Marketing

As television networks place ever more emphasis on ‘event’ programming, brands are forking out millions of dollars to exploit the advertising opportunities presented by live TV. However, according to global market research consultancy, TNS, many brands who invest heavily in high profile advertising spots are failing to realise their potential.

We all know that marketers are fixated by Millennials, and many readers of this blog will know that I struggle to understand why.  By Nigel Hollis

Marketers who included online Hispanics in their plans should be rewarded by a large, growing audience which engages and transacts predominantly on smartphones. Those marketers who are not engaging digital Hispanics may want to look for ways to add them to this year’s plan now.  By Lee Vann, Founder and CEO, Captura Group

In a rapidly changing digital landscape, marketers must re-think the roles that their brands play in consumers’ lives – and how they bring those roles to life across platforms and touchpoints.

While traditional marketing is all about perfecting a brand’s external image, virtual reality marketing can give consumers an inside look into the heart of the brand. Products go through long journeys before they end up on a store shelf, and companies are eager to tell those stories. Rachel Harris, director of national brand activation at Beam Suntory, spoke with eMarketer’s Maria Minsker about a recent behind-the-scenes virtual reality campaign at the spirits maker.

Multicultural segments progressed in 2015 to culminate in a record Holiday season, most likely the highest expenditure Holiday season by Hispanics, African Americans and Asian Americans ever.

Findings from Saatchi & Saatchi’s recently released “Moms & Marketing:irl” (“in real life”) worldwide quantitative study about today’s moms and how marketers can speak to her in more authentic and emotionally resonant ways found the vast majority of Latin American moms have different parenting styles and values from their own mothers.

The current state of the media universe is much like that of the cosmos, and as the force of the galaxy is contemplated much in current times, the proliferation of devices and the abundance of media choices are also pondered.

Millward Brown released its annual Digital and Media Predictions for the year ahead. For the eighth consecutive year the company is providing marketers with a clear guide on navigating the challenges and opportunities of the next 12 months.  One prediction in the 2016 report identifies the opportunity for marketers to develop clearer consumer journey maps, from awareness to purchase, in order to better integrate sales and media touchpoints.

Most US ad and marketing professionals are using data-driven marketing, according to July 2015 research, especially to maintain databases about their customers and targets.

comScore, Inc. and Pretarget released results of an online advertising study which found that ad viewability and hover time are more strongly correlated with conversions (defined as purchases and requests for information) than clicks or total impressions.

As company boards enter 2016, many should resolve to better support and encourage their company CMOs in implementing change agendas that target a more customer-centric business mindset and tackle digital disruption head-on in the year ahead.

Every Monday morning across America, retail executives file into conference rooms to review weekend sales performance across channels. They study mountains of numbers from physical and online checkouts, mobile sites, e-commerce analytics, and information taken from store intercepts and online customer surveys.

Duncan Southgate, our Global Brand Director for all things Digital at Millward Brown, thinks I spend far too much time dissing digital advertising. In a recent email to me he wrote, “I don’t see us writing articles about how TV ads suck.” OK, Duncan, let’s see where that comment takes us.

If there’s one thing all Millennials have in common, it’s an immersion in the digital world. If they weren’t fully born in the digital age, they spent formative years and entered early adulthood in a rapidly changing environment of phones, computers and devices that connect them to each other and the world.

Trends and innovation are also moving at breakneck speed, powered by an engaged, sophisticated, curious global consumer.

Millennials are the most active video viewers of any US age group, and according to research from TiVo, this demographic primarily watches TV shows.

The Federal Trade Commission’s long-awaited guidance on native advertising came out just before Christmas, a time when everyone is distracted. Meanwhile, publishers and marketers are still mulling it over, considering what it means for them.

Two weeks ago, the Federal Trade Commission pulled the IAB over for driving the industry under the influence of self-delusion.  It turns out running ads that “assimilate into the design” — so much so that “the viewer feels that they belong” — is exactly what not to do.  

If you’ve had your fill of “future of marketing” prognostications, here’s a no-nonsense checklist to reflect on the health of your marketing with resolutions you can adopt immediately to start the year right.