Agency

By Gonzalo López Martí – Creative director / LMMiami.com

• You’ve played the part.
• We’ve all played it.
• I hate to admit but I’ve done it myself more than once.
• Unconsciously.
• One tends to realize it after the fact.

Lopez Negrete Communications, one of the nation’s largest independent, Hispanic owned and operated full-service agencies, has been announced as an honoree at the American Advertising Federation’s 18th Annual Mosaic Awards for work created on behalf of its long-standing client, Walmart. The campaign entitled “A Unifying Beat” launched the retailer’s Online Grocery Pick-Up service to Latino audiences during the 2018 World Cup and will be receiving the Mosaic Media Image Award for Innovation In Storytelling at the Mosaic Awards, taking place at the American Advertising Federation’s National Conference, ADMERICA, on June 6, 2019.

These trends are worth marketers’ attention now, because their importance will only become magnified in the future

Counties with the largest numeric growth are all located in the south and the west, with counties in Texas taking four out of the top 10 spots according to new U.S. Census Bureau population estimates. By metropolitan area, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas, had the largest numeric growth with a gain of 131,767 (1.8 percent) in 2018, followed by Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. with an increase of 96,268 (2.0 percent). Migration, both domestic and international, as well as natural increase contributed to the growth in each of these areas, with natural increase serving as the largest source of population growth in Dallas and domestic migration serving as the largest source in Phoenix.

Digital identification, or “digital ID,” can be authenticated unambiguously through a digital channel, unlocking access to banking, government benefits, education, and many other critical services. The risks and potential for misuse of digital ID are real and deserve careful attention. When well-designed, digital ID not only enables civic and social empowerment, but also makes possible real and inclusive economic gains—a less well understood aspect of the technology. In this research, we develop a framework to understand the potential economic impact of digital ID, informed by an analysis of nearly 100 ways in which digital ID can be used in Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In a January poll of 105 US digital marketers by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Winterberry Group, analytics and measurement tasks were the use cases that marketers expected would occupy most of their time and attention this year. IAB’s 2018 study on the same topic produced similar results.

As ads during this year’s Super Bowl featuring Harrison Ford, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Jeff Bridges show, brands can still get a great deal of impact with a high-profile campaign featuring the right celebrity spokesperson. But what is changing is how brands are hiring and activating celebrity endorsers, especially as digital and social channels provide fans more access to celebrities they’re eager to get content from, even in the form of an ad.

Marketers and consumers feel differently about the delivery of an excellent customer experience. To reconcile this, marketers should turn their attention to consumers’ top concerns, such as privacy and personalization.

Brands must break through and win at shelf, but with an average supermarket stocking over 40,000 different products, that’s no mean feat. Whether it’s a new pack design, advertising at shelf or off-shelf display, virtual reality can help give marketers the confidence that their money will be well-spent.  by Nicole Johnson – Virtual Reality Solutions Manager / Insights Division, Kantar

The IAB expects podcast advertising to exceed $500 million in 2019, which represents growth of about 65% in just two years. For podcasters looking to attract advertisers, demonstrating proof of performance isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s quickly becoming a need-to-have. And while download metrics can help advertisers understand which podcasts are popular, they don’t tell brand managers anything about the impact their podcast ads have on customers.

Agency Mania Solutions offered advertisers four tips to improve accountability and transparency from agencies.

The past few weeks have brought forward countless news stories, research, and features around the gender pay gap in the U.S. And now new data from Mindshare U.S., the global media agency network that’s part of WPP, highlights some of the other critical areas in the workplace where there’s a gender gap in opportunities and benefits.

IM+C, a communication agency with offices in London, Barcelona and Madrid, announced the opening of its new office in Miami, located in the heart of Miami’s Design District.

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?