Agency

Accenture has published its 2018 Corporate Citizenship Report, which details how the company innovates to improve the way the world works and lives.

Today’s retail landscape has a cheating problem. That’s because consumers have more choice and access to products than ever, and they’re growing increasingly comfortable with trying new brands. While choice and access are fantastic for shoppers, manufacturers and retailers now have an incredible burden to bear—make an offering so great that consumers won’t seek an alternative elsewhere.

More than half of client-side marketers worldwide said leveraging data for more effective segmentation and targeting is among their top three organizational priorities in 2019, according to an Econsultancy and Adobe survey concluded in December 2018.

Over the past 15 years,1 the economies in Central America and the Caribbean (CAC) recorded an average annual GDP growth of around 4 percent, higher than the growth rates achieved by the Latin American average and most developed economies, but well below most other developing regions; regions such as South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa—and countries such as China or India—exhibited average annual growth of more than 5 percent during this period.

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

• I wrote a somewhat scalding piece about Accenture’s shopping spree last week.
• Pessimistic and gloomy some folks called it.
• I received lots of comments trying to convince me to see the glass half full.
• Your optimism is sweet and endearing, folks.

A year after taking charge as SVP and CMO for industrial giant Emerson, Katherine Button Bell rolled out a new brand architecture for the company — including a revamped logo. Not everyone was pleased. “Someone wrote a note to our chairman that said, ‘I suppose she’d like to change the American flag while she’s at it?'” Button Bell recalls. “The word ‘tension’ would not describe the angst it created. People think of logos as part of their personal identity. It’s like changing the initials on someone’s bathroom towels.”

Transparency is key to authentically connecting with consumers, but are companies sharing all that their consumers want to know?

You know that sock drawer you’ve been meaning to clean out? It may just offer lessons for clarifying the marketing process, and provide CMOs and marketers with a more clear-sighted path for demonstrating their value.

In the consumer-goods sector, agile ways of working aren’t an all-or-nothing proposition. Success depends on knowing where and how to deploy them.

Procter & Gamble Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard called for the creation of an entirely new media supply chain to address the significant challenges facing the industry in transparency, brand safety and privacy.

Packaging changes are an integral part of every brand’s lifecycle. Many changes are routine, but some are more radical; driven by changing consumer trends, the need to modernize, or signaling a more premium offer. However, even slight changes can dramatically impact sales, making it critical to get your packaging transition strategy right.  by Tara Prabhakar – Global Director, Qualitative, Client Impact Insights Division, Kantar and David Lansanah Global Head of Innovation Insights Division, Kantar

As global momentum remains strong, telecom CEOs are expressing a high level of confidence in their ability to generate and maintain top-line growth — now and in the future.  By Barbara K. Mednick

Some conventions have existed for such a long time, we struggle to recognize them as “conventions” at all. Take, for instance, the modern-day résumé. It’s a centuries-old tool, which hiring managers have used to evaluate job candidates for as long as they can remember.  By Rob Markey –  CEO HireVue

With the U.S. multicultural population projected to grow by 98 million people in the coming decades, Acosta expects multicultural shoppers will continue to have significant influence on the grocery shopping experience.

More than 150 years after the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States, most U.S. adults say the legacy of slavery continues to have an impact on the position of black people in American society today. More than four-in-ten say the country hasn’t made enough progress toward racial equality, and there is some skepticism, particularly among blacks, that black people will ever have equal rights with whites, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Top policy experts and trade organizations today launched the new “Privacy for America” coalition, which will work with Congress to support enactment of groundbreaking comprehensive federal consumer data privacy and security legislation.

Mundo Hispano Digital Network announced Ken Domenech will join the company as chief financial officer effective immediately. The move is part of MHDN’s plans to continue its transformation into a diversified business, with growth fueled primarily by the success of its flagship media property, MundoHispanico.com.

AlmaTrack: the convergence of data and creative. Merging ALMA’s creative prowess with Omnicom’s Track DDB (a worldwide leader in performance marketing), AlmaTrack is a unit under ALMA that will deliver exceptionally creative direct marketing by drawing from the best of both worlds.

From a context perspective, client-agency relationships are entering a new cycle with many players on both sides misreading needs, tensions, and responsibilities. By Robert Rakowitz, Global Media Director, Mars Inc.

When the idea for a consumer packaged goods (CPG) product is born, it’s immediately assessed in terms of the consumer. Will consumers buy it? Will they buy it at a price that makes you a profit? Will they love it? Will consumers love this product so much, they tell their friends about it? Will those consumers buy and love it?