Marketing

“The death of the CMO.” “The end of the CMO.” “The failure of the CMO.” These headlines demonstrate the prevalence of articles, writers, and researchers discussing issues related to an important C-level position, that of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). While these articles are often incendiary, it’s intriguing that they are almost always written by people who have something to sell, having never been a CEO or CMO. As a result, they are often long on accusations and short on solutions. As the saying goes, it’s easier said than done when it comes to solving problems.

What about in the healthcare space? After all, it’s not like we are the guardians of Coke or BMW or Apple, building up equity over the decades, instead we have the reality of patent expiry and loss of exclusivity. Plus, our customers don’t always get to choose a brand, one is prescribed to them. So, isn’t building a pharmaceutical brand an expensive luxury rather than a must-have investment? All in all, would it really matter if pharma brands didn’t exist?

Retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies tare dealing with new rules of consumer engagement as they seize opportunities from advanced technology and the digitally connected consumer, according to the 2013 Financial Performance Report by the Grocery Manufacturers Association(GMA) and PwC US, titled Growth Strategies: Unlocking the Power of the Consumer.

A new commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Silverpop reveals that while marketers who leverage buyer insight in their campaigns experience significant business benefits above their peers, behavioral data still remains the greatest untapped marketing asset.

The standard of beauty in many parts of the world still fits a Caucasian ideal. Maybe the explanation for this comes from an understanding of the West’s popular cultural influences that have global reach. Music, movies, television, and internet content has largely come from the West, which still exudes an Anglo standard of appearance more often than not. CNN reports that Korean and Chinese, who have increasingly high levels of per capita occurrence of plastic surgery, are driven by a desire to “look American”. By Stephen Palacios – Added Value / Cheskin

The Science of Sharing white paper, which gives brands and agencies actionable insights on how they can maximize their online video campaigns, found the two most popular ads from this year’s Super Bowl attracted the most shares on Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere because they did not try to make people laugh.

The Dodge brand is targeting multicultural millennials[1] with a Spanish/English ad campaign for the 2013 Dodge Dart featuring global music sensation Pitbull.

If the Hispanic market were a brand, it would be undervalued.

With the hotly-debated immigration reform bill having made its way through the Senate with a decisive 68 – 32 vote, and on its way to a rocky future in the House, there are many issues surrounding the subject that are often overlooked. Not everyone is a proponent of immigration reform, but I certainly am. For this reason, and due to my career as a marketing executive, it’s difficult for me to sit on the sidelines and watch both political parties thoroughly botch the messaging required to get this bill passed.

By Mike Valdés-Fauli / Jeffrey Group

Publishers, agencies and marketers use ad verification services to validate the delivery of display ads and ensure brand safety. Verification measures also provide insight into viewability and fraudulent activity, according to a new eMarketer report, “Ad Verification: Validating Brand Safety and Ensuring Quality Impressions.”

By Enrique Turegano / Al Punto I saw an ad on Univision for an SUV…nice ad. But the VO caught me off guard. It was the poem by Antonio Machado and famous song by Juan Manuel Serrat, “Caminante No Hay Camino”. Great song, great poem…but I wonder how much it connects with US Hispanics….mostly US Mexicans. Do they even know it? Is it important to them? Does it connect emotionally like it does for Spaniards and some South Americans? Probably NOT. Here’s my guess:

1) The creative in charge is from Spain.
2) The creative in charge is a JM Serrat fan.

Thoughts?

Data and analysis alone cannot drive marketing activities. Even in today’s Big Data mania, marketers still understand that customer engagement is the most important element of a successful program.

One of the most prolific top thinkers and speakers on Baby Boomer marketing, an area that will drive American business for the next two decades, is Brent Green. He is a knowledgeable and dynamic speaker and expert in marketing to Boomers, and both his programs and his books are packed with relevant material. Brent and I go back about 20 years. We’ve had the opportunity to work together on client projects and, over the years, we learned at the feet of David B. Wolfe of Ageless Marketing fame.

With consumers becoming increasingly cynical towards overt marketing messages, storytelling is more important than ever before. Everyone responds to a great story. But brands don’t tell stories that are going to be read curled up on a sofa – they have to do something far more sophisticated. They have to translate their emotional core in mere seconds, in just a few pictures and images. And these stories have to be distinct and powerful enough to live and breathe across a wealth of different media.

There’s a theme in marketing today that can be summarized very succinctly: marketers can finally use “what they know” to power “what they do.”

Based on comScore’s permission-based panel of one million U.S. online persons and survey data from 139 pharmaceutical studies, these benchmarks show that online direct to consumer (DTC) marketing is more effective than ever in increasing conversion among patients and prospects. The study also introduces new insights into conversion lift rates across various medication categories.

The chief marketing officers of Unilever, IBM, VISA and Adobe chaired the first ever CMO round table at the Cannes Lions Festival, where they and more than 60 other CMOs and leading marketers discussed early findings of the Marketing2020 study.

A new IBM sponsored survey of business professionals finds that while chief marketing officers (CMOs) and ecommerce leaders recognize mobile as critical to their business objectives, two-thirds of those same professionals, indicate they don’t have a strong understanding of the mobile user experience. With 89 percent of customers choosing to do business with a competitor, following a poor customer experience, businesses are turning to big data and digital analytics to better understand the omnichannel customer.