Marketing

Marketing is in the midst of a performance revolution. The application of advanced analytics and plentiful data has allowed chief marketing officers (CMOs) to demonstrate the return on investment from marketing activities with a degree of precision that’s never been possible before. With companies spending as much as 10 percent of their annual budgets on marketing, depending on the industry—a whopping $1 trillion globally—this rapidly developing ability to put hard numbers against marketing performance is music to the ears of both CMOs and CFOs.

This has been the year of the debate over the “Total Market” approach.  The idea is to find a common denominator that different cultural groups can all relate to.  That makes some sense at first glance. After all, most people love their children, enjoy being free, enjoy food and other good things of life.  By Felipe Korzenny, Ph.D.

There are lots of CMOs in the world, and some do more than others.  In the past, I’ve said you should never trust a CMO who won’t go out and sell, but it’s more than that.  To truly understand what makes a great CMO, you have to understand more about the role they play in your organization  — a role that will be changing over the next few years.

When consumers head out for their everyday shopping needs, are they navigating the store on auto-pilot or are they open to new products and experiences? As with many of the puzzles marketers face, the answer here is anything but clear-cut.

Traditional segmentation studies just don’t cut the mustard these days. In a world of saturated markets, abundant consumer choice, endless information sources and evolving behaviors, to ‘do as we always have done’ is the route to decline. In the pursuit of growth, we need to be smarter to hunt the demand, upon which any brand’s life does indeed depend.

The rapid emergence of the everywhere, always-connected consumer places new demands on marketers, according to a new eMarketer report, “Key Digital Trends for 2014.” Specifically, it raises expectations about the speed with which marketers need to respond to expressions of interest across the customer journey, from the consideration phase all the way through to post-sales service. Gone are the days of 24- or 48-hour response times. Consumers expect instant interactions, whether it is a relevant offer or an answer to a customer service query, and the ability for same-day delivery of items purchased through digital channels.

For those brands still deciding on the merits of Total Market (TM) strategies and whether to make the shift, the panel presenting the preliminary results of AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing’s Total Market benchmark study at the recent Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Multicultural Conference, made compelling arguments on the need to evolve towards Total Market strategies.

The generation that many groups have characterized as lazy and self-absorbed is suddenly entering the parental space. Millennials are starting to become moms and dads. As a matter of fact, 10.8 million American households are now headed by Millennial parents, according to a recent study by Barkley, “Millennials as New Parents.” However, according to more than one source, the generation that many marketers thought they had pegged in terms of priorities and values may be very different than originally perceived. It seems that, especially once they become parents, Millennials take a more modest approach to consumer habits, valuing quality over quantity and practicality over status.

Over the past year, the term “native advertising” has evolved from a simple industry buzzword into a complex, frequently debated advertising strategy being heralded as the future of digital. At the same time, content is considered the number one marketing priority this year, according to eMarketer. The two are often mentioned concurrently. So the question often proposed to me is if there is a difference between native advertising and content marketing. I always reply with the same answer: There is no fundamental difference.

The average American consumed almost 60 hours of content each week across TV, radio, online and mobile in 2012. Of the many mediums, radio remains a constant in our daily lives. The average American radio listener tunes in to radio over two hours per day (or 14 hours per week), making it the second-most consumed form of media after TV. Given that more than 90 percent of Americans tune in to the radio each week, understanding how this fits into consumers’ total connections will help marketers best reach their audiences.

We are a nation of consumers.  In fact, we’re an entire world full of consumers.  We operate a global economy, which thrives on the simple fact that people either need or want to buy stuff.  Some of the stuff you buy is necessary, while most of it isn’t, but at the end of the day the world seems to revolve around consumerism (for better or worse).

To say it has be an interesting past few months for the healthcare and wellness industry would be the understatement of the year. The consumer health and wellness space is evolving and shifting at a rate and level never seen before. Of course, the rollout of the Affordable Care Act is a big reason why. But, perhaps more importantly, it is the part technology is playing. The consumerization of technology has propelled massive changes that have created a newly empowered consumer more involved and in charge. And it’s causing major disruptions with how to target, reach and engage with these empowered consumers to gain their loyalty, trust and business.

To improve planning, enhance performance and optimize spend, the most effective marketing organizations inject data and analytics into every phase of their marketing process. Here are six essential practices that best-in-class marketing organizations employ to become more data-driven — and, in turn, make better, more profitable decisions.

What will make you successful in 2014 and beyond? Presuming digital continues to pervade — which it will — the environment will favor marketers who are not only smart and deliberate, but can adapt and pursue serendipitous shifts and opportunities.

Success will depend evermore on agility.

Here are key areas where you should put your organization to the “agility torture test”:

Mattel is an iconic american toy manufacturer responsible for the release of several iconic toys throughout the 20th century.  Namely Mattel has single handedly raised American children to demand Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher Price and now Monster High Dolls.  Contributing authors of the May 2010 issue of Theatre Journal indicated the power iconic brands have on culture stating that,  “Iconic brands spin narratives, complete with “plots and characters,” that address “the collective anxieties and desires of a nation” and provide a kind of magical resolution of “cultural contradictions”.   However, Barbie’s sales are down 12% this quarter as there is a new girl in town.

Is Healthcare.gov different from Expedia.com?

Lately it’s been hard to let a day go by without following the next intrigue on Obamacare. At this point, it’s probably fair to say there isn’t a living soul who considers the website a success. And while I’ll refrain from expressing a point of view on the legislation itself or on the details of project planning or technical competency, I did want to dig deeper to understand the nature of the “complexity” that has marred the heart of Obamacare—the exchange. After all, there are many technologically complex data exchanges that we depend on—airline traffic management, ticketing, loan offers on lendingtree.com, the stock exchange, eBay, Paypal…the list goes on.

Hispanic and Asian American segments are leading the current job recovery as indicated by positive Labor Force growth, Employment, and decrease in unemployment (negative numbers in chart). While White Non-Hispanics are leaving the Labor Force instead of staying as other Multicultural segments and have caused a rapid reduction in the labor market.   By Carlos Santiago / Santiago Solutions Group

Brands are using music as a way to connect with their consumers now more than ever. In fact, U.S. music fans actually feel more favorable toward brands that engage them through their favorite tunes, according to Nielsen’s Music 360 report.

Virtually every week, there is another story about major marketers putting their media agency in review. Most of the reviews these days are driven by price, not performance. Marketers — through their procurement officers — want lower media prices, and they want to pay lower media agency fees. Certainly, marketers and their media agencies also spend a lot of time on media performance, but it seems that the pendulum has swung a bit too far to the cost control side lately.

As the most anticipated week in Latin music unfolds, the city of Las Vegas fills up with celebrities, international media crews and hundreds of marketers from around the country who gather for the 14th edition of the Latin GRAMMY Awards.  By Lili Gil Valletta, Cofounder XL Alliance, Business & Politics Media Contributor