Marketing

Influencer Marketing has become a central focus of marketing strategies and budgets for 2017. According to Bloomberg, an estimated $255 million is now spent on influencer marketing every month. With a buy in like that, what’s the ROI? EMarketer reported that advertisers earned an average of $6.85 for every $1 they spent on influencer marketing.

Despite concerns around the current economic and political landscape, Hispanic spending continues to rise across the total fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market, according to Nielsen’s Target Track retail measurement service. In year-to-date (YTD) 2017, Hispanic consumers have increased their FMCG spending by 0.6%, compared with 2016. In comparison, non-Hispanic dollars sales are 0.7% lower than last year.

So while it’s been well documented in the first half of 2017 that smaller companies are pulling ahead of the pack and driving much of the growth in the U.S. fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) realm, the trend begs the question: Is size the new determining factor for success, or can large companies advance too?

Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble Co. on Thursday reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter profit and sales, but if you think this means things are turning up for the struggling US consumer packaged goods sector, think again.

The latest quarterly results from P&G once again raise the question of the real value of digital advertising. If a major company can cut digital spend by $140 million and sales increase, what does that imply about the effectiveness of that spend?  by Nigel Hollis

You know that something has become “a thing” when that something finds its way into marketing speak and marketing titles.

Interaction Metrics examined the point-of-purchase surveys for 51 of the largest retailers (companies like Lowe’s, Ace Hardware and Wal-Mart). The study found that 96% of these retailers run point-of purchase (customer satisfaction) surveys—and 98% of the surveys were useless or poor.

Erik DuPlessis sent me a link to this post titled ‘The Wisdom of Taxi Drivers’  by Damon Stapleton. Thank you, Erik, like you said, “very, very good”. Why? Because it reminds us that the power of stories lies in being interesting, specific and human. It reminds us that we need to keep people – the target audience if you must – at the heart of the creative development process.  by Nigel Hollis

At Columbia Records, I had the chance to work with incredible talent. Adele. Beyoncé. Rachel Platten. One Direction. Passion Pit. Ruth B. The lifeblood of the music business is talent. It’s about discovering talent and then letting that talent connect with an audience. At the label, everyone, no matter how big or small their role, exhibited a real sense of pride about making an artist successful.  By Elliot Lum, head of talent acquisition at the ANA’s Educational Foundation

If you’re a business owner and you’re not yet jumping onto the Generation Z bandwagon, you might want to reconsider. Made up of 84.7 million kids born between 1996 and 2010, there is no doubt that this generation has and will have enormous spending power, and it’s vital for businesses to figure out how to better serve this high-spending demographic.  

I’am not influenced by advertising. I make up my own mind what to buy’. How many times has one of your friends said this to you? Of course, they are 50 percent right and 50 percent wrong. They do make up their own minds but that decision is likely influenced by advertising along with a host of other forgotten contacts with the brand.  by Nigel Hollis

While labor-based fees are the No. 1 method preferred by agencies (45%), incentive methods were the top choice among marketers (40%).

The key performance indicators most commonly tracked by retail executives may be distracting their attention from broad, omnichannel goals and performance.

Add this to the retail worry list: There are signs that Hispanic consumers, dubbed the “new mainstream” by some, may be changing their spending behavior amid shifting immigration enforcement policy in the US.

On the one-year anniversary of the Association of National Advertisers’ landmark study and subsequent recommendations on media transparency, it’s time to review the issues in this ongoing debate and see where we stand today.  The issues raised in the transparency debate are complex and dominated the advertising industry’s discourse in 2016.

“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” is how Dorothy speculated she was probably a long way from home, and it’s arguably how the advertising industry is feeling right now. It’s no longer us against them for a brief — it’s us against them and the consultancies. It’s the talk of London as to

The issues raised in the subsequent transparency debate are complex, and if the allegations against the agencies are true, the behavior is reminiscent of past high-profile financial scandals.  By Bob Liodice and Doug Wood

The GenForward Survey is the first of its kind—a nationally representative survey of over 1,750 young adults ages 18-34 conducted bimonthly that pays special attention to how race and ethnicity influence how young adults or Millennials experience and think about the world.

Almost half of North American and European consumers surveyed by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council say they will abandon a brand and take their money elsewhere if they continuously encounter a poor, impersonal or frustrating customer experience across channels of engagement.

Programmatic is certainly not going away, but I do think marketers are starting to smell it for what it really is.  It’s a cost-saving strategy, which attempts to create the same ROI for a fraction of the cost when compared to more “traditional” forms of advertising.