Agency

By Gonzalo López Martí  – Creative director, etc. /  lmmiami.com

• “Low-hanging fruit.”
• “Where the rubber meets the road.”
• Corporate clichés come in all shapes and sizes.

Millions of years of evolution have shaped our brains, with nature selecting for many adaptive and energy-saving, if imperfect, shortcuts. Some are easy to spot—for example, how we systematically fall for optical illusions and how our loss-aversion reflex biases our choices. Other ancient shortcuts trip us up in subtler, more personal ways.

It’s no secret that marketing has undergone a massive transformation in recent years. Digital channels now capture over half of all advertising spending in the U.S. Understanding that marketing has changed doesn’t mean you know how to navigate the new landscape or what others in the field are doing to keep up.

I really wonder about the long-term effectiveness of Burger King’s promotions, including the famous Whopper Detour promotion. I don’t care that Detour won the Titanium Grand Prix at Cannes, I cannot help but feel that this sort of marketing is a recipe for weakness, not strength.  by Nigel Hollis

Amidst a decline in CMO tenure, companies weigh promoting from within or hiring from outside the organization

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) and startup brands have been eating away at the margins of long-established legacy brands for years. From belts to booze to Keto snacks, no industry sector is safe from the onslaught, which is just beginning.

Younger generations are more likely to buy products based on influencer recommendations, as well as consider them reliable. However, these demographics still see influencers as less trustworthy than other sources.

AI isn’t just a mysterious, ethereal machine swirling around every aspect of our daily lives, from physical spaces to cars to smartphones. It’s also an increasingly vital tool for brand marketers. AI isn’t just about making jobs seamless but enabling the right message to find the right person at precisely the right time — while also making the process of purchasing, learning, or engaging online and offline a lot easier.

MAMAS 411 – PODCAST: Claudia Romo Edelman de We Are All Human, líder en temas de diversidad, inclusión y equidad

Having worked in General Market and Hispanic advertising agencies, and now placing top talent in both for the past twelve years, my experience has taught me a lot about the Hispanic advertising world.  It’s twice as hard to be a Hispanic advertising professional as it is to be a General Market agency person.  By Tony Stanol, President of Global Recruiters of Sarasota

Change the Ref, in partnership with Alma, is trying to bring attention to who is actually behind these Instagram posts and start a conversation about the need for stricter regulations on social media for firearm manufacturers.

ThinkNow announced the relaunch of their proprietary audience planning and segmentation tool, ThinkNow ConneKt. The reimagined platform features an enhanced user experience for brand marketers and agencies seeking the best in multicultural research and technology on-demand.  

Black adults are more likely than other groups to see their race or ethnicity as central to their identityBlack History Month, which is celebrated every year in February, honors the achievements of black Americans throughout history. It’s also a time to reflect on larger themes of identity and community. Findings from Pew Research Center surveys conducted in recent years show that most black adults feel that they are part of a broader black community in the United States and see their race as important to how they think of themselves.

As US telecommunications companies and device makers plan strategies for rollouts of next-generation wireless technology, they’re looking to consumers to drive demand for faster, more reliable internet service. US consumers are ready for more when it comes to wireless connectivity, both on the go and in the home.

As companies look to improve their multicultural marketing in 2020 and beyond, it’s time to bring new depth to the conversation and address colorism.

The leadership challenge of balancing short- and long-term business pressures, and doing so in an ethical way in which both a company and its stakeholders can thrive, is a challenge that is well-known to all business leaders.

The 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that despite a strong global economy and near full employment, none of the four societal institutions that the study measures—government, business, NGOs and media—is trusted. The cause of this paradox can be found in people’s fears about the future and their role in it, which are a wake-up call for our institutions to embrace a new way of effectively building trust: balancing competence with ethical behavior.

In this busy world, consumers of all generations are engaged in a silent battle to disconnect from work and social media — and the devices that keep them tethered to both. Millennials are no different. A recent survey of 1,004 Millennials (aged 23-38) living in the U.S., conducted by Kelton Global on behalf of Mazda, revealed that if given free time, they would most like to hit the road for a trip, with 39 percent of respondents saying they would head out for a driving adventure. That is 50 percent more Millennials than those who would choose to be a homebody for the weekend to binge content — only 26 percent.

Super Bowl advertising has come a long way. This year’s commercials were no longer limited to male targets with creative using guy humor to get a good laugh and be memorable. The categories represented were no longer dominated by the more traditional ones, like beer, soft drinks, snacks and automobiles, but included technology, beauty and, of course, politics. Female-targeted spots were in full force, with empowering, #FutureIsFemale-themed creative including Secret, Olay and Genesis; as were messages of sustainability from Saucony and SodaStream. The casting selection made major strides in terms of diversity, with spots featuring protagonists representing the Black, Asian, Hispanic, 50-plus and LGBTQ+ communities.  By Louis Maldonado – partner at d EXPOSITO & PARTNERS

By Gonzalo López Martí – Creative director, etc / lmmiami.com/

• Here’s Gonzalo’s take on the big game’s advertising extravaganza. Methodology: I made a point of watching the whole thing the way an average Joe or Jane would: untethered to the biases of an industry insider. I might have missed a few spots due to bathroom breaks or sheer disinterest, but what you will read below is unaided recall off the top of my head, which, if you ask me, is the one and only way advertising should be judged and measured. Then again, I’ve been in this racket far too long so the professional critique is there.