, I built a word cloud from my notes and saw five themes emerge from what they wanted from a vendor.

Today’s connected world is driving a ‘consumer trust divide’ between suspicious minds in developed nations and more accepting attitudes in emerging countries, according to Kantar TNS’s latest Connected Life research.

Growth was tough to come by at the start of the year, but topline sales did increase during the second quarter. Overall, dollar sales for the year are up 1.4%, with online growth driving the majority of the uptick (0.1% brick and mortar vs 21.1% online). Despite the meager growth, the future looks promising, as Americans are feeling very positive about their general situations: Consumer confidence remains strong at an index of 118, maintaining optimistic levels well above the global average of 104.

When it comes to agencies’ clients, a whopping 100 percent of all agency respondents report that they have clients who use ABM. Of these respondents, 91 percent agree that clients who have adopted ABM have improved alignment between their sales and marketing teams.

More than 20 companies were named as winners in 12 separate categories. Grand Prize winners in each category will be announced at an awards ceremony during the ANA’s 19th annual Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference, November 5–7 in Miami Beach. The ceremony culminates with the “Best in Show” announcement, honoring the year’s best campaign chosen from the Grand Prize category winners.

The 2017 ANA Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference is two weeks away. The theme, “Growth Drivers: Diverse Consumers & Diverse Talent,” is meant to arm attendees with tools to counter anemic growth rates plaguing the industry. Over the past year, ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive & Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) has been at the forefront of addressing these challenges. The alliance has leveraged the collective strengths of marketing visionaries from a cross section of industries, professionals whose commitment to excellence and results is at the heart of their appreciation of the importance of segment specific insights and initiatives.

A trip on the New York subway soon reminds you that we live in a mobile-first culture. Out of the ten people in the same carriage as me most were using their phones: listening to music, reading the news or streaming video. This is the environment in which today’s advertising needs to exist and thrive.  by Nigel Hollis

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

• When a “fresh off the boat” Cuban arrives in Miami, one of the first rites of passage his or her friends and family put them through is “the supermarket experience”: visiting an American grocery store aisle for the first time.
• Some of them hyperventilate.
• A few have been known to drop on their knees and start sobbing.
• I kid you not.