Marketing

The other day Satya Menon, Senior VP of Client Solutions and Consulting, and I were reviewing the topline results from a set of market mix models. While qualitative in nature, the assessment suggests that brands may be increasingly reliant on driving short-term sales to maintain overall volume trends. If this finding proves more widely applicable then it has some scary implications.  by Nigel Hollis

Although I’ve spent much of my professional life as a marketer, it’s safe to say I — like most of us — have spent much of my personal life as a consumer. Recently, a colleague asked me which brands I was loyal to, and I had to really think about it. Finally, I recalled a particular coffee brand that I always buy.

Professor Byron Sharp and the Ehrenberg Bass Institute have long championed distinctiveness as an important brand asset. They have been equally forthright in denouncing the role of perceived differentiation. While I agree on the importance of distinctiveness, I have to disagree with their viewpoint on differentiation and see the two qualities complementary.  by Nigel Hollis

Clients have started thinking about 2018, even though 2017 only just started. I know it seems crazy, but keep in mind, national retail and promotional partnerships require significant lead time. Meaning, as a marketer, if you want to do a promotion around next year’s big soccer tournament, you need to start thinking about it today. Yes, I’m referring to the World Cup. We are about 15 months away from Russia 2018, with soccer qualifiers and lead-up tournaments already in the works.  by Roberto Siewczynski / Epsilon

In today’s fast-changing environment, it seems like we’re bombarded by new approaches and techniques to help us understand how much consumers “love” a new product idea every day. Product innovation specialists spend time and energy pursuing trends and various techniques, whether it’s “gamification,” the wisdom of the crowds, or the various “quali-quant” approaches prominent in new product innovation processes. The point of this post isn’t to debate the merits or limitations of these approaches—lots of great thinking is taking place in the market today. But we spend a lot of time on finding the “the new new thing” in order to pick the “best” idea and not enough time on the fundamentals.  By Ramon Melgarejo, SVP, Innovation Practice

You’d have to be older than a Millennial to remember a time when corporate CEOs were heavily involved in marketing decisions, like increased spend on media, the development of new Big Idea ads, the launching of new consumer products (rather than the spitting out of line extensions) and the formulation of strategies designed to outsmart competitors. That was a time before “shareholder value” became the universal corporate objective — the value to be delivered to shareholders because of management’s ability to grow earnings, dividends and share price.  By Michael Farmer / Madison Avenue Manslaughter Archives

HAVANA: Although the US trade embargo on Cuba still exists, a new report from Kantar Millward Brown advises international brands to take a serious look at the opportunities the country presents.

The death of retail as we now know it is greatly exaggerated. Retail isn’t dying, it’s evolving and doing so out of necessity. The current retail evolution is being driven by a confluence of change. Changing consumer attitudes, behaviors, and demographics; ongoing channel and digital disruptions; and increasing competition for consumer mindshare and dollars are forcing a shift in long-held paradigms – continuing the status quo is no longer an option.  By Marshal Cohen, Chief Industry Analyst – Retail, The NPD Group

Markets are always complex, but there’s a phenomenon that gives them the illusion of predictability. This phenomenon is potential. Potential, in this instance, means the gap between the current market state and a possible future state.  The presence of potential creates market demand. Every time a new product is introduced, a new potential gap is created. Supply and demand are knocked out of balance. Until balance is regained, the market becomes more predictable.

To drive revenue growth in the digital age, new data shows that marketing leaders are upgrading data-collection technology, collaborating closely with IT, and focusing on test-and-learn agility.  By Jason Heller and Kelsey Robinson

The American Association of Advertising Agencies (“4A’s), American Advertising Federation (“AAF”), Association of National Advertisers (“ANA”), Data & Marketing Association (“DMA”), Interactive Advertising Bureau (“IAB”), and Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) issued the following statement in support of Senator Jeff Flake and Congressman Marsha Blackburn’s recently introduced Joint Resolutions disapproving of the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”) broadband privacy regulations.

Whether it is a car, bank, candy, phone or soft drink I doubt many people love the brands they buy.  by Nigel Hollis

For those of you wondering what the first three Rs might be according to Mars’ Allison Miazga-Bedrick, they are reach, relevancy and reaction. But I am going to propose a slightly different list that includes receptivity and risk.  by Nigel Hollis

Spending on marketing analytics—quantitative data about customer behavior and marketplace activities—is expected to leap from 4.6 percent to almost 22 percent of marketing budgets in the next three years, representing a 376 percent increase. At the same time, marketers say barely a third of available data are used to drive decision making in their companies.

My discomfort with programmatic is driven by its similarities with the business model of legacy ad networks.  The former was built on the premise of mistruths and arbitraging.  

The island of Puerto Rico as many of our readers know is a territory of the United States governed by United States Federal Law.  It also considered a major US Hispanic Market, but since it resides on an island many place it under the international division.  But it has turned into a petri dish for many of this century’s testing: birth control, mass sterilization, agent orange and more up to the ad industry’s test of transparency.

With responses from nearly 70 food retailers representing more than 4,600 stores across 34 states, the comprehensive study details growing investments in social media, mobile and more relevant promotions by U.S. grocers in response to changing consumer buying behavior.

More than 80% of women claim to distrust the news media, citing “inadequate fact checking” and “political bias” as the primary causes.  When asked about their trust in advertising, the response was similarly distrustful: 80% of women say they don’t trust ads.

Femininity: its definition, role and perceived value within society is rapidly changing. In the wake of such change, the route to equality is being redefined. No longer is equality simply about obtaining the same status as a man (and likely having to fit into a world designed by and for men to do so), women can now aspire to a world designed to suit both genders. One where feminine needs and traits are valued as much as traditionally masculine ones.

At Nielsen, we analyze the return on investment (ROI) across thousands of brands every year through our marketing mix models, and we’ve seen a wide variety of ROI results among Spanish TV advertising efforts. And the good news is that driving strong ROI from Spanish-language advertising is obtainable, and our research points to some key tips that can help advertisers achieve strong outcomes more consistently.