Research

2020 has been one of the most polarizing years in recent history. A global pandemic decimated the economy. The murders of Ahmaud Aubrey, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd sparked a worldwide outcry for social justice. And the presidential election and ensuing calls for recounts and litigation gripped the nation while the world watched.

In what seems like a lifetime ago, we began the year full of ambition and resolve because 2020 represented more than a flip of the calendar. In pun worthy comparison, 2020 or “20/20” was supposed to be the year of great vision and clarity. We energized our sales teams with it and redirected our strategic plans. But now, just a month away from year-end, we realize that the clarity we sought didn’t elude us. We clashed with it violently in the streets and on the front lines.

We fielded a research questionnaire from through 10/9-12/3/2020 using our +20,000 email subscribers and our LinkedIn platform.  Over +4,900 executives answered the questionnaire.  The results are as follows.

“The Influence of Context” – a new study unveiled by MAGNA & IPG Media Lab today – measures how the context in which video ads are viewed affects how consumers perceive them and how they perform. The U.S. study looks at context through the lens of content adjacency – the type of content an ad appears next to – and video experience – the way an ad is consumed (i.e. in-feed, non-feed, etc.).

Gen Z are calling on brands, governments, and leaders to help them build a better normal.

Despite being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and one of the smallest ethnic populations in the U.S., Native Americans have made some significant progress this year in elevating their voices in the media, public policies and their communities.

Multicultural consumers comprise about 40% of the U.S. population and are important to brands searching for growth outside of saturated markets. Essential to penetrating this consumer group is understanding the nuances of it. Sample providers fulfilling census-representative sample requests or requests for multicultural sample, in general, must build out their panels to include multicultural perspectives from a broad spectrum of respondents across ethnicity, gender, income levels, and other factors. This ensures they obtain functional insights into the diversity of attitudes, interests, and lifestyles that define this multifaceted consumer.

Creative quality is the most efficient route to brand impact. So why is creative testing often excluded from brand tracking? Especially during COVID-19?

America is often described as a “melting pot” of different nationalities, ethnicities, and cultures. Much to the dismay of Teddy Roosevelt (who in a 1916 speech noted “There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism”), Americans have perfected naming each ethnic group within our borders distinctly, and those names have evolved.  By Mario Xavier Carrasco / ThinkNow

The crisis has widened consumer appetite for choice and introduced unexpected shifts in consumer behavior—this year’s holiday shopping is up for grabs.

For many of us, our ideals and attitudes about who we are as individuals are shaped by our heritage and cultural experiences. As consumers, our affinity for certain brands pass through these filters resulting in purchase behaviors that tie back to our beliefs and how we see ourselves. Among multicultural audiences, this presents a unique challenge for marketers. There is no one size fits all solution to gaining buy-in from this diverse group. U.S. Hispanics hail from over 20 countries of origin, and Asian Americans, 40 countries. Understanding the importance of identity to multicultural audiences is essential to mitigating cultural bias in your marketing campaign strategy and delivering culturally relevant advertising.

Missing their calls on two presidential elections have the pollsters scrambling to fix what went wrong. They need to consider whether their assumptions about the Americans they’re surveying make sense anymore.

As the old saying goes, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” This is especially true in radio selling and buying, where a reliance on expensive ratings data and audience demos leads to buys made on the description of an audience rather than the actions of an audience.

A new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council report, which was produced in partnership with Precisely, has been released. The report is titled, How Covid Has Changed The Channels Of Engagement.

Nothing illustrates Americans’ resilience quite like consumer spending. And after living alongside the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for the past eight months, a majority of U.S. adults are ready to mask up, leave home and get back to a lifestyle that’s not hampered by crisis—albeit safely.

Radio’s weekly reach is now 97% of March’s numbers, as fall changes are driving more consumers to tune in. When examining AQH, which benefits from the Headphone Adjustment implemented with October 2020 measurement, listening grew 6% (4% can be attributed to the adjustment and 2% to organic growth).

Latino voters are less likely than all U.S. voters to say they are extremely motivated to vote in the upcoming presidential election, with the Latino electorate expressing less interest overall in the presidential campaigns, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 5.
About half of Latino voters say they are ‘extremely motivated’ to vote for president in 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic extends beyond seven months, the year-end holidays are next in line for disruption.

With the pandemic adding uncertainty for marketers, it’s more important than ever to understand the media landscape. Findings from Kantar’s inaugural Media Reactions 2020 study reveal that marketers lack the understanding and the data they think they need. Nearly half of marketers (48%) — a growing proportion — feel that they don’t have all the data they need to make decisions in their roles. The research also finds that two-thirds are worried about the future and think that an inability to track digital media via cookies will dramatically disrupt the industry — a situation that could further impede marketers’ ability to monitor advertising effectiveness.

Research from the Brennan Center for Justice and other advocacy organizations shows that Black Americans still have to confront unique barriers in order to cast their ballots. From reduced oversight of changes in voting laws to the ongoing threat of a global pandemic, Black voters have even more to contend with this election year. Despite historic obstacles and new challenges, Blacks take their right to vote seriously and have some of the highest rates of turnout in the country.