Marketing

If the department store has largely become an anachronism in modern retailing, what does that suggest for the future of the supermarket? And what does it mean for CPG brands whose primary channel has been the supermarket for the last 80 years?

Brands which achieve meaningful “difference”, such as by establishing a clear purpose, can yield benefits like rising valuations and equity, according to Millward Brown.

Companies have more data at their fingertips than ever, so why do online shoppers remain such a mystery? The solution begins with bringing all the information together to form a meaningful picture of the consumer.

Journey mapping — formerly known as customer experience mapping — is one of the most fascinating and dizzying things you’ll ever attempt at a company.  You are focusing on one individual’s map, which can be representative across the board — versus every possible version of the experience for all customers.   

Such a classic line. Just picturing Desi Arnaz’ character intone these words in his heavy Cuban accent demanding accountability from his rascally wife is engrained in our popular lore. I’m not sure what’s funnier, the Latino guy demanding accountability or Lucy’s mischief, but the combination works enough to keep the series airing after more than 60 years. In TV land, reruns are a sign of success, it means longevity. In life, repeating history is a sign of lessons not learned.  By Pedro de Cordoba | Chief Strategy Officer –  Eventus

eMarketer estimates that US adults will spend 5 hours, 38 minutes each day with digital media on PCs, mobile devices and other connected devices (such as connected and smart TVs and connected game consoles) this year, representing 46.7% of daily media time. Meanwhile, TV will grab 4 hours, 15 minutes of adults’ daily media time, or 35.2% of the total.

“Which ad format can we leave out of our campaign without jeopardizing the overall impact?“  If this question sounds familiar, you are not alone. We are living in a cross media world. There hardly is a television campaign today which is not combined with digital advertising, including search, display and retargeting.

Marketers remain stuck on the basics when it comes to personalization, and recent research reaffirms that notion that it’s still early days for such efforts, with plenty of room for growth in effectiveness and targeting, for example.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but marketers have not turned a strategic lens on optimizing the return from their visual media content investments.

To gain insight into emerging trends and outpace the competition, firms are putting innovation centers in place.

The tracking of consumer perceptions – and the overall equity built from these perceptions – is a vital part of understanding and building a consistent, compelling 360° brand experience. Getting a fast read of what people believe and feel about a brand, and how this is impacted by the communications they see, enables marketers to quickly course-correct – flexing and changing messaging and creative to better deliver on brand goals.

Failure is a common innovation outcome; 85% of new products are ultimately unsuccessful. While there are many factors at play, decline in the second and third years in market can largely be attributed to the “launch ‘em and leave ‘em” philosophy of many manufacturers today. Brands tend to focus less on new products after the first year in market, leading to significant declines in sales.

According to research from a CMO Council survey of 276 marketers in the first half of the year, there’s a new focus on finding high-performance marketing partners with specialized knowledge and business acumen. An overwhelming 83 percent of clients surveyed are looking for unique skill sets and specialized capabilities not found in most ad agencies or media buying firms.

This report, Millward Brown Digital’s 2nd annual Getting Digital Right study, provides an overview of the state of digital. With input from over 400 marketers spanning brands, media companies, and agencies, we summarize their insights and perspectives on getting digital right.

There’s no doubt that advertisers are funneling money into digital, mobile and social (DMS). However, recent research suggests they’re still struggling to deliver audience across these channels.

While 2000 didn’t bring us the end of the Internet predicted by Y2K, technology has transformed dramatically in the intervening years. We’ve gone from the earliest smartphones to roughly three-quarters of Americans owning a smartphone. And technology isn’t the only thing that’s changed. The composition of the country is shifting: 92% of the total growth in U.S. population from 2000 to 2014 came from multicultural groups. With these changes, our lifestyles and consumer habits have also evolved.

It’s amazing how many things we don’t question, how many critical assumptions powerfully shape the world around us that are based on muscle memory and reasons that we forget no longer exist.

Here’s the thing. When I said much of a businesses performance comes down to luck, that sounded disparaging. But it’s far from it. Luck could also be defined as the circumstances of our environment: the factors that lie beyond our control.

Lately, as we have grown accustomed to, there have been some articles suggesting that the use of Spanish among Hispanics may be dying out. I have been hearing very similar comments and reading similar studies since I started in this industry ―almost thirty years ago. In fact, I can even quote an ex-colleague saying, “Chica, don’t waste your time in the Hispanic advertising industry ―it will disappear in the next five to ten years.”  by Gloria Constanza – Partner and Chief Contact Strategist / d expósito & Partners

For a few years, media agency group Havas has published an annual index of “Meaningful Brands.” The index measures if consumers could see themselves living without brands X, Y or Z. Turns out they can. And also without A, B, C and pretty much the rest of the alphabet.