Marketing

The rising adoption of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) by advertisers and consumers will deliver transformative creative experiences. Yet as much as creative and production shops will need to change to meet the new artistic and technical demands, media shops will face the more critical questions.

But if everyone is authentic, can it still be a differentiating factor? If even the most processed food products are touting their “real ingredients,” how can truly natural and organic brands stand out? At this point of saturation, authenticity can no longer be a true point of difference.

In 1964, media visionary Marshall McLuhan coined the indelible phrase “the medium is the message,” all but predicting the Internet and how advances in communications technology would come to shape the symbiotic relationship between what is said and how. The ascendency of digital, social, and mobile has progressively empowered once-passive consumers, now equal partners in content selection, redistribution and even creation. The good news is that digital channels provide unprecedented opportunities for targeting and personalization; the bad news is audiences now control how and with what they engage, tuning in and out as they desire.

Does the advertising of your TV content — a commercial, a TV program – have any “curious empathy”?

We’ve reached a crisis in listening: a study found that the average large organization devoted 80 percent of its resources to broadcasting its messages to the public or clients and only 20 percent on listening. However, creating compelling content that resonates with your audience and drives its behavior begins with listening.

A survey of advertising and marketing executives indicates that, of a variety of emerging technologies, the internet of things (IoT) is seen as the most important.

The widespread and increasing use of data to help manage agency relationships is leading to more informed decision-making. This is delivering positive benefits to client/agency relationships as well as improving efficiencies at both clients and agencies. Furthermore, the increased use of data is improving transparency and accountability, both hot topics at the moment. Bottom line: Data is truly a “force for good” in client/agency relationships.  By Bill Duggan, Group EVP, ANA

In my simplistic vision, both sides must come to terms with the current state of the media industry, and must be willing to compromise. It’s undoubtedly true that advertisers have cut back on the fees they pay agencies for their services. There is a chicken-and-egg question here: Has this happened because agencies seem to be making large sums of money? Or are agencies being forced to find new sources of income, because advertisers have been cutting back?

Many kids become internet users before they learn how to walk. But even as the age at which kids get a smartphone creeps downward, most lack one of their own, as explored in a new eMarketer report, “US Kids and Digital: Gauging How Digital These Digital Natives Really Are”.

Last week Kantar hosted a conference in New York City titled FragmentNation. While the title of the event predated the U.S. election result, Trump’s win helped underline the basic thesis of the event. Brands must prepare themselves to market in an ever more fragmented world and that means understanding the granularity of people’s needs, mindset and values like never before.  By Nigel Hollis

TubeMogul has conducted some interesting research on the changing nature of GRPs (gross rating points).  Edit summary

In a declaration distributed over the Thanksgiving holiday — appropriately, on Black Friday — José Villa, President of Los Angeles-based digital cross-cultural agency Sensis put another dagger into the fragile heart of U.S. Hispanic marketing.

Affluent millennial internet users are strongly attached to brands—much more so than those with less income. More than half of those in a worldwide survey said they were defined by the brands they purchase.

Traditional legacy marketing tactics and strategies are meaningless to SMB millennial marketers. Millennials are disrupting traditional marketing approaches without even realizing it.

When considering teaming up with a brand, social influencers say they consider a variety of factors, but mainly they just want to be sure the brand’s values line up with their own.

As brands and agencies continue to shift dollars to programmatic campaigns — two-thirds of display media is now purchased programmatically, according to eMarketer — marketers are starting to take notice that they may be doing so at the expense of creating emotional connections with consumers.

Personalization drives growth. But to scale it, companies need to do four things.  By Brian Gregg, Hussein Kalaoui, Joel Maynes, and Gustavo Schuler

E-commerce retailers stand to benefit from shoppers’ continued affinity for online shopping, according to Nielsen’s 2016 holiday trend report.

Slower economic growth in the United States has wrought a vicious cycle that has hobbled many American households. Targeted investment and policy action could turn it around.  By James Manyika, Gary Pinkus, Sree Ramaswamy, Scott Nyquist, Jonathan Woetzel, and Arvind Sohoni

Shoppers are more likely to buy products that have more space around them than the same products surrounded by less space (less interstitial space) according to a new study from the University of Miami School of Business Administration.