Marketing

At the end of the 20th century, usage of the World Wide Web moved out of academia and grew at a breathtaking rate. By 2015, over one-third of the world’s population had logged on to the Internet at some point in the previous year; the Connected Revolution had arrived.  Now pundits say that we are on the verge of a fourth revolution: the Age of Smart Machines.  By Alessandro Zolla, Machine Learning Program Lead

We all know people love stories but not all stories are equally compelling, particularly when it comes to brand building. Great marketers recognize that the focus of the story should be the brand. The story is a means to an end, not an end in itself.  by Nigel Hollis

For the time being at least, influencer marketing is a popular and effective way to reach consumers. Influencer platform Bloglovin’ sought to find out how female consumers feel about the tactic, and what would cause them to respond in a negative way to influencer posts.

Demographic targeting (using consumers’ age and gender to make media decisions) continues to be used widely, but advertisers are raising questions about its effectiveness.

Facebook’s latest revelation of miscounted metrics is reported to have agencies in a spin. One top ad agency executive is reported to have said that it is freaking out people because “It’s hard to explain to clients”. But really you have to wonder if clients should be worrying about the minutiae of metrics about individual posts. Perhaps we all need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

eMarketer updated its benchmark estimates for industry-specific digital advertising outlays, noting that broad trends lifted spending across all sectors in 2016.

Many entertainment marketers are still employing a mass-market, broad-strokes approach that TV commercials offer. But this kind of mindset does not translate to influencer marketing.

Yes, consolidation will be a major theme — and it’s not just about the traditional food chain of small to medium to larger independent to holding company. The consultants are now out there too, as Accenture’s recent purchase of Karmarama showed. So to get bigger billings, revenue will have to be bought in the hope that a big bid comes in from a larger agency, or consultancy, which can offer some form of protection from billings heading down. It’s kind of an endless circle, isn’t it?

… and Will Probably Continue Being Untrue in 2017

As the dawn of a new year is once again upon us, it is abundantly clear that the majority of people are ready for 2016 to end. It was a year overcome with politically charged turmoil, Zika, (more) mass shootings, Brexit, the crisis in Syria, and, of course, the U.S. Presidential election, to name a few. One group, in particular, didn’t hold back when it came to their feelings and backlash about this year. That’s right: Millennials.

AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing (AHAA) has rebranded its Hispanic marketing directory to launch the 2016 Hispanic Market Guide, available for free of charge. This comprehensive digital guide provides a detailed look at Hispanic consumers, Hispanic media, top advertisers and agencies, and features data from Nielsen, Cision, and the U.S. Census.  DOWNLOAD FOR FREE HERE.

HispanicAd.com in association with Adam R Jacobson are proud to announce the availability of the 2016 Hispanic Market Overview.  DOWNLOAD HERE FOR FREE

With multicultural consumers a significant and growing part of the U.S. population, brands and retailers can not ignore the unique tastes, preferences and traditions of African-American, Hispanics and Asian-Americans both during the holidays and year round.

Make your bed, then sleep in it. Right? Well, whenever something happens in the advertising industry that brands don’t like, it’s well worth a little more self-examination behind the causes. Sure, big agencies are not exactly innocent creatures who should avoid blame — but let’s be honest, 2016 has been the year of blaming agencies for everything under the sun. So how about a reality check?

Two things we heard a lot about in 2016 were “autonomous cars” and “bots,” but rarely in the same sentence. True, they both share the common thread of AI, which powers the “self” in self-driving cars (computer vision, decisioning) and the chatty personalization of bots. But that’s where the similarity ends, because most bots don’t employ real AI or machine learning, but are just collections of “if-then” statements in a new package.

When it comes to combining in-store visits and online product research or purchase, Generation Z (ages 18 to 26) leads all other shopper age groups in the US, lending some spark an otherwise flat “omnishopping” environment.

Even the most data-driven company is working blindly when it comes to understanding what it gets from spending on digital advertising.  By Kenji Govaers, Matthew Meacham and Guy Brusselmans

Given the healthy short- and long-term impact of media advertising, marketers should realign a share of promotional dollars to media to stop brand erosion. This shift will enable marketers to reinforce brand equity, support shopper loyalty and drive consistent brand growth.

Marketers have long wanted to get inside the heads of their customers. Getting onto the smartphones they hold in their hands may be the next best thing.  By Laura Beaudin, Wendy Grad, Elizabeth Spaulding and John Grudnowski