Marketing

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.

Ad agency creativity was pure magic in the traditional days of Bill Bernbach and David Ogilvy.  Advertised brands flourished and grew, and iconic brands like Tide, Budweiser, McDonald’s, Visa, Chevrolet, American Express and others became genuine Lovemarks, earning countless millions for their brand owners.  By Michael Farmer

Social media in-feed ads, online video and other digital formats such as paid content and native advertising are leading the growth in global advertising.

David Chitel’s article “Wake Up and Smell the Cafecito, the Despacito and The ‘Total’ U.S. Hispanic Market” provides an accurate and comprehensive history on the evolution of Hispanic Marketing. It is an exciting time to be a culture specialist, as demographics, technology and consumer behaviors are driving mainstream trends at unprecedented rates!  By: AHAA Chair Linda Lane Gonzalez

A couple of months ago, The Coca-Cola Company—one of the benchmarks of the marketing discipline around the world—was the latest corporation to announce the revamping of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) position into Chief Growth Officer (CGO). This trend was well documented by the Russell Reynolds Associates report, “The Emergence of the Chief Growth Officer in Consumer Packaged Goods” in February 2016, where the move was described as “a powerful role charged with finding new pathways to growth.”  By Isaac Mizrahi – Co President, Chief Operating Officer

When you hear loud voices proclaiming that a new technology is going to radically transform industries for the better, and a group of equally loud people decrying that same technology as either snake oil or even irredeemably sinister, you know that you’re onto something big. Perhaps even transformational. As thoughtful industry participants, this is a familiar situation. We’ve observed this with the advent of the internet as a consumer accessible experience and, later, social media and Web 2.0.

Retailers tend to focus on content distribution via their own networks, posting it on their websites and social media pages or sending it via email. In the process, they may be missing a chance to widen their audiences.

A while back the MSI series ‘5 Things I Know About Marketing’ featured Scott McDonald, President and CEO of The Advertising Research Foundation. One of his five things was that brand equity is hard to build and hard to shift – except in a negative direction. But is that always true?  by Nigel Hollis