Marketing

Pin it, scan it or share it – operating in a digital world has become second nature for most shoppers today, and retailers are taking full advantage of it. The use of social media platforms and mobile devices is exploding, and for millions of consumers there’s no doubt that this digital revolution is here to stay. With the understanding that this new path to purchase offers up a unique engagement opportunity, retailers are taking over the social scene, and shoppers are reaping the benefits. In this new modern retail environment, the shopping experience has never been quicker, easier or more interactive.

When I walked away from the ANA multicultural conference on Wednesday I felt high. No, I wasn’t smoking anything. I was high on what several presenters called the “Kool-Aid” of the “total market.”  By David R. Morse / New American Dimensions, LLC

There has been a pivot in the last five years to a new lexicon and strategy of integration in the world of Hispanic, and multicultural marketing. The rapid growth of Hispanic, Asian, African-American and other ethnic populations, and the trend towards ethnic “minority majorities” has moved multicultural marketing out of the silos and into the C-suites of many large companies. What was once a niche is now mainstream.  By Jose Villa / SENSIS

In the last decade, multicultural populations have grown to wield enormous power both on Wall Street and on Main Street. Not only are they influencing pop culture, entertainment and cuisine, but they are also driving significant changes in corporate board rooms and evolving the marketing industry. Today, marketing strategies are under great scrutiny in response to the explosive growth of multicultural populations. As many companies seek to reconcile and recalibrate efforts toward multiple market segments, questions arise with regards to the potential of defining and addressing a Total Market Strategy.

Whether they’re selling canned soup or disposable diapers, most consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands want the same thing from their advertising campaigns: to create a deep affinity for their brands so that consumers think of nothing else when it’s time to buy. 

Big Data holds many promises for companies—some of which it is already delivering on, and some of which have yet to be realized.

With modest gains predicted for the 2013 holiday shopping season, retailers are expecting an “up” year. However, the season will be shorter this year, as Black Friday falls later in November than usual, so marketers are scrambling to take advantage of the time they have to convince shoppers to spend.

Media spend attributed to multi-screen advertising campaigns is expected to grow from 20 percent of budgets today to 50 percent in the next three years, according to a new study by ANA (Association of National Advertisers) and Nielsen conducted among client-side marketers, agencies and media sellers. Multi-screen campaigns were defined as those that run during a similar timeframe across two or more screens including TV, computer, tablet, mobile phone and digital place-based media.

Left unchecked, market forces continually conspire to deplete profits. Powerful business strategies can counteract those tendencies, but good strategy is difficult to formulate.

Burdened by an uncertain economic situation and reeling from a breakdown in institutional trust, Generation Edge, or Gen Edge, the post-Millennials, meanwhile, have taken on a gritty persona rooted in a realistic approach to their careers, relationships and personas. One that younger Millennial’s feel they can learn from.

As advanced analytics capabilities have emerged as an enabler of success, we are now seeing new paradigms in how marketing campaigns are measured and investment decisions are made.

When it comes to multicultural marketing, many organizations struggle to answer the question about whether multicultural marketing ROI is justifiable. But, think about it. Isn’t that like asking whether it makes sense to market to only some consumers who buy our products and services because we can’t figure out the value of marketing to all current or potential buyers? Does it really make sense to decide that marketing to a segment of our consumers is a discretionary investment?  By  Terry Soto, Author of Marketing to Hispanics A Strategic Approach to Assessing and Planning Your Initiative and President and CEO, About Marketing Solutions, Inc.

Multicultural Health Marketing. The magazine features articles authored by the key thought-leaders in the multicultural health marketing sphere and focuses on best practices for reaching the key multicultural populations in America such as African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans.

My last post introduced the concept of Responsive Relationship Marketing: the practice of listening first and communicating subsequently, allowing segmentation and tailoring to emerge dynamically.

It’s that time of the year when all the marketing world is awash in its usual sea of pink, it seems like a good time to ask why so much cause-related branding has so little emotional clout. No matter how well planned, breast-cancer pink (not to mention save-the-environment green or prostate-protecting blue) has often become invisible to cause-bombarded consumers.

Talk about connectivity! Nowadays, consumers are able to touch brands in all manners of ways. Whether it’s through a Website, smart phone, tablet, call center or retail location, the times, places and manners in which brands can make an impression – satisfactory, neutral or unsatisfactory – are infinitesimal and ever-evolving.

In our July 25th e-newsletter, we talked about how the lingering effects of the Great Recession have opened a new era in U.S. society we call Societal Reset, as consumers adjust their behaviors to meet more realistic economic expectations. One marker in many food categories is the growing appeal of Private Label brands (i.e., store brands) across several demographic segments.

It’s easy to think of advertising campaigns on mass media channels like television as a completely different animal than ones designed specifically for digital channels. But research shows that the two can work in tandem to yield good results.

There is art and science that goes into branding and rebranding

Several Hispanic agencies have started seeking out General Market accounts because this is “the new mainstream” after all. And a few more General Market agencies have opened up multicultural divisions–or hired key Hispanic/AA/Asian executives and creative directors.  The controversy, in essence, has died down and, in general, people accept that marketing to this new generation requires a brand new cultural model.  by Ken Muench / The Collider Lab